The Aston Martin Lagonda, unveiled in 1976, is one of the most striking sedans ever built: a long, low, razor-edged wedge designed by William Towns, with a futuristic digital instrument panel and touch-sensitive buttons at a time when most cars still had analog dials. It was expensive, complex and troublesome, and only a few hundred were built through 1990, but it has become a cult classic and a symbol of 1970s futurism.

At a glance
Unveiled October 1976
Designer William Towns
Engine 5.3-litre V8
Production 1976–1990, a few hundred cars
Known for Wedge styling, electronic dashboard

Who was Lagonda?

Lagonda was a British luxury car maker founded in 1906 by an American, Wilbur Gunn, and named after a creek in Springfield, Ohio. It won Le Mans in 1935 and was bought, along with Aston Martin, by industrialist David Brown after the Second World War. The name was used for Aston Martin’s four-door cars.

A car from the future

Aston Martin was in financial difficulty in the mid-1970s and needed something dramatic. Towns’ design was a sensation: a wedge shape with a sharply pointed nose, pop-up headlights and a flat, crisp profile. Inside, the dashboard used LED and later cathode-ray-tube displays and touch-sensitive controls — technology that was barely ready for cars.

Problems

The electronics were notoriously unreliable, delaying deliveries and frustrating owners. Later cars moved to more conventional technology. Yet the Lagonda sold well among wealthy buyers, particularly in the Middle East, and helped keep Aston Martin afloat.

Revivals

Aston Martin revived the Lagonda name with the limited Lagonda Taraf sedan in 2015 and later showed electric Lagonda concepts, although plans for a separate electric Lagonda brand were paused.

Legacy

The Lagonda is now celebrated as a bold design experiment. Today’s Aston Martin four-door role is played by the DBX SUV — see the Aston Martin DBX — and the brand’s history is told in Aston Martin history.