This car, Lot 115, sold for $478,000, including buyer’s premium, at Broad Arrow Auctions’ Amelia Island, FL, sale, on March 6, 2026.
The Second World War had been good business for British entrepreneur David Brown, who had earlier augmented his family’s machining business with tractor manufacturing. As hostilities ebbed, Brown was flush with cash and eager for an automotive adventure that might further his youthful motorsports ambitions. He purchased a foundering Aston Martin for £20,500 in 1947 and later that year acquired an equally unstable Lagonda for the more-generous sum of £52,500 (around $3 million today).
Bentley’s bounty
Brown’s interest in Lagonda wasn’t so much the brand — there wasn’t much of that left following the Great Depression and World War II (where Lagonda engineers helped develop long-distance flamethrowers designed to immolate invading German gliders). Rather, he was after the services of brilliant engineer W.O. Bentley, who, quite conveniently, had developed a 2.6-liter twin-cam 6-cylinder that seemed ideally suited to Brown’s ambitious plans for Aston Martin.
With Brown focused on transforming Aston into a serious sports-car competitor, Lagonda struggled to recapture pre-war glory that included a Bentley-designed 4.5-liter V12 and an outright 1935 Le Mans win with the M45 “Rapide.” But as Aston gained credibility with the DB4, Brown relaunched the famed Rapide name in 1961 on a handsome Lagonda sedan aimed at the likes of the Jaguar Mark X and Humber Super Snipe. However, burdened with an awkward Edsel-like grille and encroaching on Silver Cloud pricing, it was doomed from the start. So too was a subsequent 4-door DBS variant.
Back on the map
Despite these disappointments, the ghosts of Lagonda lingered in the halls of Newport Pagnell. They found new life after Aston’s 1975 sale to a consortium led by U.S. entrepreneur Peter Sprague, who felt that a Lagonda variant was core to Aston’s relaunch. The result was as exotic as Brown’s Rapide was subtle — a long, wedgy spear whose sheer, hand-formed panels were lauded by none other than GM’s styling boss Bill Mitchell. Launched in 1976, the Lagonda’s then-innovative touch controls hampered development, but it quickly landed on magazine covers worldwide. “The Lagonda put Aston Martin back on the automotive map,” Sprague said later, “and attracted badly needed new attention.”
Between 1979 and 1990, Aston produced a total of 645 Lagondas across three series, but the brand went fallow again until the 2014 introduction of our subject car, the Taraf. You could be excused for confusing the Taraf (Arabic for “opulence”) with Aston’s 2010 Rapide, a car that was envisioned as a svelte 4-door DB9, carrying over about 60% of its parts. Recast as a maximalist Rapide, the Taraf launched in Dubai in recognition of the Mideast’s soaring affluence and influence. Initially limited to just 100 units at an ambitious $1 million each, production ended in 2016 with 20 additional units built. None were earmarked for U.S. buyers.
The same, only different
The Taraf swapped the Rapide’s driver-centric focus for a rear-passenger emphasis that began with an eight-inch wheelbase extension and a 1.6-inch-taller roofline; despite an outwardly similar appearance, the pair shared only a windscreen. Built by Aston’s bespoke Q department (also the source of the limited-edition One-77), its carbon-fiber bodywork held weight impressively close to the Rapide, although the loss of 20 hp and a larger frontal area meant that 0–60 mph took a bit more time and top speed dropped from 203 to 195 mph.
While the sales pitch was aimed at whomever was occupying the rear seat, one critic pointed out that the Taraf would never match the all-out luxury of other high-end “driven” cars such as the Maybach 62. “The Rapide-derived interior is not luxurious enough. Although it is trimmed with expensive leathers everywhere as expected, the boss gets few comfy features or toys to play with.”
That was a lot of compromise for a $1m entry ticket, but then the Taraf stood in sharp styling contrast to competitors like the doughy Maybach. And with only 120 built (compared with many more for the Maybach), odds were that there wouldn’t be another one parked on the Ritz forecourt. Perhaps that’s its rarefied appeal — a chance to be in the company of just 119 fellow Tarafistes worldwide.
A Brit abroad
There have been a handful of international Taraf sales in recent years, with prices in the SCM Platinum Auction Database ranging from just under $300k to just over $440k. Most have traded with just delivery mileage, typically accompanied by an ominous “needs recommissioning” caveat. While this example has only clocked about 500 miles over its life, it underwent a service at Aston Martin Beverly Hills in early 2025 and is presumably ready to use — in so much as its federal Show and Display importation status allows, that is.
Given the Taraf’s nobility and rarity, this example’s $478k purchase price puts it in the company of a variety of interesting alternatives — though only a few of them would include a second set of doors. And when you consider that the Taraf’s first cousin, the Rapide, routinely trades in the $50k–$75k range, our Taraf seems quite well sold indeed. However, it must be considered that landing another Tarif in the U.S. will come with its own set of costs, hassles and, indeed, tariffs.
