Aston Martin Lagonda 1986 3D model

cgtrader

Aston Martin was facing severe financial pressure in the mid-1970s and desperately needed something to bring in much-needed funds. Traditionally, Aston Martin had focused on producing 2+2 sports cars, but the Lagonda was a four-door saloon that took a bold departure from their usual approach. As soon as it was introduced, it drew hundreds of deposits from potential customers, greatly boosting Aston Martin's cash reserves. The 1976 wedge-shaped styling stood out starkly against other cars of its time. After producing seven Series 1 models, the Lagonda underwent a complete redesign in 1976 by William Towns as an extreme interpretation of the classic folded paper style. This unconventional design approach for Aston Martin was still unorthodox, even today. Alongside famous contemporaries like the Lamborghini Countach, Lotus Esprit, and DMC DeLorean, the Lagonda is frequently mentioned among the most striking wedge-shaped designs ever created. Car enthusiasts are fiercely divided on the car's aesthetic value. The Lagonda combined stunning styling with premium leather interiors and advanced instrumentation for its time. Paired with a Chrysler three-speed TorqueFlite automatic transmission, its four-cam carbureted V8 provided poor fuel economy, often registering single-digit numbers, which improved only marginally with the switch to fuel-injection in the Series 3. Throughout the history of the marque, the hand-built Lagonda was among the most expensive luxury saloons in the world. The only other production cars that approached its price tag were the Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit/Silver Spur and the Bentley Mulsanne. The Lagonda was the first production car to feature a digital instrument panel. Development costs for the electronics alone on the Lagonda exceeded four times the entire budget for the vehicle. The Series 3 used cathode ray tubes for instrumentation, which proved even less reliable than the original model's light-emitting diode display. It was named one of the 50 ugliest cars of the last 50 years by Bloomberg Businessweek and included in Time Magazine's list of 50 Worst Cars of All Time, describing it as a mechanical catastrophe with electronics that would be impressive if they ever worked.