The story of the DB series goes back to 1939. Claude Hill, Aston's chief- engineer thought about applying Citroën's unibody construction and mix it with the C-type's specifications. The result was the Atom with independent front suspension, unibody and Cotal pre-selection gearbox. It was the star of the 1940 London Motor Show, but the War intervened.
After the war Aston struggled with financial difficulties. It was a relief that David Brown bought the company. He bought Lagonda as well. With Lagonda came the W.O. Bentley-developed 2.6 liter 6-cylinder and Frank Feley, a great designer. In 1948 the first DB (named after David Brown), the DB1 was shown. It was a development of the Atom. A stripped down version won the 1948 24-hour Spa race. Only 15 were made of this car.

The DB2 debuted in 1950 with the 2.6 105 bhp engine, taken over from Lagonda and the Aston chassis. The Vantage differed from the base model that it had a more powerful engine: 125 bhp. The DB2 featured independent trailing link suspension and in the debut year it took equal first index of Performance at Le Mans and won the 3-litre class. The 3-litre engine was introduced as standard in all models shortly after the introduction of the DB2-4, which had two occasional rear seats.

Aston Martin DB2 Vantage Aston Martin DB2 drophead.

Concurrent with the DB2 came the racing DB3, designed by Eberan von Eberhorst. This man is famous for the Auto Union racers of the '40s. This racer was succeeded by the DB3S of which 30 were made between 1953 and 1956. It was one of the most succesful (if not THE most) Aston racer.

Meanwhile, in late 1953, the DB2 had grown into the DB2/4 with more legroom at the rear, more luggage space and an extended roof.
Aston Martin DB 2/4 coupé
As usual drophead version were offered as well.
Aston Martin DB 2/4 Mk II Spider from 1956

The photos were taken by Dave Sisson. He saw the extremely rare DB 2/4 Spider in a parking lot and thought "it's lookin' great:.

This car (with the same registration number) has been mentioned in the April 1995 issue of Classic and Sportscar as "... was one of just three Spiders ordered from Touring by David Brown, and marked the beginning of a rewarding association between Aston and the famous Milan coachbuilder. All survive, two in American and this ... the only rhd example, which is still in England".

The DB4 was introduced in 1958 at the London Motor Show. This car was on a completely different chassis concept from its predecessors, being the platform chassis as opposed to the space frame of previous post-war models. A variation of the platform chassis was also used on the Lagonda Rapide, which was produced between 1960 and 1963.

Aston Martin DB4 GT Sanction I by Zagato 1960 same car with Jim CLark at Goodwood, 1961. Provided by Julien Gothard.

In 1959 Aston Martin developed the DB4 GT as a short wheelbase racing version of the DB4 saloon. Both the saloon and GT versions had handsome bodies designed by Touring. Aston Martin wanted a series of DB4 GT's that would be lighter and more competetive racing against the Ferrari 250 GT's, so in 1960 it contracted Zagato to build bodies for 19 chassis. Many consider the resulting DB4 GT Zagato to be the most attractive Zagato body ever.

The rounded rear end bore a strong resemblance to the contemporary short wheelbase 250 GTs that Ferrari was then campaigning. The front was a graceful solution to the problem of incorporating the large Aston grille while at the same time providing good aerodynamic penetration. As a whole the car seems both elegant and brutish. All 19 still exist in the hands of enthusiast owners.

The DB4 GT Zagatos were marginally faster than their normal GT stablemates, but they were no match for the Ferraris on the track, especially the 250 GTOs.

A quarter century after the last GT Zagato was built, Victor Gauntlett and Peter LIvanos, at the time joint chairmen at Aston Martin, took the unusual step of having Zagato build four additional cars, assigning them the four unused serial numbers of the 23 originally allocated in 1959 for the Zagato- bodied series. Fourd DB4 chassis were shortened and modified to DB4 GT speci- fications by Richard Williams, an Aston Martin specialist and owner of an original DB4 GT Zagato... These recreations, referred to as the DB4 GT Zagato Sanction II cars, were sold in 1991 for approximately three times the value of a pristine original Touring-boded DB4 GT, which indicates the attraction of the Zagato version.