1980 Aston Martin Lagonda

Looking for all the world like the love-child of Lady Penelope’s FAB 1, a squashed Rolls-Royce Camargue and a wedge of Wensleydale, this extraordinary vehicle oozes weirdness, wackiness and whimsy from every gilded pore of its unfeasibly long body.

Your author ventured forth in it on some roads local to our HQ and was left in no doubt by the startled expressions of passers-by that this car still has the wherewithal to turn heads and summon profanities some 45 years after it first left Newport Pagnell.

People who sensed it coming turned their heads and silently mouthed, “What the *@$! is that?” before walking into a telegraph pole.

Those who heard the mighty 5.3-litre V8 roaring and snorting only at the last moment dived headlong into the nearest hedge while making the sign of the cross and fervently repenting their sins.

Mercy.

It really is quite a thing.

It works, too.

It has all the lazy grunt and easy urge you’d expect of Tadek Marek’s V8 masterpiece and it wafts along on a softly sprung magic carpet of luxury and class that could no doubt render inter-continental journeys both pleasurable and brief without batting either of the car’s pop-up eyelids.

We know from accompanying documentation that the car’s first owner was a resident of Curzon Street, Mayfair.

Which should come as a surprise to absolutely no-one.

Our vendor first bought the car in 1995, he sold it in 2001 and then bought it back in 2002, hence he has had over 30 years of ownership. Over this time the highest standards of diligent care and devoted curation have been lavished upon it.
 

Angular oddness and sci-fi silhouette aside, the first thing that strikes you about this car are its Brobdingnagian proportions.

It’s roughly the length of the Queen Mary but only as high as a sourdough pizza and, if pressed, we’d say with some confidence that the front grille and the rear bumper occupy different post codes.

Tasked as he was to capture its image it from every angle and walk around it countless times, our plucky photographer broke his daily step count record and has since signed-up with a local chiropractor.

The bodywork, we’re happy to report, is free of any dinks, dents, creases, ripples or folds.

The panel gaps and shut-lines are what you would expect and hope to find on a hand-built luxury car assembled in some sheds near Milton Keynes by pipe-smoking chaps called Godfrey and Claude.

The wheels have fared pretty well over the years.

The car’s distinctive golden hue, we’re reliably informed by the vendor, is ‘Telford Gold’, although a copy of the car’s original factory record card states that it left the factory wearing ‘Telford Grey’ livery.

Either way, it’s very shiny, lustrous and appropriately opulent.

There is some bubbling to be found under the black paint on the sunroof, window and windscreen surrounds, and we also found some minor outbreaks on the offside ‘C’ pillar, nearside ‘A’ pillar, n/s/r wheel-arch and offside headlamp cover.

The black plastic cover on the rear bumper has some thin cracks and crazing to it.

The interior is unlike that of any other car we’ve encountered.

For a start, there’s more brown hide in here than you’d find at a longhorn cattle market.

All of it is supple, rich and welcoming. Only a few creases on the front seats give any indication that the car is 45 years old.

The carpets are decent and the lambswool over-rugs are of a thickness sufficient to convince your ankles that your feet have been stolen.

The door cards are good, as is the headlining, with the glass insert in the roof above the rear compartment creating a light and airy ambience with which to offset the gentlemen’s club aesthetic of the dark leather and wood.

We noticed what looks like some heat warping to the centre section of the dashboard top next to the windscreen, and there are a couple of chips to the veneer on the wood insert on the driver’s door card.

The steering wheel, gear selector and other controls all look to be in good condition.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the interior of this car is that fact that the very much of-their-era LCD displays still work.

We didn’t tweak every lever, press every knob or flick every switch, but those we did tweak, press and flick did as they were told without any unseemly shows of recalcitrance or attitude.

The boot is every bit as good as the rest of it and contains a very 1970s Samsonite-style briefcase with a full toolkit inside.

Splendid.
 

The car starts, drives and stops with plenty of confidence-inspiring capability and competence.

Everything under the bonnet appears to be in its right and proper place.

The car’s undersides look to be possessed of plenty of structural integrity and nothing we’ve seen has given us any cause for concern or caution.
 

The car’s history is as comprehensive as it is well documented, with plenty of bills and receipts attesting to work carried out by all the right people over the years – Aston Martin Works, Aston Martin Heritage, R.S. Williams, Chiltern Aston and Stratstone to name but a few.

The car’s service book is fair bristling with stamps from the date of its delivery up until 1998, all the servicing having been done by Aston Martin Works at Newport Pagnell.

We know that welding and bodywork repairs were carried out to both aluminium and steel sections in 2016 and again in 2021, with much of the work done by David Marks Garages and, variously, the Aston specialists mentioned above.

It had new Avon tyres in 2022, the brakes were overhauled in 2022/3, a new high torque starter motor was fitted in 2023 and, in 2025, it received a new battery, reconditioned water pump, and new belts for the alternator and air pump.

The car comes with an MoT, with no advisories whatsoever, that’s valid until 17th March 2026.  
 

If you’re a shy and retiring type who baulks at the thought of attracting attention, then this probably isn’t the car for you.

These cars were rare when new and have lost none of their power to turn heads and prompt queries.

In the second quarter of 2024, there were (apparently), 11 licensed for UK roads and a further 19 under SORN conditions.

That makes them as rare as teeth on a particularly endangered breed of hen.

But to find one as good as this - and with working electronics – well, that can’t be far off unicorn territory.

We think it’s a fabulous machine and we like it a great deal. 

Offered with a BUY IT NOW price of £40,000 including the buyers premium.

Viewing is strongly encouraged, and this lot is located at Bonhams|Cars Online HQ. Viewings are STRICTLY BY APPOINTMENT and we are open weekdays between 10am - 12pm or 2pm - 4pm. To make a booking, please use the ‘Enquire About This Vehicle’ button on the listing. Feel free to ask any questions, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.