Lagonda’s reputation as one of the truly great sports-car makers of the pre-war years is well-deserved. After spending the first 20 years of its life building fairly anonymous light cars, it received sudden and widespread renown when it launched its first sports model, the 14/60, in 1925. This was quickly developed into the Two-Litre Speed Model of 1927, which was capable of 80 m.p.h. and threatened Bentley’s success at Le Mans.

As time passed, even larger models were introduced such as the Three-Litre and the 4½-litre M45, which finally brought Lagonda victory at Le Mans in 1935. Between them, these large chassis cultivated Lagonda’s renown as a maker of fast, luxurious touring cars and sportsman’s saloons competing with the best Talbot and Bentley could offer.

 Less well-remembered is the Rapier, the baby of the range with its 10hp, 1104cc engine and more of a rival for small sports-cars such as the MG F-type and 1½-Litre Aston Martin. 

Lagonda had decided in late 1932 that it should have a small but high-quality sports-car to complement its two- and three-litre models, and with Timothy Ashcroft briefed with designing ‘Britain’s finest 1100cc engine’, development got underway in 1933.

It was finally announced in September 1933, when it attracted much interest for its advanced mechanical specification. Performance figures were enormously impressive, with a 75 m.p.h. top speed achievable in full touring trim, while fuel consumption was modest at just 28 to 30 m.p.g. 

The 1930s being the golden age of coachbuilding, buyers also had an endless choice of rakish and well-appointed bodies. Most popular was the standard four-seat tourer, but one might alternatively choose a drophead or fixed-head coupé by Abbott, a two-seater sports by Eagle, or any number of bodies by Corinthian, Ranalah, Maltby and Silent Touring.

Sure enough, racers and enthusiasts seized upon it. Lord de Clifford drove a Rapier in the 1934 Le Mans, and soon after Dobson & de Clifford Ltd. of Staines began offering semi-racing versions, badged as De Clifford Specials, with bored-out engines, and a conventional gearbox with a choice of ratios as opposed to the less sporting pre-selector installed by the factory.

When Lagonda experienced financial difficulties in 1935, the high regard in which the Rapier was held did not change the fact that it was selling poorly. It was heading for the axe when Ashcroft, Major W. H. Oates and N. Brocklebank raised the capital to form the Rapier Company.

Under their ægis, it remained in production as a marque in its own right until 1940. Being a high-quality, expensive sports-car it was always meant to be exclusive and only 300 were built in seven years of production.

This car is no ordinary Lagonda Rapier (not that there was anything ordinary about the Rapier in the first place). Of them all, this example is one of most important and well-documented survivors, having been campaigned extensively early in its life.

It was originally built as an Abbott-bodied tourer and was registered by Leeds County Council on 10th August 1934. It ended up in the ownership of Maurice Zwick, an enthusiastic trials driver whose competition career lasted for many years. After the Second World War, he assumed the name Maurice Wick and entered five Monte Carlo Rallies.

With the Rapier, Zwick enjoyed enormous success in the 1937 trials season, scooping a bronze award in the Land’s End Trial, silver in the Exeter Trial and gold in the Edinburgh Trial. 

Hungry for further success, he proceeded to have the car rebodied and supercharged for 1938. Unfortunately, it was to be a less fruitful year, with a bronze in the Exeter Trial and a second-in-class in the MG Car Club’s Abingdon Trial being his only achievements of note. A photograph shows the Rapier being campaigned in 1938 in the London Motor Club’s Coventry Cup Trial at Knatts Hill, Kent.

Losing heart, Zwick placed the Lagonda into storage at Thompson & Taylor’s garage at Brooklands, which is where it remained throughout the war. In peacetime, it was purchased by a Weybridge garage owner, John Marshall, who proceeded to rebuild it again as a circuit racer. 

The reinvigorated Rapier boasted a lighter body and a stronger race-prepared engine. Marshall had the car ready in time to enter it in the first BARC Goodwood Meeting on 18th September 1948.

By the following year, it had been acquired by Mrs. Margaret ‘Peggy’ Harman, who raced it through 1949 and 1950 at Silverstone, Prescott, the Great Auclum Hill Climb and other venues. In Mrs. Harman’s ownership, the car was maintained by Maurice Leo, who installed a replacement engine block. Another driver during this period was A. C. Griffiths.

