During the two year production run of the Mark III, 551 examples of all derivatives were built, yet only 84 were dropheads. A majority of these drop heads were built with the standard fit 3 litre DBA engine with twin SU carburettors offering 162 bhp. Fourteen cars had the more powerful DBD triple SU carburettor unit with 180 bhp, and just two had the most powerful DBB special series engine (195bhp) with triple Webers instead of the SU’s. Thus, the DB Mark III drophead coupes with either the DBD or DBB engines are amongst the most desirable of the Feltham era cars.

Of course, not all Aston Martins are quite so shiny. Occasionally they are found rotting away in barns and lock-ups. The Drophead coupe (above) attracted great attention from bidders at the 2014 Bonhams Aston Martin auction.

How to identify the Mark III drop head coupe

During the 1949 Le Mans 24 hour race, the first 4 cylinder car, UMC64, crashed heavily and the driver, Pierre Marechal sadly died the following day. The second car, UMC65 went on to finish 7th overall and third in class. The six-cylinder car, UMC66 was less successful and retired shortly into the race with water pump failure. A little later, at the Spa 24 hour race, 6 cylinder UMC66 finished 3rd overall and the 4 cylinder UMC65, 5th. Yet despite the strong performance from the 4 cylinder car, it was the last engine of that configuration fitted to an Aston Martin (until the Cygnet!). The six cylinder UMC66 went on to be the development car for the upcoming production DB2.

Since UMC66 is now resident in the USA, I was fortunate to see the very first six-cylinder Aston Martin in the paddock at Laguna Seca and at the Pebble Beach Concours in the Summer of 2007.

The forth DB2 prototype and second with the six cylinder engine is LML/49/4 which carries the number UMC272. UMC272 became David Brown’s personal car but was also driven by Lance Macklin in competitive events during 1950. It was photographed during the Kensington Palace, Aston Martin Centenary Celebration in 2013.

The silver over blue car was often seen at British AMOC meetings, whereas the Peony Red example, which looks very original, I have only seen twice,  once in 2000 at the AMOC Spring Concorse and once at Silverstone in 2013.

I think this is my favourite Feltham Aston Martin model

The earliest cars (the first 49) feature a three part grille similar to that of the DB1, a large rectangular side vent behind each front wheel and bright trim along the side beneath the door. These triple grille cars are occasionally known as ‘washboards’ on account of the distinctive side vents. An excellent photographic resource on the ‘Washboard’ cars can be found on the Astonuts website.

From the 50th car, the side vent was deleted and three part grille was replaced by a simpler arraignment of horizontal bars, a design which lasted in production through to the DB2/4 Mark 2 in 1957. The rear ‘boot’ lid is really for entry to the spare wheel. Since the DB2 is strictly a two seater, there’s plenty of space for luggage behind the seats. Some cars pictured show front indicators which were not available from the factory when the car was new.

This (pictured above) DB2 was privately entered at Le Mans, finishing well in both 1951 and 1952. And the car is still racing today as I pictured this in the paddock at Donnington Park at the AMOC race meeting in 1997 and racing in 1999.

Low weight together with a six-cylinder, twin overhead cam engine of 2,580 cc initially producing 105 bhp, made the DB2 a very quick car for the time. Motor tested the DB2 to a maximum of 110 mph, with a 0-60 time of 12.4 seconds.  The compression ratio appears especially low at 6.5 to 1 but this was necessary as at the time due to the low octane post-war pool petrol.

From January 1951, an optional 125bhp Vantage VB6E/ engine with bigger carburettors and a 8.2 to 1 compression ratio made the DB2 even quicker. At this time, the ‘Vantage’ option represented a more powerful engine but no other performance or styling modifications. Access to the engine is easy once the massive and heavy front hinged single piece bonnet is lifted. Front hinged bonnets are a bit of an Aston Martin feature including almost all DB4, 5, and 6 cars, AMV8, Virage and now the DB11.

This (pictured above) famous car belongs to long time Aston Martin owner Tom May. On his 79th birthday in 1995 (his 80th year), Tom drove his DB2 around the banked circuit at Millbrook at an average speed of 80mph for 80 minutes. This remarkable record is thus just known as the 80-80-80. At one time the DB2 and driver reached 114 mph with a lap at an average of 108.5mph.

During a production run of three years a total of 411 DB2’s were built including 102 examples of an attractive drophead coupe. It was replaced by the 2+2 DB2/4 complete with the 2.6 litre VB6E/ ‘Vantage’ engine as standard in 1953.

DP114/2 otherwise became known as the Walls Ice Cream Van because of it’s original white and blue colour scheme. The car was sidelined in 1957 after a decision to base the Mark III replacement on the Touring designed DB4 and David Brown purchased the car from his company to be used by his wife as her personal transport until 1962.

