The car that won Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd. its first Royal Warrant, the magnificent 1954 Lagonda 3 Litre Drophead Coupe built to the special order of HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, sold last week by H&H Classics for £350,000 — a new world auction record that smashed the previous mark for a Lagonda 3-litre of £80,000. The H&H auction at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, Cambridgeshire, attracted more than 1,000 bidders with bids coming in from all over the world online and by telephone as well as from bidders in the enormous aircraft hanger where the sale was held.
Finished in a bespoke shade of Edinburgh Green matched to grey leather upholstery, the luxurious four-seater Convertible was one of just 20 MK1 cars made and used by The Duke of Edinburgh for personal transport prior to 1961. It has covered some 50,000 miles from new, and the new owner can say that the car ferried Prince Charles to school and carried HRH the Queen and Prince Philip to many a polo match.
The car and its new owner have been invited to attend a concours d’Elegance at Buckingham Palace on June 26 as part of the official 90th birthday celebrations for Her Majesty the Queen. Some 90 British-made cars — one from each year of her life — will be on display at the palace to be inspected by Prince Michael of Kent, a keen automobile enthusiast.
