The Classic DB Lagonda
There were two woody station wagons built on some of the last remaining DB 2.6 mk 2 chassis's in May 1954, there is some Pathe footage of one the cars at Le Mans 1959 race , and a few low resolution stills are included on this page. The two cars were driven till they literally fell apart and then broken up by the works., most likley at the end of the AML involvement in motorsport with F1 in ca. 1960.
One might suggest that the factory were using up, unused 2.6 litre chassis's and dated body-work, once the 3.0 litre cars came into production, and the previous very dated model was then unsaleable.
The cars have a standard 2.6 front end, up to the b-pillars where the doors hinge. The rear doors have an outer wooden woody effect, and this carries on to the back of the car, with a stretched aluminum roof and no doubt extra pillars to support the weight. From the film clip, it appears that the boot was of the two-piece type, but very hard to be defintive on this. Also aluminum rear wheel spats can be seen.
LAG/50/530 with registration number 79 BHX and LAG/50/542 with registration number of 250 FMY
Shown below is a recenty acquired picture of the second of the DB 2.6 mk 2 chassis's converted with woody style extended body-work in May 1954, There are several possible body-work specialists who may have made this, but it seems most likely to have been Tickford made, as by this point they were well integrated in AML.
The car we have been informed from first hand knowledge was painted in the classic AML grey-green colour. The image below shows it parked in front of the Jagerhof hotel in Antweiler, the day before the 1957 Nurburgring 1000km race, where some race team personnel were staying. The race was won by a DBR1, driven by Brookes et. al, and 6th place was the second works entry DBR1. There were also two DB3S cars entered, the Whitehead car finishing 9th. This second Woody also clearly finding useage as a team transport for the Aston-Martin factory team.
It was an imposing automobile, with considerable rear overhang, probably around 20 feet long, I would hazard a guess, they changed the 2.6 litre for the 3.0 litre engine, otherwise this car was have been very under-powered with the extra weight of body-work.
The cars have a standard 2.6 front end, up to the b-pillars where the doors hinge. The rear doors have an outer wooden woody effect, and this carries on to the back of the car, with a stretched aluminum roof and no doubt extra pillars to support the weight. From the film clip, it appears that the boot was of the two-piece type, but very hard to be defintive on this. Also aluminum rear wheel spats can be seen.