Lagonda Rapiers

4 minute(s) of a 484 minute read

You will have to polish up your bi-focals, quite simply they are lapel badges as issued to the participants at many major events, Instead of sticking them all over a cap or hat as many people do  I have chosen just four from significant events that we have participated in around the world, to place on the dash board. From Left to Right they are The 1996 FIVA World Rally held in England to celebrate the 100th year of the British Motor Industry sponsored for that year by Rover. The centre badge was for another Rally in England in 1984 by the Rapier Register to celebrate the first 50 years of the Rapier. The One on the Right is from the Australian Mille which was only run for three or four years. It was a Road Navigation event run over four days covering 1,000 miles around Victoria, our home state, in 1997. It would be virtually impossible to run this event today as the required average speeds were frequently in excess of todays outright speed limit. We were one of the few Pre-war cars taking part, mixing with Austin Healy, Jaguars, MG and Triumph TRs etc. We were awarded the Organiser's  Special Award as the car driven most in the spirit of the Mille Miglia . The fourth badge is in the center near the bottom between the ignition /light switch and the Clock. It is in the form of a St Christopher medallion. Around the edge it has the words Lagonda Centenary 1899-1999. This covered a series of events around England and a Four Day Rally in France.  They are all events that cannot be held again each marking a special event in the History of Motoring.  We did attend the AACA's 75th Anniversary in Louisville Kentucky but with the Dixie Flyer, not in the Rapier. I decided some time ago during my ownership of the Rapier, there will be no more of these badges added to the collection.  The indicator lights are for Headlight High beam on the right and Fog/driving lights on the left. The two small markers on the Speedo are Gold for the built-up area limit of 60kph and the Black for the over-all speed limit of 100kph. In fact in some parts of Australia on divided highways the limit is 110 kph and in built up areas 50kph.  The Speedo is calibrated in MPH reading up to 100mph and the Rev counter up to 6,000 rpm The Green and Red wedges on the rev counter are more about gear-change points rather than maximum revs, The Rapier can and has frequently reached the end of the calibrations on both dials. There is a 2inch combined Oil Pressure and Radiator temperature gauge further to the right directly in front of the driver. Oil pressure runs at a steady 50/60 psi while the temperature tends to sit at between 70 and 80 centigrade, if anything a shade too cool. I have a "blind" to cover the bottom 6-8 inches of the Radiator in cold weather.

Loosely translated from the French, FIVA stands for Federation International Vehicles Ancient. 

On the wall above the window next to my desk there is a collection of "Rally Plates" issued for events both here in Australia and in Europe. This is a small part of them. Of particular interest is the Gold, 24 Hours LeMans 2004 plate issued to the cars selected to take part in the "Driver's Parade" held through the city of LeMans the day prior to the start of the famous 24 Hour Race.

One other thing unique to our Rapier is this Kangaroo sitting on a Boomerang, mounted on the rear mudguard (fender)

It is actually the insignature of the Sixth Division of the Australian Infantry Forces (AIF) from WW2 . It was given to us some years ago, its significance is two-fold. The Kangaroo is essentially Australian and the Boomerang is well known because of its ability to, when thrown, return back to the thrower.  this indicates that while Australian travellers, no matter where we may go, we will always return home. 

I have never seen another and people have commented/asked about it all around Australia, the UK and Europe.