This 2 Litre Sports is a fine example of the model that ushered in the David Brown era at Aston Martin. Successful industrialist Brown had bought the struggling Aston Martin concern in 1946, and the following year added Lagonda to his expanding motor-manufacturing empire. When Brown bought Aston Martin he acquired the Atom — a 2.0-liter, 4-cylinder prototype intended for post-war production — plus “a few rusty old machine tools and the services of the Atom’s designer, Claude Hill, who was very good.”
The chassis of the 2 Litre Sports was a direct development of the Atom’s, being of tubular construction and featuring independent front suspension by means of trailing arms, and a well-located live rear axle. Coil springs were used all around, plus a torsion bar at the front.
With the DB2 ready for release, manufacture of the 2 Litre Sports (retrospectively known as the DB1) was halted in mid-1950 after only 15 production models had been made, plus one Team Car. It is thus the rarest of all the “David Brown” Aston Martin production models.
Chassis number 10 is recorded in the Aston Martin Owners Club Register as having attended the Le Mans Historic meeting in 1975 and 1978, and the AMOC Luxembourg Slalom in 1985, where it won the Members’ Choice Trophy. The owner in 1985 was a Mrs. Geisler. Otherwise, the car’s history is not known, though copies of old German registration papers and other documents on file indicate that it spent some time in that country before being shipped to the U.S.
SCM Analysis
Detailing
| Vehicle: | 1950 Aston Martin 2 Litre Sports Drophead Coupe (DB1) |
| Years Produced: | 1948–50 |
| Number Produced: | 15 (plus one Works racer) |
| Tune Up Cost: | $1,000 (estimated) |
| Chassis Number Location: | Riveted to scuttle (also stamped into scuttle front edge) |
| Engine Number Location: | Stamped in block on top ledge of front water outlet |
| Club Info: | Aston Martin Owners Club |
| Website: | http://www.amoc.org |
| Alternatives: | 1946–50 Healey Westland/Sportsmobile, 1946–54 Lea Francis 14HP Sports, 1953–55 Daimler Conquest Roadster |
This car, Lot 134, sold for $209,987 (£172,500), including buyer’s premium, at Bonhams’ London, U.K., sale on December 16, 2022.
“Aston Martin — for the Sportsman” went the period advertising. And these did race. After the prototype had won at Spa in 1948, another finished 4th in class (11th overall) at Le Mans in 1949. It was famously later stolen from a Japanese dockside. Offered by RM Sotheby’s at Monterey in 2017, it went unsold against a $1m-plus estimate (SCM# 6846546).
The 2 Litre Sports is an important model, representing the first car Aston Martin produced under the ownership of David Brown (whose initials remain attached to Aston models to this day). This was the point at which the production design was pulled away from a traditional British sports car into something more modern. That meant independent front suspension, a new overhead-valve motor and swoopy full-width styling. Only retrospectively tagged the DB1 after the DB2 appeared, it was derived from the Atom prototype coupe that never went into production. The story goes that when Brown tried the Atom, he was so impressed that he bought the company.
“DB1” 101
Essentially, the 2 Litre combines the Aston Martin chassis featuring Healey-type trailing-arm front suspension that carried over into the DB2 and 2/4, an engine by Claude Hill, a David Brown gearbox and body design by Frank Feeley, whom Brown inherited via the purchase of Lagonda. It’s the first David Brown-era car, in a long line that includes the DB5 immortalized in the James Bond films.
The first of these new cars had been sent for a proper test in the 1948 Spa 24-hour race. Driven by St. John Horsfall and Leslie Johnson, it won, and was rebuilt afterwards to appear at the 1948 London Motor Show, marketed as the “Spa replica.” Sadly, at more than £3,000, there were no takers. That car still exists and, following restoration, was last sold in 2015 for $781k (SCM# 266094).
“Production” cars (they were all slightly different) have a fully enveloping body, with the spare wheel in one front wing, Bristol-style, and the emergence of the famous DB three-part grille. With 90 hp from the 1,970-cc OHV engine, they were good for over 90 mph — but it’s not all plain sailing. “The car has its own unique character,” says owner and model authority Allan Southward. “The steering box is from a Thwaites dump truck and the geometry of the steering arms give rise to the phenomenon of bump steer. As is common with cars of this age on cross-ply tires, you really need significant attention while driving, coupled with a mildly relaxed approach to allowing it to go where it needs to.”
Including the Spa prototype, just 12 examples were originally made, and Allan’s — chassis 13 — only exists thanks to the Hon. JCC Cavendish (later Lord Chesham), who wanted a soft top when the new DB2 came solely as a hard-top coupe. Apparently, the Works said yes to his request, but would only build a run of three, meaning he had to find buyers for another two. With the DB2 then extant, these cars became known as DB1s.
“Recommissioning required”
Chassis AMC5010 presents as a driver-quality older restoration and features trad Brit curios such as the contra-rotating speedo and tachometer needles, but the bench seat is rather unsporting. There’s a tiny perch in the rear, sufficient only for children or luggage. Now, the shape: Feeley was an acknowledged master, having styled the Lagonda V12, but something appears to have been slightly lost in translation on this one. That spare wheel forces an artificially long front end and, in combination with the oddly shaped wheel spats, the rear looks hunched and broken-backed.
Southward adds, “Each car is individual. It’s clear that a previous owner has modified this one with modern indicators rather than sticking with the trafficator arms, as well as taillights. There is practicality in having mirrors; however, the original cars didn’t have any.”
The vendor purchased the car from Autosport Designs of New York in May 2007, and it hasn’t been used since. That “stored since acquisition and requires recommissioning” rider at the end of the catalog description alerts us to the fact that this is yet another returnee from the Middle East, where hundreds of Astons and others were hoarded, unused, around 15 years ago. They are now trickling back on the market, mostly via Bonhams, following the passing of their collector.
Luckily, the simpler and older the car, the simpler and cheaper the recommissioning tends to be. Here it should be little more than a change of fluids and seals, although Southward’s own engine was silted-up after 60 years and overheated. It required two rebuilds to get right.
These returning vehicles are liable for taxes if they are to stay in the U.K. (or EU, for that matter), in this case as an older car Import VAT at 5% on the hammer price, plus £420 in administrative fees, taking Bonhams’ invoice to the new owner to £180,420, or $219,628.
Rare, and obscure
Bonhams made much of the “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to buy our subject car. And it is, because the survivors are all known, mostly in long-term ownership and don’t often come to market. The problem seems to be that not enough potential buyers have yet caught on to the 2 Litre’s significance. This sold for much less than the last one at auction in 2018 and, though it achieved well over its pre-sale estimate, Southward reckons the buyer got it cheap, at less than DB2 money. As an owner with a vested interest, that’s an understandable position. Still, it hasn’t run for at least 15 years, so the extent of “recommissioning” needed is unknown.
This is a waypoint model and, as Bonhams intimates, should be in any serious Aston Martin collection (where it had been, the late owner acquiring one of every Aston variant in nearly every style and color). Questionable aesthetics and driving dynamics aside, what’s currently holding this model back is being too far under the radar. With all that in mind, and comparing the price to the nicer chassis number 7 in 2018, I’d say the cautiously considered view is: “Sold cheapish, but fairly.” ♦
(Introductory description courtesy of Bonhams.)
