The 2.6 saloon Mark 2  cars from 1952-53

By late 1952, the sales of the 2.6 saloons and dhc's were starting to fall away, as the mid-1940's styling dated very quickly. David Brown looked on Lagonda as his luxury car division. The Mark II version of the saloon, appeared in late 1952, with engine power increased to 125 bhp.

The car sold reasonably well, in spite of being an expensive car, at £3,420 including taxes, and being launched so soon after the war, with 501 Mk1 examples made when production ended in 1952. These were followed by a 10  Mark 2 examples bodied by Lagonda as saloons, creating one of the rarest of the DB Lagondas made.  There are very few survivors and the gallery here for the moment uses black and white period images, and a car with no engine/box seen on the web back in 2010, which also may not have survived.

The Mk2 prototype (DP77) was built using chassis LAG/50/427, with registration number of XMG 81, and first registered in April 1952. Chassis numbers for the production Mk 2 cars run from  LAG/50/502, and the cars I have positively identified as 2.6 Mk2 saloons are LAG/50/514 to LAG/50/523. These cars were reigistered in the period November 1952 through to June 1953, giving a count of 10 cars.

There are a number of changes between the Mk1 and Mk2, such the rear doors, now incorporating part of the rear wing, rear side window changes, addition of jackalls,  rear seat layout altered for 3 people, & other styling changes, but clearly not enough to boost sales, in a changing market-place.  

The last 16 of the Mk II chassis were sent to Brookland's for bodying by Tickford with the new, drop-dead gorgeous body shape, and are known as 2.6/3.0 Brookland's cars.  These cars must have made a fabulous impression when new, with many famous people owning them, including the Duke of Edinburgh.

An unindentified 2.6 Mk2 car, with registration number HFO 969 appeared on eBay several times during 2010, finally selling for £4,000 with no engine and box or instruments.  The owner stated that the car needed a full restoration as well. This is possibly LAG/50/521, sold in 1952.