Its next owner, Joe Branson, used it as an everyday car in addition to continuing to race it. Its greatest achievement during this period was victory in the Lagonda Club’s Arthur Fox Trophy in 1958.

Naturally, many years of hard competition use eventually took its toll, and in the 1980s a restoration was commenced which was ultimately completed in 2004. With such a rich and lively history, the car is well-known within the Lagonda Club.

The vendor purchased it in 2019 but it is being offered for sale now as he is downsizing his collection.

The Rapier comes with its current V5 and photographic evidence of its early racing career.

In an age where we expect racing cars to be totally stripped of all comforts, the Rapier’s interior looks rather more welcoming. Of course, it is as basic as befits its nature, but we would not call it Spartan.

The seats are softly cushioned and, along with the doors, have been upholstered with an attractive green leather. From what we have seen, the leather remains in fantastic condition and hardly looks to have aged since the car was restored over 20 years ago.

The facia is typical of the 1930s racing sports-car genre, being of aluminium with a beautiful engine-turned finish. It is generously stocked with gauges and is visibly in excellent condition.

The car’s carpet is well-fitted and very clean. This may not be much of a wet-weather car, but if you do take it out and get caught short in a shower, a tonneau cover is included.

The Lagonda is wonderful to behold, with its older restoration having survived extremely well. The last 20 years of its life have obviously treated it rather more kindly than the first 25, and its superb presentation is testament to the care recent owners have given it.

The paint is in a lovely condition, and it looks really striking with the red wheels standing out against the black body. All the chrome presents beautifully, with it having aged very finely to gain a light patina. All the windows and lenses are in a good way, and it seems to us like there is not much that can possibly be faulted.

Lifting the bonnet reveals a very clean engine, in excellent condition but with that slight oily patina which all pre-war racing engines ought to have. It is on the engine that some of the most beautiful details on the whole car are to be found, from the Lagonda name stamped on the cam covers to the winding network of copper piping and the convergent symmetry of the exhaust pipes.

We spoke earlier of the Rapier’s advanced mechanical specification but perhaps we should elaborate. The engine had chain-driven twin overhead camshafts and an enormous fully-balanced crankshaft with three main bearings of two-inch diameter, such as were also used in Lagonda’s 4½-litre engine. 

The cross-flow head contained four hemispherical combustion chambers. The mixture was fed through beefy twin S.U.s and the compression ratio was a high 7.5 to one. The result was what Lagonda historian Dr. H. A. Fitzpatrick described as ‘an unburstable engine with a potential of 6,000 r.p.m.; 5,500 could be used safely on the gears.’

The Rapier’s Girling brakes have it an exceptionally good stopping distance of 25ft. at 30 m.p.h. The E.N.V. pre-selector gearbox was an enormous luxury when contrasted with the crash ’boxes of earlier years.

This car is fitted with the E.N.V. pre-selector gearbox which, to the best of our knowledge, is in good working order. The brake drums are quite amply proportioned in relation to the car’s size and ought to prove more than adequate, while the familiar Hartford shock absorbers are, of course, a staple of almost every Vintage and Post-Vintage sports-car. 

Unfortunately, the supercharger which was fitted historically is no longer with the car, but various spare engine and carburettor parts are included.

The vendor has just treated the Lagonda to a major service and advises us that the it drives exactly as a high-end 1930s sports car should, with a true racing car sound to boot.

No matter what one’s preference in the world of motoring, there isn’t a car enthusiast alive who doesn’t harbour a profound respect for the great pre-war sports cars. 

For many people, it is the big Le Mans racers of two to 4½ litres which spring to mind first, and it is such cars for which Lagonda is best-known. The Rapier, on the other hand, has always been overlooked.

Admittedly, with only 300 built, it has never been commonplace, but its excellent reputation is not widely known outside of Lagonda circles. It deserves more recognition, considering it was a brilliantly well-engineered car which was more than capable in a number of competition disciplines.

This car testifies to the Rapier’s competitiveness probably better than any other, and it now appears for sale as a very rare opportunity to own a car with extensive pre- and post-war competition provenance. 

Should you be the competitive sort, we envisage that you should have no end of enjoyment with this car in Vintage Sports-Car Club events, historic races and events at Goodwood and Brooklands, subject to eligibility requirements.