Lagonda Rapiers

3 minute(s) of a 484 minute read

Looking at the car today, while I removed some dust acquired during the couple of months standing on jacks in my garage, I could not help thinking that it had not really changed very much in appearance since when it was first restored in 1979-80. That is apart from one or two chips where I have dropped tools on the front mudguards and one crack in the driver's side panel that appeared after a week long event, over"out-back" New South Wales roads which had suffered badly, mainly due to being flooded just a few weeks earlier.
It was painted in what was at the time, a then a new "Two-pack" paint, It has an incredibly hard surface but it does have the unfortunate habit of "Chipping" when something hard is dropped on it. i.e. spanners and screw-drivers that land blade down.
For what must be a "number" of years, I have used Auto Glym, an English "resin" polish, and find it excellent.
Reading the "back" label, it is not recomended that you "sniff" it, as you may get an  allergic reaction causing dizziness! Fortunately I am not in the habit of "sniffing" polishing cloths.  Reading the small print under the two "logo's" on the front label,
it is also used by "Her Majesty the Queen" and "HRH the Prince of Wales" so it must be good ?
I can just imagine them both "out the back of the Palace polishing the Land Rover and the old Daimler"

Anyone  with any doubts about KG's former life, only have to look at the little things such as the spare wheel bracket and number plate carrier.
Those holes are neither there as decoration or by accident. They are all testiment to the really "serious weight loss programe" the car went through during the 1978 restoration and before! If you did not look carefully there are literally dozens of these and larger "lightening holes" that you would not even notice. All are located so as not to weaken the structure of the car. When first purchased and the restoration begun, it was fully intended that the car was to continue its life, purely as a "Racing two seater". It was only after two or three events that it was decided that the car would make the delightful road going sports car that it has become !