Aston Martin Lagonda Series 2 (1976–1985) Price Guide

The Series 2 Lagonda is the one that changed everything. Unveiled at the Earls Court Motor Show on 12 October 1976 smf first shown to the press at the Bell Inn at Aston Clinton (the village from which Aston Martin took its name). It was so far ahead of anything else in the luxury car market that people struggled to process what they were looking at. A completely flat bonnet. A windscreen raked at an angle that seemed structural rather than aerodynamic. Touch-sensitive switchgear. A fully digital instrument panel. Nothing about it followed convention.

The Car

Towns’s design used the same 5.3-litre quad-cam V8 as the V8 but in a body measuring 17ft 4in long; making it one of the longest production saloons of its era. The chassis was entirely new, not shared with the sports cars. The digital LED instruments and touch-sensitive controls were the car’s defining technological statement and its defining liability: the electronics took until 1978 to function well enough for deliveries to begin, and even then reliability was variable. First customers waited up to two years. Around 16 cars were completed in the first two years of production. From late 1984, the LED instruments were replaced by three five-inch cathode ray tube screens, an update that improved reliability without improving the aesthetics.

What Goes Wrong

The digital dashboard is the car’s greatest challenge. LED instruments on early cars can fail, dim, or become erratic. The CRT screens introduced in late 1984 are more reliable but require specialist knowledge to service or replace. Touch-sensitive switches are prone to malfunction, particularly climate controls. The V8 engine itself is fundamentally robust. It is shared with other Aston Martin products and well understood by Aston Martin specialists. Corrosion in the sills and around the floor is possible on neglected cars. The air conditioning system uses now-obsolete refrigerant. Pop-up headlamps require maintenance.

Buying

A Series 2 with fully functioning instruments is the essential prerequisite. Many survive with dead or partial dashboards, and restoring them to full working order is expensive and specialist work. The AMOC Lagonda register and Aston Martin Works at Newport Pagnell are the resources to consult before purchase. The Series 2 is the most numerous of the wedge Lagondas and the sharpest, most uncompromising version of Towns’s design.