Snapshot, 1978: Just around the corner, Your Highness

It’s February 1978, and the new Aston Martin Lagonda Series 2 is nearing the final stages of production before it heads to market. To ensure the car is the best yet, the prototypes must be driven to determine where adjustments need to be made, and who’s feedback is more valued than a prince?

After the flop that was the Aston Martin Lagonda V8, with only seven being built, the company decided to give it another go with the Lagonda Series 2, and to the shock and awe of the motoring press in October 1976, they delivered ten-fold. The low, angular, straight lines of the new Lagonda were innovative, futuristic, and honestly, not what one would expect of Aston Martin. So appealing was the new model that Prince Philip wanted to give it a test drive, and the prince got what he wanted. As The Royal Highness already had a made-to-order 1954 Aston Martin Lagonda 3-Litre Drophead Coupé, earning the company its first Royal Warrant, it would be safe to say he knew a little bit about how a Lagonda should look and feel. And although there is no record of him purchasing this model, it sure looks like he’s having a good time behind the wheel.

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