BLENDING IN; 1989 Aston Martin Lagonda.(Escape Roads)

Byline: BOB TOMAINE

The future can be a tricky thing, as the Lagonda that seemed wildly radical 30 years ago can pass mostly unnoticed today.

Ohio native Wilbur Gunn moved to England and built the first Lagonda-a motorcycle-in 1900. Automobile production followed in 1907 with the four-cylinder Torpedo, and by 1937, a V12 Lagonda was good for 100 mph. Ten years later, the Lagonda company, along with Aston Martin, was acquired by David Brown. Lagonda production lapsed several times, but in 1976, the razor-edged, low-nosed saloon was announced, at $71,000.

With its 5.3-liter double-overhead-cam V8, the two-ton Lagonda claimed 140 mph and a seven-second 0-to-60-mph time. It offered the curious mixture of a high-tech electronic dashboard and an old-world leather interior, features that survived a 1987 restyling that continued the shape and the look while softening the edges. The update also eliminated the disappearing headlights and replaced them with three fixed lamps per side, as seen on the 1989 model donated in 2006 to the Antique Automo-bile Club of America Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania (www.aacamuseum.org).

The superluxury quality and the electronics remain in the later model and are interesting but not always successful. Chrome ashtrays and lighters on the transmission hump are out of place and reflect glare, readouts require study, and controls vary from poorly identified to nonintuitive.

"All these things just reek of '70s stupidity,'' museum curator Jeff Bliemeister said. "It's like a microwave console.''

Driving the Lagonda offsets that. In traffic, its potential remains in the background as ...