The Lagonda SUV of 1949

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Now that Porsche, Maserati, Bentley, Alfa-Romeo and even Rolls-Royce have an Sports Utility Vehicle in their model range and supposedly sell them very well, it appears that Aston Martin is seriously considering to develop one, too. And they are believed to do that under the Lagonda DBX banner. No, we’re no fans either.

But it did strike us when we read about a Lagonda 4x4 vehicle of 70 years ago. Well, it’s one that never passed the prototype stage, but a good story never the less, fully described in Vantage magazine some issues back. In a nutshell, it goes like this: Back in 1949, Aston Martin Lagonda boss David Brown had been approached by Willys to develop a diesel powered car, but it came to nothing and that’s when DB supposedly planned to come up with an all-wheel drive vehicle his own design. This had to be ‘a shooting brake with all the off-road ability of a Land Rover, which would provide the best of both worlds’. And despite the whole project being totally shrouded in secrecy, it appears to have been all taken rather seriously, too.

The project was headed by John Cullen, who was recruited from Rover for the occasion. Cullen had been the assistant to Tom Barton, who on his turn was in charge of Land Rover developments. One prototype with pick-up body was built. And although it really was the idea to do it under the Lagonda banner, the vehicle was internally named the DB Terra Magister and used for some years before the brief to cut costs killed it. The car disappeared and was never seen again. Now, we’re not even sure if the mock-up on the picture copied in here is a design for the same car, but are rather intrigued by it never the less. Any more information is much appreciated.

(Words editor, picture Vantage magazine)

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