IN THIS FEATURE Lusting after the Lagonda Lady Penelope's car William Towns DBS An instant hit Driving one today As speeds increase, so does refinement Buying one second-hand Smirks among the cognoscenti

The Tavistocks of Woburn had the first production car in April 1978, which broke down in front of the assembled world's press.

'It looked like Lady Penelope's car' Lady Tavistock told me recently 'and for months we had to be followed everywhere by a low-loader in case it broke down - but it was important that the car was seen on the road.'

The Duke of Westminster was done for speeding in his and could max it down the two-mile driveway of his stately home in Cheshire, which - like the Lagonda - was angular and 70s modernist rather than traditional.

Lots of Lagondas were bought by oil sheiks and seemed the embodiment of late 70s/early 80s excess for rich, flamboyant owner-drivers who didn't care who looked. In terms of ostentation their only real rival was the ludicrous Panther DeVille, a Rolls Royce Camargue or - if you were a successful porno actor - a Stutz Blackhawk.