Lagonda M45 and LG45 1933-1937

1935 LAGONDA M45R Rapide identical to 1935 Le Mans winner exhibited at Musée Le Mans 24 Hours.

Wilbur Gunn, an American opera singer living in England, established the Lagonda motorcar company in 1906 in Staines, Middlesex. One of his first car was a 20hp six-cylinder Torpedo, which successfully ran the Moscow to St. Petersburg trail in 1910. Named for a Shawnee settlement in Springfield, Ohio, where Gunn was born, the Lagonda name became synonymous with high speed luxury automobiles.

Lagonda introduced an advanced small car, the 11.1, with a four-cylinder 1,099 cc engine, which, by 1914, featured a panhard rod and a rivetted unibody body as well as the first ever fly-off handbrake.

1935 LAGONDA M45R Rapide identical to 1935 Le Mans winner exhibited at Musée Le Mans 24 Hours.

1933 1935 Lagonda M45

At the 1933 London Motor Show an important new Lagonda model was unveiled, the 4½-litre M45 which employed an overhead-valve six-cylinder proprietary engine, manufactured by Meadows and modified by Lagonda. In the early version, the six cylinder produced 115 bhp

The 4½-Litre Lagonda was one of the most accomplished sports cars of the 1930s, as a succession of high-profile race wins, culminating in victory at Le Mans in 1935, amply demonstrates.

1937 Lagonda LG45 at Classic Le Mans 2008.

In 1934 a team of three specially prepared short-chassis cars (effectively the soon-to-be-announced M45 Rapide) prepared by Lagonda main agents Fox & Nicholl performed creditably at the RAC Tourist Trophy at Ards, and the following year one of these TT cars driven by John Hindmarsh and Luis Fontes won the Le Mans 24-Hour endurance classic outright. Arthur Fox and Bob Nicholl were Lagonda specialists, whose sizable business in Tolworth, Surrey, had been preparing and racing Lagonda cars since as early as 1927.

1937 Lagonda LG45 at Classic Le Mans 2008.

According to Lagonda Club, 407 Lagonda M45 were produced in three different versions, between 1933 and 1935.

1937 Lagonda LG45 Rapide exhibited by Fiskens at 2011 Retromobile in Paris

1935 1937 Lagonda LG45

In 1935 just as John Hindmarch and Luis Fontes had won the Le Mans 24 Hours event at the wheel of the Lagonda M45R , The entrepreneur Alan Good acquired the Lagonda Company.
Alan Good hired the revered W. O. Bentley himself as new chief designer.

'W.O.' took Lagonda straight into the luxury car market in 1936 with the new LG45 model. It featured longer springs and Luvax dampers, while retaining the successful and well-proven M45-model Meadows six-cylinder engine and chassis. Bentley also directed his attention to improving the proprietary engine, and his modifications emerged in the 'Sanction III' power units introduced at the 1936 London Motor Show .

1937 Lagonda LG45 Rapide presented at Villa d'Este Concorso Eleganza in 2007-

Under W O Bentley's technical direction the big Lagonda became more refined: the M45's successor - the LG45 - gaining synchromesh gears, flexible engine mounts and centralised chassis lubrication among many other improvements. Endowed with such an impeccable pedigree, the 4½-Litre Lagonda quickly established itself as a favourite among the wealthy sporting motorists of its day.

According to Lagonda Club, 278 Lagonda LG45 were produced in three different versions, between 1935 and 1937.

One 1934 Lagonda M45 Rapide Close-Coupled Pillar-less Saloon with coachwork by J. Gurney Nutting Ltd, taht is the Olympia Motor Exhibition display car, was sold for £175,100 (Euros 191,852) inc. premium at Bonhams Auction at 2017 Goodwood Revival

One 1934 Lagonda M45 ST34 'Silent Travel Pillar-less Saloon' Registration RV 4443 Chassis n° Z10695 Engine n° M45/121 was sold for £ 75,375 (Euros 88,511) inc. premium at Bonhams MPH Auction in 2021.

One Lagonda M45 T8 Tourer was sold for US$ 179,200 ( Euros 152,562) in. premium at Bonhams Philadelphia Auction in 2020.

1937 Lagonda LG45 Rapide presented at Villa d'Este Concorso Eleganza in 2007-

One 1936 Lagonda LG45R Rapide Sports Racing Two Seater coachwork by Fox & Nicholl Registration EPE 97 Chassis n° 12111 engine n° 12111 was sold for US$ 1,382,000 ( Euros 1,009,938) in. premium at 2008 Bonhams Auction in Carmel California

The same 1936 Lagonda LG45R Rapide Sports Racing Two seater with coachwork by Fox & Nicholl registration EPE 97 was sold for £1,569,500 ( Euros 1,984,322) inc. premium at 2014 Goodwood Bonhams Auction.

One 1936 Lagonda 4,5 Litre M45 Rapide Tourer Registration DPH 769 Chassis n° 12045 Engine n° 12045 was sold for £ 138,333 (Euros 171,310) at 2015 Bonhams auction

One 1937 Lagonda 4,5 Litre LG45 Rapide Four Seats Tourer was sold for £ 785,500 ( Euros 1,066,965 ) in. premium at 2015 Bonhams Auction

One Lagonda LG 45 Saloon De Ville with coachwork by Lagonda Registration DT 9290 Chassis n° 12257/G/10 Engine no° 12257 was sold for £ 83,260 ( Euros 94,599) at 2016 Bonhams Auction. This car is one of 278 made in the period 1936 1937.

source Bonhams Auction Archives