Lagondaforum

Subject: 1955 3.0 litre Mk 2 4 door for sale on carandclassic web site

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Another one surfaces, thankfully complete with its 3.0 litre engine and gearbox, and the car looks to be 99% complete.

Being sold by a club member who has stored the car in his barn for the last 20 plus years:

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C310908#

I always like to see the fire-engine red colored block.

Carpets and interior trim have been dry stored the owner says, and in very good order...

Car will need a respray, all chrome doing, engine rebuild, sills, door bottoms, ash frame, and all the usual suspects checking...

Looks a good proposition for an enthusiast to restore, if it can be bought for the right price.

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Subject: Re: 1955 3.0 litre Mk 2 4 door for sale on carandclassic web site

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Saw this one before buying mine! I hope he he achieves a price close to the asking price. Cars like theses really do need saving. I have been luring at mine and cannot wait to have a good look in the boot and go through the bits. Really pleased it had excellent dash and parts inside. Saved me buying the dash on e bay for £350

Jason

Subject: Re: 1955 3.0 litre Mk 2 4 door for sale on carandclassic web site

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Tis of course is a complete car, with engine, gearbox, all instruments, all interior, all electrics and lights etc. Albeit a barn find. But of course, unlikely to get this price for his car. The engine needs a large amount of work and one can expect a 5 -10k bill for this alone

When many of the major parts are missing, it tends to become a little more difficult financially to restore the saloons. A very good, complete and road taxed, 4-door car is still cheap; ca. 20-25k.

The problem with these saloons is that the cost of the parts and a proper restoration / time are more expensive than a complete car is worth when restored.

Cars with the wrong engine or incorrectly restored, just don't hold their value, collectors and buyers are very picky when it comes to post-war classics, even more so with saloons...

Best of luck with your project and you should get a copy of the 2.6 and 3.0 litre owners manual from the Lagonda owners club, it will give you sources for all your missing electrics etc etc..

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Subject: Re: 1955 3.0 litre Mk 2 4 door for sale on carandclassic web site

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I fully agree if one does not have or learn the skills necessary to do most of the work themselves. 'Zen & The Art of...' The same with anything in life, people pay for others to do work they cant or wouldnt. Fine if you have the money... I will be buying the manual. Thanks

Subject: Re: 1955 3.0 litre Mk 2 4 door for sale on carandclassic web site

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"A very good, complete and road taxed, 4-door car is still cheap; ca. 20-25k."

Erm, a bit out of date, Simon, don't you think? I would double that figure, on the basis of the sums achieved for very good cars sold at auction over the last couple of years.

Subject: Re: 1955 3.0 litre Mk 2 4 door for sale on carandclassic web site

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"The same with anything in life, people pay for others to do work they cant or wouldnt. Fine if you have the money... I will be buying the manual"

I couldn't agree more, although would counsel that one needs to be very sure of one's skills before attempting a particular part of such a restoration. If you take a look (on this site) at the scale of the work being undertaken currently by Christian with his DB Lagonda Rapide you will see something of what I mean. Clearly, he has very considerable skills indeed but I think would be the first to admit that the job in hand is daunting and difficult and long. Of course, with a DB Rapide there can be no 'issue' with a wooden frame to the body because it doesn't have one. Again, this work can be done at home if one has the necessary (very considerable) skills, time and resources (have a look at some of the other stories on this forum and elsewhere).

Subject: Re: 1955 3.0 litre Mk 2 4 door for sale on carandclassic web site

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One saloon, does not make an Indian summer, and the result at Bonhams NP last year, should always be discounted, this is a one off, unlikely to be repeated result.

Recent examples include a very nice, road worthy 4-door at Bonham's in Oxford, making 21k

An Amaranth red car on eBay recently making 19k

Two cars which I know of, sold privately, have both for under 23k.

A further car currently available in the USA, is priced at 16k, needing the paintwork redoing, otherwise, road taxed and ready to go..

A further car, a coupe in Monaco where the owner wants 25k, and needs paintwork refreshing. Hence the higher price, but still unsold of course.

The saloons whilst attractive, are not what the buyers are looking for with Lagonda's or any 1950's cars, they want the coupes or the dhc's...

The Lagonda 3.0 litre dhc being one of the key cars of the period with drop dead gorgeous looks and a great pedigree, and the Mk2 cars being even prettier than the Mk 1as well, hence the prices of these cars are moving upwards.

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Subject: Re: 1955 3.0 litre Mk 2 4 door for sale on carandclassic web site

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Simon, none of the cars you mention approach 'very good', so far as I am aware. There's always a disproportionate hike in value from a good car to a very good car.

Btw, not sure what you mean about an Indian summer - but, if you mean something like 'one swallow doesn't make a summer', how about two? The same thing happened at the NP auction the year before. There have also been one or two other very good cars in auctions over the last couple years. All these cars have cost their new owners over £50k.

Subject: Re: 1955 3.0 litre Mk 2 4 door for sale on carandclassic web site

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Hi Folks,

I would like to add my ten cent's worth here. I like to see old cars with their "knickers down" - i.e. the eBay bargain even without an engine, or the car and classic web site project for about £10k. I'm not being a cheapskate here, I'm saying that you could have an awful lot of expensive problems with a good looking car which cost a lot more and might still need taking to bits to fix them properly.

Frankly, every time I look at the underside of a DB 2.6 or 3 litre I get scared about all those water traps and dissimilar metals gently rusting and all the inaccessible components which seize up etc etc.

At one stage I had a Rover P5B coupé. Lovely car with the gorgeous Buick V8. In the end the car was scrapped because of tin worm. OK I appreciate that it is not in the same league as a DB Lagonda - it was much simpler and cruder in many ways such as a live rear axle and cart springs and I have seen people spend a fortune on repairing them. I baled out of my one because pre-war Lagondas are more fun for me. I have a decent machine shop but I am not really into welding rusty bodies.

I think there are some bargains to be had from genuine enthusiasts who have to bale out of their beloved restoration project, and I feel that seeing cars in their raw state is preferable to ones where all is hidden, waiting to gobble up money to rectify short cuts taken by previous owners.

Ho Hum

Colin

Subject: Re: 1955 3.0 litre Mk 2 4 door for sale on carandclassic web site

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"I like to see old cars with their "knickers down" What a fantastic line, Colin.

I agree with the thrust of what you say, for myself. There's a lot to be said for a good honest restoration project or an average 'taxed and tested' running example or a good - or even very good - car. Each level of acquisition has its relative merits and devotees. The old saying; 'yer pays yer money and yer takes yer choice' still has plenty of currency. All I think we need to make very clear to people, when they ask for our advice, is that you can't restore our cars on the cheap AND if you want to substitute your time and labour for some of the money you would otherwise spend on your project you need to be honest with yourself as to whether you really do possess the necessary skills.