Wilbur Gunn emigrated to England from Springfield, Ohio at the age of 40 in the late 19th century and settled in Staines, Middlesex. Apprenticed at the Singer sewing machine company he eventually became an inspector of the finished products. In 1898 he produced his first road going machine in England, a motor assisted bicycle with an engine driving the front wheel. He employed two servants to help build these machines at his home and they were named Lagonda. (A corruption of an area in Springfield, Ohio. "La Ohonda"). Motorcycles were made for about 8 years. In 1905 a cyclecar was introduced alongside the motorcycles.

11.1 HP (1913)

The Receiver was called in but Gunn continued to run the company. He managed to purchase the business back in 1910.

A 12/18 model was run in the Moscow to St. Petersburg Reliability Trials of 1910 and its success led to many 20 and 30hp models being exported to Russia in the years prior to the war.

During The Great War Lagonda manufactured a remote control gunnery system for the Royal Navy and converted American shells to British requirements. Car production continued in 1918 but Gunn died in 1920.

In the early 1930's a new light sporting car, the Rapier, was launched. In 1935 Lagonda stopped marketing this model and a separate company Rapier Cars Ltd. was formed to market this model as a make in its own right. At the other end of the range was the 4.5 litre Meadows engined M45. This model formed the basis for most models up to the Second World War.

In 1935 the company was again threatened by receivership and was saved from this, and inclusion into Rolls-Royce, by Alan Good.

W.O. Bentley designed the LG series that became available from 1935. The last pre-war model was the V-12 of 1937.

3 litres (1953)

In September 1947 Alan Good sold Lagonda to the David Brown Group, who utilised the V-12 engine in the Aston-Martin. David Brown had bought Aston-Martin in the January of that year.

From the mid 1950's Lagonda production was small with the Rapide in 1961 and a prototype V-8 in 1970.