Under the command of Chairman David Brown, Aston Martin revived the famous pre-war marque of Lagonda as a luxurious four-door sports saloon, dubbed the Rapide after the marque’s most famous high-performance variant of the 1930s. It was, in essence and reality, a four-door DB4, based on a lengthened version of its chassis with a 236-horsepower, twin-cam six-cylinder engine and four-wheel servo-assisted disc brakes. Bodywork was much more audacious, however, with canted headlamps that forecast later Rolls-Royce and Bentley custom models, and was built to Touring’s Superleggera method with aluminum panels over a tubular steel frame. Each interior was beautifully trimmed, with thickly upholstered seats wrapped in the finest leathers, and a burled walnut dashboard.

The Rapide was true to its name, with a top speed in excess of 130 mph, making it one of the world’s fastest sedans in its era. It was extremely limited in production, however, essentially being hand-built to order, and accordingly only 55 were made over a four-year period. As a result, the Lagonda Rapide is one of the rarest production Aston Martin products of the David Brown era.

Chassis number LR/105/R, offered here, was the fifth Rapide built, and was finished in Dubonnet over Fawn leather interior, with a Borg-Warner automatic transmission. Described as “DEMO CAR” on its build sheet, it is believed to have been the one exhibited on the factory stand at the 1961 London Motor Show at Earls Court. It was initially registered as “92 MY” in October 1961 to Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd., then was transferred in December 1962 to David Brown Tractors Ltd. and finally back to AML Ltd. in February of 1967. During this long period, the car was utilized for testing and development at the factory, receiving a DB6-specification engine and Type 8 automatic transmission (recorded as being from a car registered “NMY 2”), beam-style rear axle with Selectaride shock absorbers, and a new grille—reportedly the sole example fitted with this style of grille by the factory. The factory build records include exhaustive service notes from throughout its development use, including fitment of a fresh interior, presumably the black leather installed today.

Finally, late in 1967, the car was sold to its first private owner, Thomas Crumbie, an executive of the large Lonsdale & Bartholomew printing firm in Leicester, with the warranty from Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd. included within the history file. It was later owned by Peter Biggs of Cambridgeshire, before being acquired via Desmond Smail for a large Middle Eastern stable in 2010. Eleven years later, it was added to The Boeckmann Collection.

Appearing very original throughout, the Rapide retains engine number 400/1556, and having been largely displayed for some years, would benefit from extensive sympathetic freshening—or, alternatively, would be the best possible basis for a full restoration to its original, show-stopping level of luxury and performance.