Lagondaforum

Subject: Advice needed

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Greetings from new member Hugo Miller in Horsham West Sussex (UK). I have my eyes on a 2 litre coming up for sale at auction; reg no EWF 99; engine no. 6038/1/316; chassis no. 0H9745. I am told this car is known to the club, and I am trying to establish exactly what it is. The auctioneers say it started life as a 2 litre saloon (14/60 perhaps?), was converted to a pig wagon (as in porcines, not police!) and was ultimately re-bodied in the 1970's by one Kenneth Pape as a four-seater tourer (T2 style?). This rebuild was featured in the Lagonda Club magazine in Summer of 1975.
I am new to Lagondas (apart from a short brush with a 3.5 litre way back in the last century), and am trying to familiarise myself with all the various nuances of engine, chassis and body types.
I have seen the car, and the body seems to have been very well constructed, and it looks right (to my un-trained eye, at least). The right hand water jacket is off (maybe missing?) and the toe-board is up, so it may be in for a new clutch. The engine does turn over (rather too easily for my liking - not a lot of compression by the feel of it) and it was apparently on the road until 2015. Now it just needs a bit of 're-commissioning' as the salesmen like to say.
So, is it a 14/60, 2 litre, HC or LC, Speed Model, or what? And what is the difference? I realise it is never going to win any prizes for originality, but it looks like a fun project that could be got running with a little work. I am feeling my way here, and would appreciate any advice.

Subject: Re: Advice needed

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Hi Hugo,
If you are not a member of the Lagonda Club its worth joining as the website has information on the different model types and the club has an excellent spares service.
There are no factory records for the 2 Litre as they were destroyed post-war but the club has records of known cars back to the early 1950s. Normally the body type will be shown on the chassis plate so T2 would show a T2 body...but this car does not have a T2 body. The type of body fitted looks like a high chassis car but it has a chassis number of OH9745 which may date it to late 1931 (my car was manufactured in Dec 1931 and has a number very close to this car)...but the chassis and engine look much earlier.
The car should probably have long wings which would be expensive to fabricate. It might be a bit of a marriage but if it sells within the guide price could be an interesting project.
Doesn't answer all your questions and an inspection by an expert would really be required to solve the puzzle but hope the above helps
Best Regards
Mark

Subject: Re: Advice needed

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Thank you - I have just joined the Club. All I need now is a car! This one may be a bitsa, but it looks like a fun project. I'll probably just jump in at the deep end as usual

Subject: Re: Advice needed

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Hello Hugo

EWF 99 is a known car.

I think the auctioneers are correct that It was a 14/60 and spent time as a pig wagon before being rebodied in the style of T1 four-seater tourer.

It is a special and always will be, but could be enormous fun and I feel this rather eccentric provenance has a certain charm in its own right.

Colin M34

Subject: Re: Advice needed

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Hello Hugo, if you "do" Facebok there's a thriving Lagonda Owners Group with many knowledgeable people contributing. If you are not averse to FB it's worth joining and asking the question. Not that I am trying to divert traffic away from this forum, indeed several of us are contributors to both.

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Subject: Re: Advice needed

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Following on from what Richard said, we have just had an excellent dinner here in East Anglia at the weekend, with 56 members of the Lagonda Club and Rapier Register attending.

Whatever car you have, you should find club members most convivial company and we always welcome new faces,with or without a Lagonda.

M34

Subject: Re: Advice needed

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Thanks for all the input - as luck would have it, there is a Lagonda meeting at Wisborough Green, just five minutes from me, on Saturday, but I'm in Florida right now so I shall miss it.
But I will be back for the auction on the 27th, so we'll see what that brings.
In the meanwhile I shall check out the Facebook page.
There was a 16/80 up for auction here at Fort Lauderdale last week - on German license plates for some reason - I was going to check it out but decided against it. It sold for $80,000 (I think that would be plus premium).

Subject: Re: Advice needed

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Hugo

Firstly, welcome to the club - I'm down the road from you in Storrington and have a H/c 2L nearing completion that you're welcome to come and look at sometime. I too am missing Wisborough Green as it clashes with VSCC Silverstone.

Secondly, I went to look at EWF and communicated with the club and a previous owner. It is, as Colin says, a car with an interesting and cheerful history, but is far more of a bitsa than the auctioneers make out. As far as I can ascertain, it is made up from the remains of a post war bitsa (the pig truck) that in its last incarnation had a 14/60 chassis. At some point the chassis on it has been shortened by about 8" or so too. The engine is a 14/60 but with correct twin carbs. The chassis plate does relate to a saloon but how much of that car is in it, is any bodies guess - it dates from an era when manky bits in scrapyards were passed around and any old bulkhead would do! The body is well built but does differ in detail in a myriad of ways from a correct one - which as i have found out is an expensive undertaking to make!

Am presuming you have the members list so you should be able to look me up fairly easily if you want to get in touch

Rgds

Malcolm

Subject: Re: Advice needed

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I had a look at the 16/80 on the Fort Lauderdale auction and it seemed pretty correct. The chassis plate seemed to tie up with the photos. The car number is S10886 and the type is SWS.T7. It did indeed carry a T7 body and "SWS" refers to it having a Wilson gearbox.

Take a look at https://rmsothebys.com/...-type-special/544914

With 10% buyer's premium the car sold for the equivalent of around £56,0000 so if it is as tidy in the flesh as it looked in the pictures, it was reasonably priced.

Don't forget that to a avoid a disaster with a 16/80, one should change the dural con rods for new steel ones. If this had already been done on this car, that would be a big plus.

I wonder where it will next turn up?

M34

Subject: Re: Advice needed

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Well, I bought this old girl at the auction. I was prevailed upon by a rather pleasant young lady to bid a heck of a lot more than I had intended! Turns out it was her father's car, whose estate this formed a part of (along with two vintage MG's and an E Type in bits). And she has three equally delightful sisters, all of whom have sort of adopted me, so that is a bonus!
There was one other phone bidder, who actually outbid me, but they hesitated a split second and the auctioneer dropped his gavel just as their hand went up. I'm trying to figure out which of the other three girls was the secret telephone bidder!
Anyway, when I got the car home I filled the carburettors with fresh petrol, hooked up a battery (which meant taking the seats and entire floor out!), hot-wired the coil (it has a coil and a magneto), pressed the starter solenoid & she started right up. I managed to drive her round the block before parking up & getting stuck in.
At present I have the engine out, to replace the clutch and to drill out all the 1/4" bolts that held the right hand water jacket on and which the previous owner had snapped off. That bit is done, and I'm now waiting for the clutch & other bits.
And I'd have waited a long time had I not checked and found that I had neglected to pay for the order! There is a quirk on the Club website that notifies you that 'your order has been placed' before you actually pay. I took that at face value, completely forgetting that I hadn't entered my card details. I only noticed this oversight when I went to order some other parts today.
Hopefully, when these bits all turn up I should be back on the road in a few days.