Aston Martin image gallery - old models

As I don't have pictures about pre-war Astons at the moment, let's focus on their post-war history.

Aston Martin DB series

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 Bentley-constructed 2.6 105 bhp engine and the Aston chassis.
Aston Martin DB2 Vantage.
The Vantage differed from the base model that it had a more powerful engine: 125 bhp.
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.
Aston Martin DB3S
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 drophead
Aston Martin DB 2/4 Mk II Spider from 1956

The photo of the Spider (and all the other models as well) was taken by Dave Sisson. He just saw this car in a parking lot and thought it's lookin' great. He was extremely lucky.

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".

Aston Martin DB4 GT Sanction I by Zagato 1960

Photo: Dave Sisson (dsisson@alfa-necrophylia.com)

same car

"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 fron 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 stablemats, 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.

Text taken from Automobile Quarterly (I dunno the exact issue) am-zagat1.jpg was provided by Julian Gothard shows another car with Jim Clark at Goodwood back in 1961.

am_db6-f.jpg

am_db6-b.jpg Aston Martin DB6 (Mark I)

Photos courtesy of Bolko Rawicz (brawicz@sfu.ca)

The DB6 was an upgraded version of the DB5: more weight, more equipment. Longer wheelbase gave more room in the rear seats and instant identification points are squared-off tail and split bumpers. Air conditioning, powered steering and a more advanced automatic 'box were options.

As with the DB5, the DB6 enjoyed a large enough power increase in common Vantage trim (now worth 325bhp breathing through triple Webers) to overcome its extra weight.

1755 DB6 were produced between October 1965 and November 1970.

The above text was collected from Classic&Sportscar September 1985 issue on the Aston Martin DB4/5/6 family.

Years built: 1965-71
Number built: 1330 MkI, 245 MkII, 1575 Total
Built at: Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, England
Styling: Turing of Milan, Italy.
Technical:: 4 litre six-cylinder engine; fabricated steel platform-type chassis; lightweight bodyshell of Turing-patented Superleggera construction; ZF 5-speed manual transmission; weight of around 1400-1500 kg (based on DB5's 1397 kg weight); top speed of over 220 km/h; power of over 250 bhp

Go further to the current range of Aston Martin

Go back to the History of Aston Martin page

Go back to my main page

Thanks for visiting this page. Please send me Your comments. Thanks.

Paul Negyesi

I am no related to this company or its products. I have no responsibility for the accuracy of the above info. This document or parts of it cannot be used for commercial purposes.