Saving the showgirl's Lagonda

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Lagonda, as we all know, built some of the finest large sporting cars of the 1930s. From the two-litre model introduced in 1925 to the great 4½-litres of the late '30s, the Staines factory produced a multitude of high-speed tourers and dashing close-coupled saloons which appealed enormously to the driving enthusiast. Generally speaking, Lagondas were cars for driving with vim and vigour, not for cruising around town and posing in. Most people who desired to be seen and photographed would have plumped for a Rolls-Royce or Bentley.

However, the 4½-litre models were well-suited to carrying grandiose coachwork, and being treated as luxurious grand-tourers as much as sports-cars. Consequently, they found plenty of willing buyers for whom 'the look' was everything.

One such buyer was Frances Day, the actress, cabaret star and general talking point. Although not a household name today, at the time she was popular and well-connected enough to be in a position to order what might have been the most opulent Lagonda ever built.

Born in New Jersey in 1907, Day's showbusiness career began as a cabaret singer in New York and London in the late 1920s. In 1928, she married one of London's theatrical agents and thereafter was never short of work in the West End, where she had rôles in a string of stage musicals, or the film industry, where again musical comedies were her domain.

If one is to believe everything one reads on the internet, Day was the illegitimate daughter of car-maker Horace Dodge and pursued amorous affairs all through the 1930s, including with two future kings, Edward VIII and George VI, future Prime Minister Anthony Eden, Lord Mountbatten, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, Prince Bertil of Sweden, Marlene Dietrich and Tallulah Bankhead. Reputedly, Eleanor Roosevelt wrote to Day, 'I find I am quite unable to resist your extraordinary and tempestuous magnetism.' However much of that may or may not be true, we can be sure that she was a sensational figure.

Motor Show glamour and West End glitz

Despite a close friendship with Dorothy Hartman, wife of Lendrum & Hartman co-founder Frank, Frances Day looked to Kevill-Davies & March, the London agents for various upmarket marques, when, as a 28-year-old star with the world at her feet, she decided she fancied a new car, something which would look suitably dramatic outside her home at Wayneflete Tower, the magnificent 15th-century Gothic gatehouse where she lived in Esher, Surrey.

She placed an order for a Lagonda from Kevill-Davies & March on 14th April, 1936. She could easily have specified a drophead-coupé or sports saloon, had she had more modest tastes, but she chose instead to send the chassis to the Mayfair Carriage Co. The order form for chassis 12145 read: 'To be mounted with Mayfair body for exhibition on their stand at at Olympia (2-door Coupé de Ville)'. A special feature of the coachwork was an extending boot.

The finished car, painted black and grey, was delivered on 28th August, but Day never actually took delivery and nobody quite knows why. Perhaps her extravagance exceeded her personal wealth, and she had to flash a disarming smile at Kevill-Davies & March and say sorry. Some reports say that the car was also exhibited at the 1936 Paris Auto-Expo, but it seems to have remained unique. We are not aware of Mayfair building any more bodies in the same flamboyant style.

Ultimately, 12145 was bought by Frederick Neville Shinwell Melland, son of one Britain's leading surgeons and a brilliant ice hockey player who represented Britain at the 1928 Winter Olympics. It remained in use throughout the war, obviously travelling no further than fuel rationing would permit. In 1950, Melland sold it to decorated RAF Wing Commander Theodore D. Misslebrook, and he in turn sold it Derwood Hollar of southern California in 1977. The following year a for-sale advertisement appeared in Hemmings Motor News, and then nothing was heard of it again. At least, not until very recently...

A show-stopper once more

Walter Czech was looking for a historic racing car in February 2017 when he saw an Alvis Speed 20 special advertised by Tom Hardman which looked to be just right for his purposes. From Germany, he flew to the drizzly north of England to inspect the car. The test-drive wasn't decisive and Walter continued to mull it over. It was only when he was about to leave that he noticed an unusual Lagonda in the corner with a dull, grey finish which caused it to be overshadowed by the various brighter and shinier cars. Seeing Walter's eyes settle on it, Hardman proceeded to tell him all about it. At first, he wasn't interested - he'd gone to buy a racer, had just been for a test-drive in an open car in the steady, freezing rain, and wanted nothing more than to warm up in the airport. However, the more he thought about owning a unique car with special provenance and the potential, after some spit and polish, to be truly elegant, the more it appealed to him.

