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

It is hard to overemphasise the impact the Aston Martin Lagonda made when it was launched 30 years ago at Earls Court - the 250 deposits taken at the show brought Aston Martin back from the brink of yet another bankruptcy.

I was 10 years old at the time and can still remember the impact of that car, front cover news not only in the specialist press all over the world but even the TV. Rather like Concorde, it was a kind of national event, something to be proud of. A sort of 'don't-write-of-us-off-yet' statement that lifted spirits in a grim period.

Styled by William Towns, it took seven months from sketch to prototype and drew huge publicity, as much for its solid state gas plasma instrument display and touch-sensitive controls as for its sharp-edged look. Hand built in alloy on the existing Aston V8 hardware, it was three years before the first cars were delivered (at double the original price) - and even then there were problems with the over-ambitious electronics.

Schoolboys lusted after the Lagonda but it was the aristocracy, at least at first, who bought them.