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.
