Very many pre-war cars, such as the 2 litre saloon were bodied by the company of E. Bertelli Ltd, run by Enrico ‘Harry’ Bertelli, brother of A.C. ‘Bert’ Bertelli, in a factory next door to Aston Martin in Feltham. It was initially intended that 100 of the 4 door saloon would be built on the longer 9’8”chassis together with a lesser number of 2 door tourers. Although orders for the saloon were taken at the 1936 Motor Show, the car had barely been tested and the engine was found to be relatively rough, especially with the enclosed saloon body and performance was not as good as had been anticipated. After AM management realised that the saloon was somewhat filled with teething problems, planned production was halved and only 50 were actually built. Relatively few survive in original form, many have been scrapped and others re-bodied with more sporting coachwork.

Initially priced at £595 complete; deliveries first started in early 1937. Then, in June 1938, the price was slashed by £100 to just £495 in an attempt to move on the unsold examples. The heavy body was probably too much for the 2 litre engine, the coachwork was too much of a departure from Aston Martin’s sporting past and the styling was to many, uninspiring.

After a little thought, I realised that the rear styling of an more modern car was somewhat reminiscent of the 15/98 saloon; the 2009 Lagonda Concept?