To cut a long story short, he bought it. It arrived at his home in March, and then he began to assess exactly what to do with it. This is where the old restoration-versus-preservation debate rears its head. The Lagonda was by no means a wreck, but there was no chance of it gleaming again as it had done when new.  With the assistance of Herr Rist, Walter's trusted mechanic and a British-car specialist, he started to dismantle the Lagonda and gradually came to the realisation that, under the skin, it really needed a careful restoration.

"Though plagued by doubts," says Walter, "I made the decision to completely restore the car from the ground up with a view to preserving the highest possible degree of originality. Special importance was given to the reuse of original materials. Rotten sheet metal and and parts of the wooden frame were only to be replaced in badly affected areas.

"A particular challenge was the intended preservation of the interior trim. The material was so brittle that refurbishment with the usual care products could not prevent its deterioration. The carpet, the leather and the material of the headliner were damaged to such an extent that even the lightest contact would irreparably destroy them. As a leather expert, I had to admit to myself that any attempt to refurbish the leather would not be crowned with success, as the decomposition was too advanced and the pressure of a thumb was enough to cause cracks and holes."

There is not so much value in preservation if it prevents a car from being used, and Walter fully intended that the Lagonda should be a joy to drive, not a worry. As he took the car apart, he made an inventory of all the components which could be reused and sought the advice of specialists from engine reconditioners to saddlers. Before going too far, he invited Eckhard Fabricius, German Representative of the Lagonda Club, to inspect it to hear his views and recommendations.

A laborious rescue mission

In the end, it was a very happy outcome and not a single part went to waste, as Walter explains: "It was possible to preserve almost 90 per cent of the original substances and materials and to implant their properties into the vehicle in a functional and serviceable manner. Since I had decided on the unconditional preservation of originality, the materials in the interior, from the headlining to the carpets and the leather, should also be authentic and in their compositions correspond to the originals. The Connolly leathers used at the time were pure vegetable-tanned and dyed with aniline dyes. Since no solvent-based opaque dyes were used, the leathers had a slightly two-tone, cloudy effect. The disadvantage of this tanning process, however, is insufficient lightfastness, so with prolonged exposure to UV light the leathers fade, which can be seen in many interiors with their original leather.

"I was able to find a tannery that was able to produce the finish I wanted and dye it the blue of the original. Using the information from an original sales brochure, the paint scheme could be determined: 'Body, exterior and wings Grey 53750 combined with black and the coach line in white.' With the collaboration of very capable enthusiasts, it was possible to restore the LG45 coupé de ville authentically as it appeared at Olympia and Paris."

While that may be the end of the Lagonda's restoration, it is by no means the end of the story. When the car reached the bare-metal stage, Walter loaded it onto a trailer and displayed it at the British Lagonda Club's Annual Gathering. Apart from being awarded a titanic trophy for the furthest distance travelled, Walter also received the Voke Cup for exceptional services to Lagonda preservation.

"Besides Herr Rist," Walter adds, "LMB in Belgium, the experts for Lagondas on the Continent, was also deeply involved. Their experience and knowledge is outstanding and their garage is a 'must-visit' once in every Lagonda enthusiast's life."

Walter's labours have now been well rewarded. He has been invited to display the Lagonda at the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace on 1-3rd September 2023, alongside 60 other exceptional automobiles. If you can get there, it'll be well worth taking a close look at the car. If you can't make it, never mind. Walter wants the car to be seen, so maybe it'll appear at a concours near you soon.

Words: Zack Stiling; pictures: Hyman Ltd. / Walter Czech

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