Lagonda16/80

01

Origins

The 16/80 of 1932 paired Lagonda's 2-litre six with, on many cars, the Wilson pre-selector gearbox — the driver choosing the next ratio in advance and taking it with a stab of the pedal, fashionable technology that suited the car's fast-touring brief. The engine, developed from the marque's earlier six, gave smooth, adequate urge rather than outright speed, and the open Tourer bodies were among the prettiest Lagonda offered between the vintage years and the M45's arrival. The company was struggling through the Depression as it built them, heading for the 1935 receivership from which Alan Good and W.O. Bentley would rescue it days after a Lagonda won Le Mans. The 16/80 is the connoisseur's choice from those uncertain years: rarer than the big cars, lighter on its feet, quietly excellent.