Memories of early Astons12 Jul 2021 16:14
As a family we used to have holidays in the Lake District and a pub we used to visit was the Mortal Man in Troutbeck. It wasn't far from the caravan site at White Cross Bay and many people my parents knew used to regularly attend. Very much a watering hole. One day there was a DB4 parked outside and it transpired it was a factory test car and as luck would have it, my eldest brother got a run back to the caravan site. I was a bit too young to be really bothered, but I also remember the very first E type that family friends bought and that did cause a stir on the site. Nothing like it had been seen before.
Some years later, on a trip down the M1, my dad and I called in to the Aston factory at Newport Pagnall. They had just started making the DBS alongside the DB6 and I still have the brochures from that visit as well as a swatch of the various leathers you could choose.
Around 1968, Aston were still developing their new V8 and as part of the programme they ran a Lola T70 at Le Mans with the engine. John Surtees was one of the drivers and from memory the car was running in 3rd place until it developed problems.
Years later and the love affair with Astons had never diminished although I also had the same affection with Mini Cooper Ss which were a lot more affordable. I'd ralled and raced them and had one put away that I had used for many years. I'd also bought one unseen in the USA and had it shipped back to the UK. Including shipping the car cost me around £2,600 and it was a great find as it had the original shell with a perfectly straight floor and had never even had wheel arch extensions fitted. This was 1990/1991 and since then I have meticulously rebuilt it and use it each year when the better weather arrives.
At the same time I was a member of the Aston Martin Owners Club even though I wasn't an owner. Anyone could join and each month or quarter you got a lovely magazine which I still have. I also went to occasional monthly meetings when owners would turn up in various models. I remember that the 4s and 5s were not particularly expensive, maybe £8,000 or £9,000 for a nice example, although still a lot to me with a £40,000 mortgage and a Cooper S I'd just spent £2,600 on. They were still out of my price reach. But I still remember that the first DBSs were just not considered collectable cars and you could pick these up for maybe £2,000, although maybe the expenditure would have only just begun. There's a big difference between stripping a Cooper S and trying the same exercise on an Aston. You need a heck of a lot more space and mini spares have generally never been a problem.
Around this time there was a scrap merchant dealing in cars who had a site about 2 miles away that I used to pass each day on the journey to work. He had a DB5, wheel less and balanced on a palette, with an asking price on the windscreen for £1,000. Any takers?
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