TEACHER’S PET

Back in 1984, the then-owner of this Lagonda LG45 Rapide was driving through Shropshire when he decided to stop for petrol. As he later described it: ‘All of a sudden, an old, battered car came onto the forecourt at much speed, skidded to a halt, and the driver exited, shouting “I passed my driving test in that car!”’

What’s remarkable about this encounter is that the person doing the shouting had passed his test in Bedfordshire, a long way from Shropshire, and it was during the late 1930s, almost half-a-century earlier. Richard Neil was a pupil at Bedford School, where one of the masters owned the Lagonda. Richard had a picture of himself taken beside the car, wearing his Scouts’ uniform, on the day it was delivered, 30 July 1937.

In pre-war Britain, a Lagonda LG45 Rapide was one of the most exciting cars you could purchase. Capable of well over 100mph, with glamorous coachwork courtesy of Lagonda’s own Frank Feeley, it was the equal of anything the Continent could offer. Yet, in some ways the story of its first owner, that