Coys Auction - True Greats
Royal Horticultural Halls
Elverton St
Westminster
London SW1
Tuesday 7 December 2010
Unusually for a quintessentially English company, Lagonda was founded in Staines by an American, Wilbur Gunn, as the manufacturer of the Tri-car. From the mid 1920s the firm concentrated on sports cars and tourers in the main. A new engine designer, Arthur Davidson, was brought in from Lea Francis when he introduced the 14/60 in 1926, the new 2-litre 4-cylinder sporting engine featuring twin, high-mounted camshafts operating inclined valves in hemispherical combustion chambers.
Power output of this advanced new design was a respectable 60bhp. This engine was to propel Lagonda production into the 1930s, the Speed Model from 1927 featuring improvements to the chassis, camshaft, con-rods, lubrication and brakes. For the 1929 season a new Low Chassis Speed Model was introduced, featuring revisions to the frames front end and a higher compression engine fitted with twin carburetto