Lagonda Rapiers

3 minute(s) of a 484 minute read

Hi!  Just wait a minute, I do not know how many of the people reading this know anything of our Rapier KG 5363's history before 1998 when I bought it from the late David Seath who had at that time recently arrived in Australia from England. He actually brought three Rapiers or bits of them with him to Australia when he moved here with his family in the Mid-1990s

The first photograph shows David in KG 5363 probably at Silverstone, three or four years earlier. By the time it arrived in Australia the motor was in pieces and that is how I bought it. But let us not race ahead, The next  photograph shows the car in the early post WW2 years when it was owned and raced by Beatrice Shilling. Through the war and into subsequent years Beatrice owned the car firstly as her daily transport to her place of employment at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough England where she was employed as the Carburation Specialist vitally envolved it keeping Britian's aeroplanes in the air and at the top of their performance, Anyone interested in discovering more about this fascinating lady should read Matthew Freudenberg's story of her life in his book 'Negative Gravity.'

During the war years the Rapier KG 5363 was still fitted with its original Abbott Fixed Head  Coupe. It was not until the early post war years that she decided to remove this body and construct one of her design largely using scrap aircraft aluminium, This was built to meet the RAC's regualtions for "Sports Cars'". You can see the result in the photograph.To meet the regulations as a Sports Car it was required to have at least one door and to seat two people. and have lights and mudguards (Fenders) fitted  If you look very closely you may just make out that the (light weight) door "hinges" are in fact short pieces of rubber belt.

After I had bought it from David Seath I stripped the car down to its basic components before rebuilding it as the car we know today. At the time I was severely castigated for destroying a Historic Car. See below.

This is in fact the same car, KG 5363,  I have owned since rebuilding it in 1978-80. I initially built it without lights or mudguards as a "stripped" two seater racing car. but after just one or two events decided that it was such a "nice" car to drive it would be a waste not to be able to, register it and drive not on the roads. 

Most of you know the Rest.