Lagonda Rapier

About the Lagonda Rapier

The Lagonda Rapier was a small car produced by the British Lagonda company from 1934 to 1935. A few more were subsequently produced by the independent Rapier Car Company.

At the heart of the car was an all new 1104 cc twin overhead camshaft four-cylinder engine. The design of this was done by a consultant Thomas Ashcroft (known as Tim) with the brief of producing "Britain's finest 1100 cc engine".The engine was originally intended to be cast in light alloy but to save cost it was eventually made in cast iron using the original patterns, making it rather heavy. It did, however, produce 50 bhp (37 kW; 51 PS) at 5400 rpm, a very good output for the time. Production of the engine was sub-contracted to Coventry Climax.