Eventually, the car was bought back by Aston Martin in 1989 and was entrusted to Works Service so that it could be rebuilt to become a showpiece for the department. These photographs were taken on the AML Works Service stand ay the Coys festival in 1995 and outside the factory offices on’ Sunnyside’ during the Brookes/AML auction in 2001.

This is an example of the drophead coupe version of the DB2. It features the revised version of the grill featuring horizontal bars. At least 102 examples were produced (5 were sold chassis only and bodied elsewhere such as Graber in Switzerland) before being replaced by the DB2/4.

This wonderful example of a DB2 DHC, below, was the second production car, delivered in 1950 to Prince Bertil of Sweden. He kept it for 12 years for his use whilst in the UK and on the continent. It was also fitted with a Vantage tuned VB6E/ engine, the first DHC thus equipped. One unique feature of this car is the combination of earlier DB2 side vents with the later one-piece grille. I’m not so keen on the white wall types and chrome over-riders though.

The car was put on sale as one of the star lots in the 2004 AM/Bonham’s sale. And despite being finished in the correct Jubilee Blue and being presented in immaculate condition, the Prince’s Aston Martin sadly remained unsold. It is now being converted back to the correct three piece grille front by the current owner.

VMF64 (LML/50/8 – not pictured) in the hands of George Abecassis and Lance Macklin was 5th overall and 1st in class and also 1st in Index of Performance. VMF63 (LML/50/7) driven by Reg Parnell and Charles Brackenbury was 2nd in class and 6th overall. Unfortunately VMF65 (LML/50/9) crashed on way to the race and sadly didn’t compete.

All three cars were further raced by the Factory Works team throughout 1950 at Silverstone, Dundrod (Ulster TT) and Shelsey Walsh. VMF64 continued to compete by the factory in 1951 with a fantastic 3rd overall at Le Mans (and again 1st in class) and also in the Alpine Rally. In 1952, it also competed on the Mille Miglia (12th overall, 1st in class) and again on the Alpine Rally in where it came in 15th.

All three 1950 Works cars initially had the 3 part grille common to all the early DB2’s; from 1951 they subsequently received the revised horizontal bar type that they still have today.

Building on the experience of the previous season with the DB2 and a little more development time, the new Works cars were designed to be an incredible 200kg lighter than the 1950 examples. This was achieved by stripping out any unnecessary trim from the interior, the use on 18 gauge alloy for the bodies (instead of 16), Plexiglas side and rear windows and drilling the chassis.

XMC76 (LML/50/50) and XMC77 (LML/50/55) were entered in predominantly the same events as the previous year. At Silverstone, #76 came 6th overall and 1st in class, #77 retired. At Le Mans, #76 was 7th overall and 3rd in class, bettered by #77 which was 5th overall and 2nd in class. The 1951 team cars continued to be raced by the factory during 1952 and 1953.

Despite their age (all are over 60 years old) and immense value, all five DB2 team cars are still being actively raced even today at AMOC and other classic events worldwide.

At this time, the company were working on the first post war Aston Martin, based on the wartime Atom prototype with a chassis and 4 cylinder, 2 litre pushrod engine designed by Claude Hill. After thorough road testing of a virtually bare chassis by Claude Hill and works test driver, St John (Jock) Horsfall, it was decided that the best way to thoroughly evaluate the new car was to enter it into the 1948 Spa 24 hour race in the hands of Horsfall and Leslie Johnson.

David Brown must have been elated when the car came in 1st overall and it was quickly rebuilt for the 1948 London Motor Show and offered for sale as ‘The Spa Replica’. Sadly in post-war Britain, money was in short supply and no-one placed orders since, with sales tax, the price was in excess of £3,100, a massive amount at the time, sufficient to buy a very nice house.

The car spent many decades in car museums in both Belgium and the Netherlands but more recently was returned to the UK where it has been sympathetically restored by its new owner. The first time that it was seen in public in the UK for decades was appropriately at the 2006 AMOC Horsfall race meeting.

One element of the Spa Replica is in my opinion very special indeed. Look at the shape of the (three part) grille – which after countless re-designs, is still the most familiar AM design cue.

The car remains unique and is a special and important piece of Aston Martin history.

Sadly, only 14 examples were built, 13 with the open 2 seater coachwork, and a single example sold chassis only. They are very rarely seen indeed. The first that I have ever seen was in the showroom of Aston Workshop in Beamish during March 2006. This particular car was the last one to be made. It took until 2013 and the Centenary Celebration at Kensington Gardens for me to see my second 2 litre sports.

But one distinctive feature of the 2 Litre Sports can still be seen Aston Martins to the present day. It’s possible to see a familiar shape in the three piece grille. Unfortunately the centre section was not fitted to the car at Aston Workshop when I took these pictures.

After the DB2 was first announced in 1950, the 2 litre Sports become known retrospectively as the DB1.