Solved NIC#983 - Howorth Special ( Lagonda M45 base)

[nicanary]

What was this car called, and on what was it based?

[nicanary]

Experts?

[tobytwirl]

Any Simca there?

[nicanary]

Any Simca there?

No.

[Mogul]

French

[tobytwirl]

HRG?

[nicanary]

Not French, and not an HRG.

[D-type]

Is there some Bugatti in there?

[tobytwirl]

Is it a pre-war car underneath?

[nicanary]

No Bugatti bits, but it is pre-war.

[tobytwirl]

Riley?

[Allan L]

Could be Frazer Nash based, but probably not.

[smodmog]

Lagonda ?

[D-type]

An obvious question:  it is British isn't it?

[nicanary]

Lagonda ?

Questions, questions! After all that, yes it was based on a Lagonda.

[smodmog]

Lagonda Rapier based race car ?

[smodmog]

1934 Lagonda M45 Howorth Special

[nicanary]

1934 Lagonda M45 Howorth Special

That's the answer. Built in 1944 by Hugh Howorth based on a Lagonds M45 from about 1934.

[Allan L]

As is my custom, I can find something to quibble about!
The front of this car shows no sign of the dumbirons that a M45 has and my Frazer Nash guess (above) was based on that lack of dumbirons/semi-elliptic front springs. The later Lagonda V12 had independent front suspension as did the LG6 six-cylinder car and I'd say the front end points to it being i.f.s. - but by then Lagonda had hydraulic brakes which this special has not.

[nicanary]

Pedants and those of an enquiring mind are the backbone of Autopuzzles!

The remains of the car were in an H & H auction and the auction house blurb is fairly lengthy. The original M45 was a pillarless saloon AYW11 and Howorth rebuilt it as an open sports registered FTJ588. It was badly damaged in a sprint and he rebuilt it again with a shortened chassis with drilled everything and a homebuilt ifs supposedly from a Humber staff car (??). It had a wide front track and thus a crablike stance.

It was re-registered again CWH222 and later on had a new Meadows engine with ENV preselector box.

So your observation was spot-on. Not M45 front suspension but indeed an ifs setup.