LAGONDA V12 SPORTS SALOON SS2 1939 SHORT CHASSIS INCREDIBLE TIME WARP SURVIVOR

Here is the fascinating story of a 1939 Sanction 2 Short Chassis Sports Saloon, registered DAK 880, made possible with reference to her original factory build sheet card, original factory service record cards, a copy of the Bradford City Car Registration Ledger, a detailed collection of paperwork covering her 20 years on the road and recent contact with the original owners family.

Sometime in late 1938 DAK was ordered new by Bertram Parkinson of Creskeld Hall, Arthington near Leeds, (Interestingly Creskeld Hall will also be known as Home Farm, as it is used by ITV for the filming  of the ITV soap  ‘Emerdale'). Bertram was a very sucessful Wool Merchant with a very large company in Bradford, based in the Parkinson Buildings, Thorton Road. 

On the 14th of December 1938 a V12 Short Chassis, number 14070 was allocated to the build along with a Sanction 2 engine no V12/139.

On the 31st of January 1939 a short chassis sports saloon body no 8057 was also allocated to the build.

Then on the 2nd of February 1939 the records show 14070 was painted in Dockers Gun Metal Grey 3681 and was trimmed in Lagonda LG1 Brown leather with brown carpets and brown baize headliner.

Our man Bertie had also added a few optional extras to be fitted, these were;

Sliding Sun Roof

Rear window roller blind (Brown Baize)

Folding  luggage carrier.

Z4991/2 Lucas Mellotone twin Horns

Smiths P8010 Luminous clock

Lucas P8065 Fog/Passing Lamp

B11102 Lucas external mirrors

ACE wheel discs

Sun Visors

Front bumper.

Finally on the 25th of March 1939 14070 was dispatched to the Lagonda London Showrooms, presumably so the sales team could benefit from her presence there for few weeks to help encourage more orders before she was dispatched up to Central Garage Ltd Bradford on the 3rd of May 1939.

She then officially became DAK 880 on the 5th of June 1939, being registered and taxed in Bradford and on this day was then handed over to Bertram Parkinson.

The records show that on the 15th of June Bertie was at The Works with DAK for her 1st service at 1,100 miles where they rectified roof and door rattles, replaced the starter motor and also rectified the water leaking in through both front doors.

Then on the 4th of August 1939 she was back at The Works for a general check over prior to a continental tour. (This coincides nicely with some recent correspondence I have had with Bertram's great grandson Tom, who confirmed that family recollections were that Mr and Mrs Parkinson were touring in the Swiss mountains with DAK when War was declared between Britain and Germany, necessitating  a hasty V12 blast across France to get safely back to England. Tom is also sure that somewhere at Creskeld Hall (still the family home) they have various paperwork relating  to DAK including an original sales invoice, some correspondence with the supplying dealer and even some pictures taken featuring DAK in the Alps during the European tour, these have yet to be found but fingers crossed.

The records show that in September 1939 DAK was next in the Works for an oil change and a new speedo, the current mileage at that time was 9,064 so Bertie was certainly enjoying his V12 Lagonda!

DAK was still in service during the early part of WW2, indeed she was in at the Lagonda Works in January, April and May of 1940, with her new speedo mileage showing 4,294 miles, she must have been quite active and was last taxed to May of that year. DAK then remained at the family home of Creskeld Hall and was apparently put up on blocks and her wheels removed with a spurious note claiming the clutch had failed, for fear of her getting requisitioned for war work!

She re-emerged in 1947, firstly making an appearance at the Lagonda works for a major overhaul, her speedo showing  10,844 miles. Presumably Bertie had traded her in at the Local Lagonda Dealership, Central Garages Bradford?

On the 24th of April 1947 she was off to her 2nd owner Mr A B Clifford of Farnley Sand & Gravel, based in Otley, he kept her for just under a year before she changed hands again to a Mr Anthony Green in Morley, Yorks on the 25th of March 1948, in less than a year she changed hands once again this time to a Mr Stanton Willis-Bates of Ilkley,Yorks.  Mr Bates was the Director of the Vapalux Lamp Company based at the Pellon Works in Halifax, he kept DAK until the 2nd of May 1949 when she was purchased by Hoffman garages in Halifax who subsequently sold her to a Mr Eric Horton in Derby on the 19th of May 1949.

Eric Horton certainly cherished DAK, he kept her for 5 years and in that time he had a raft of work undertaken at the Lagonda Works. He then sold her back to Hoffman Garages but at their Leicester branch on the 5th of June 1954. There is also a note on the file linking Eric Horton and DAK with HR Owen in Berkeley Square London on the 19th of July 1954, which is interesting as the next owner was a Mr Fredrick Henry Neubert  in Keston Kent, taking delivery of her on the 1st of September 1954, (Keston is only 45 mins from Berkeley Square, so could HR Owen have sold DAK to Mr Neubert??).

