Aston Martin's enduring legacy

By ALASTAIR SLOANE

A couple of Aston Martins with nearly 50 years between them have turned heads on both sides of the Tasman.

The latest DB9 was unveiled in Auckland on Monday, and then a neglected but collectable model from the 1950s turned up in an Australian auction house catalogue.

The 1957 Aston Martin DB2/4 Mk 2 saloon will be sold unreserved in Sydney next Monday night. The auctioneers say the only kind way to describe it is "found".

The Mk I DB2/4 came out in 1953 to replace the DB2. The Mk II appeared in 1955, with a modified 2.9-litre straight-six engine putting out 105kW (140bhp) at 5000rpm.

British magazine Autocar managed 193km/h (119mph) and a zero to 100km/h time of 10s flat in its May 1957 road test of a similar four-speed manual model.

According to Aston Martin factory records, the Tickford-bodied DB2/4 Mk II was delivered to Count Charles de Salis in Britain in June 1957.

It was fitted with a modified cylinder head and a 3.77:1 final drive ratio. The factory uprated the brakes when de Salis entered it in the 1958 Tulip Rally in Europe. The car ended up in Australia where it has been in storage for more than 40 years.

The DB2/4 Mk II saloon is one of only 137 built. It is expected to fetch between A$15,000-A$25,000 ($17,450- $29,100). The new DB9 costs considerably more than that, closer to $500,000 road-ready in New Zealand. It is largely hand-built at a new purpose-built plant in Britain.

The DB9 is powered by a V12 engine producing 343kW (460bhp) at 6800rpm and 542Nm of torque at 5500rpm. It will sprint from zero to 100km/h in 4.5s - less than half the time it took the 1957 DB2/4.