Rare LG45 Rapide Lagunda Ready To Be Auctioned At Pebble Beach

Launda LG45 Rapide 1937. (Doc. Gooding & Company)

JAKARTA - The auction event held by Gooding & Company at Pebble Beach on August 18-19 will present a number of exclusive cars for collectors, and one of them is the Lagonda LG45 Rapide which is very rarely found.

This classic British car is only produced in limited quantities, namely 25 units, and has such an interesting history.

LG45 Rapide took inspiration from Bentley 41 living Litre M45 who won at Le Mans in 1935. Lagona managed to sign WO Bentley from Rolls-Royce, which then provided various mechanical improvements to this LG45 Rapide. In addition to the compressional increase, Bentley also puts high-speed teeth together, thus producing sports cars capable of traveling at a speed of more than 100 km/hour - an amazing achievement in the mid-1930s era. At that time, the inline-6 engine with a capacity of 4.5 liters in this car was estimated to be capable of generating up to 130 dk of power.

The car to be auctioned is the 20th unit produced by Lagonda, and is equipped with an accelerated G-10 four manual transmission equipped with synchromesh for second, third, and upper teeth.

In its initial years, reported by Carbuzz, August 10, LG45 Rapide was owned by two British individuals, and the second owner received the car just before World War II erupted.

Then, the vehicle was treated by London's mechanics, Josh Shirman, who ultimately decided to buy the vehicle in 1955. Even so, Shirman only registered this car seven years later and rarely used it. Not surprisingly, a note from the British Ministry of Transportation showed that Lagona only traveled about 2735 km between 1974 and 2008.

Shirman has often shown off this car in exhibitions, distributing it to everyone. However, because Lagonda Club was unknown, many club members thought that this car had disappeared.

In 2008, this car was taken by a new owner to North America. In 2010, the car underwent a full year-long restoration process at RX Autoworks in Vancouver.

The mechanics at RX Autoworks carried out a thorough demolition of this car and reassembled it according to its original standards to ensure the restoration carried out in accordance with factory specifications. The wood frame and aluminum body parts were renewed in several parts, while several other components had to be replaced due to age and wear. Finally, the restoration team managed to find the original color and interior design, so this car now appears in such an elegant green style.

The estimated price of this car at auction ranges from 900,000 to 1,200,000 US dollars, or around 13 billion to 18 billion rupiah.