Our Man Mr Neubert  managed to get a Police ticket on the 23rd of January 1955 with a Notice issued to produce his documents at a Peckham Police Station, speeding? …One wonders?

Mr Neubert was now DAK's sixth owner and he kept her for almost 7 years until 1960 when she was sold to Jim Whitehead an avid V12 Lagonda collector in NSW Australia.

Interestingly, there is an article in the December 1959 Lagonda Owners Club magazine which states that “Jim Whitehead and his wife are currently over in England looking for more Lagondas to add to their collection” As Maurice Leo and Jim were close friends, one can assume that Maurice had lined up a few Lagondas for Jim to View in the New Year which fits in perfectly with Mr Neuberts last road tax application, this being 1960. At this point DAK's UK history stops.

DAK is now booked as sea freight on a Steam Ship bound for Sidney, as Jim Whiteheads son remembers, it took an age for DAK to arrive , and when she finally did, Jim literally drove her up and down the farm road and then straight in to storage in a nice dry barn. She went in there so quickly upon arrival that Jim never even cleaned off the wax crayon markings on the windows stating ‘KEY 23' which was her allocated number from the outward shipping journey. And which amazingly are still on the car to this day, as I cannot bring myself to remove them, being such a fascinating part of her history.

Jim Whitehead owned around 14 Lagondas at various times and most of them were pre war V12 cars. He was a reknowned V12 expert within Lagonda circles and in 2003 was a major contributor to the Lagonda club publication named the LAGONDA V12 REVISED HANDBOOK & WORKSHOP MANUAL. This book is an invaluable addition to any V12 Lagonda owners library and a copy is with DAK.

During the latter years of Jims retirement on the farm at Walcha NSW he undertook to fully rebuild four of his V12 engines all at one time, incorporating all his know how for the modifications and upgrades to various aspects of the engines, from cam timing recalibrations to revised lubrication systems etc etc. DAK's engine was one of these that benefitted from this great opportunity.

It is a credit to Jim that he realised the historical significance of DAKs originality and was never tempted to restore her at all.

Thus DAK remains a most intriguing proposition, in that she is unrestored bodily being a complete time warp car locked in her original state from 1960, still with most of her original paint, her original interior and woodwork, but with a fully rebuilt  and uprated V12 engine.

Only 190 V12 Lagonda cars were built in total, this included SWB, MWB and LWB chassis to coach builders, Sports Saloons, Drop head Coupe's, Rapide Roadsters, medium length Saloons, De Ville Long Saloons and even the Le Mans cars, so any V12 car is a real rarity, the saloons in particular are extremely rare these days as quite a few have sadly ended up as Le Mans replica cars, indeed it is believed the SWB Sports Saloons could now be amongst the rarest of the V12 cars.

KEY POINTS

1939 LAGONDA V12 SPORTS SALOON S2

ORIGINAL FACTORY BUILD SHEET CARD

ORIGINAL FACTORY SEVICE HISTORY CARD

EXTENSIVE EARLY HISTORY FROM DAY 1 TO 1960

COMPLETE WITH ORIGINAL TOOL KIT, STARTING HANDLE, JACKALL LEVER, ACE DISC SPANNER, INSPECTION LAMP AND SPARE BULBS HOLDER

DELIVERED IN 1939 AND IN USE UP TO 1960 WHEN SHE WAS SHIPPED TO AUSTRALIA

REMAINES UNTOUCHED BODILY FROM 1960 TO TODAY, EVEN HAS THE KEY 23 WAX CRAYON WRITING ON HER WINDOWS FROM THE STEAM SHIP TO AUS IN 1960

RENOWNED V12 ENGINE GURU JIM WHITEHEAD FULLY REBUILT THE ENGINE AND INCORPORATED ALL HIS UPDATES AND MODIFICATIONS DURING THE REBUILD. VERY LOW MILES SINCE THE MECHANICAL REBUILD.

DAK 880 IS BACK ON HER ORIGINAL UK REGISTRATION .

FACTORY EXTRAS INCLUDED, SUN ROOF, REAR WINDOW ROLLER BLIND, LUGGAGE RACK, ACE WHEEL DISCS, DASH BOARD CLOCK AND DRIVING/PASSING LAMP.

DAK 880 IS BELIEVED TO BE COMPLETELY ORIGINAL SAVE FOR A FEW LOCALISED REPAIRS FROM HER ORIGINAL USE.

Although DAK is running and braking well as we have driven her gently across two show grounds this year, she will require re-commissioning before she takes to the road, Jim Whitehead's son advises that DAK will require some degree of running in as she has minimal miles on her rebuilt engine, also the tyres are at least 62 years old!

To arrange a viewing and for any further information, please contact me on 07733 919101 or email [email protected]

Also published at eBay.co.uk

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