Aston Martin revived the Lagonda name in 1961 with the luxurious Rapide four-door saloon, a very much car David Brown’s project. The Rapide’s sales brochure, which unusually was signed by him, stated: ‘It has long been my ambition to build a car which would be equally suitable to drive or be driven in...’
Beneath the Superleggera aluminum coachwork by Touring of Milan was a lengthened DB4 chassis reconfigured by Harold Beach to accept De Dion rear suspension, the adoption of which allowed rear compartment space to be maximized. Powered by a 4.0-litre (236bhp) version of the DB4’s twin-cam six that would later power the DB5, the Rapide certainly lived up to its name with brisk acceleration and a 130mph top speed.
