150 | GOODWOOD REVIVAL SALE
That year’s RAC Tourist Trophy race was run at Donington Park in
Derbyshire, and ‘EPE 97’ reappeared, now with a tiny regulation
door fitted to the passenger side, still on the car to this day. It was
co-driven by Charlie Brackenbury/C.E.C. ‘Charlie’ Martin and the
latter crashed it at Melbourne Hairpin due to breakage of its near-
side front stub axle. While this was the car’s last major race it was
then loaned to Alan Hess – editor of the contemporary magazine
Speed – who set a new sports car record of 104.4 miles covered
within one hour from a standing start (with passenger!).
The car survived the Second World War and in 1952 it was
acquired by enthusiastic racer and subsequent VSCC stalwart Joe
Goodhew. He lowered the entire body 10 inches and fitted the car
with an ENV pre-selector gearbox. He and Bob Freeman-Wright,
the Managing Director of Kodak, then co-drove the old car in that
year’s major international British endurance race – the inaugural
Goodwood Nine Hours. Despite being 16 years old, the Lagonda
finished 14th amongst the 18 finishers and averaged 72mph around
the charismatic 2.4-mile Sussex circuit, in comparison to the
victorious works C-Type Jaguar’s 81mph.
Shortly after, Colonel L.S. Michael acquired ‘EPE 97’. He was
the contemporary leading authority on tuning Meadows engines,
and he constantly developed the car through a busy club racing
program until as late as 1960. He achieved an astonishing record
over 120 placings with the car, including victory in the VSCC
Pomeroy Trophy event in 1959, and then setting a long – and
possibly still – unbroken record for the marque in the Firle hill-climb.
In his hands ‘EPE 97’ covered the standing-start quarter-mile in
16.83 seconds, and the flying-start quarter-mile in 10.2 – 88.24mph- after a very brief run-up.
This fabulously versatile and drivable Post-Vintage Thoroughbred
car then lay fallow until 1974, when it was acquired by David Dunn,
who rebuilt it to its original Fox & Nicholl specification, restoring
the bodyshell to its original height by fitting bonnet side panels
but otherwise simply welding 10-inches of aluminium sheet back
along the bottom where Goodhew had cut away the original. Both
engine and gearbox were rebuilt during this extensive restoration,
and it was little used by the contemporary owner before the car
was offered for sale by auction in 1987. The buyer then was
entrepreneur and car dealer Terry Cohn.