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.