Reassembly builds come in all shapes and sizes – but few have quite the provenance of the car you see in front of you. Aston Martin’s very first production DB2 – one of seven made in 1950, chassis LML/50/11, is being sold by RM Sothebys – the first build to be recognised by the Aston Martin Owners’ Club as such.
That year, Aston Martin was producing the very first of its serious sports cars in the hands of its new owner, David Brown, following the commercial failure of the 2-Litre Sports drophead that was later renamed “DB1.” The “DB” moniker is still used today on the DB11.
While LM/50/11’s pre-production brethren were winning their class at Le Mans, David Brown is thought to have used LML/50/11 while waiting for his DB2 Drophead Coupé to be readied for the road. Its first owner, amateur racer and dealer, George Schrafft, met Brown in Cannes while on holiday, ordering a DB2 on the strength of a handshake.
It was the first Aston ever to race at the 12 Hours of Sebring in the United States; seven years later, Carroll Shelby would race a DBR1 there. The DB2 was repatriated 30 years ago to be restored by Tom Barnard, an expert in ‘washboard’ DB2s, the first 49 DB2s produced so named owing to their three-piece nose with a ribbed radiator grille.
By 2010, it was in the hands of the current vendor, who had the chassis rebuilt on a jig, and who assembled most of the parts needed to get it up and running again. While the car does come with a DB2 engine, it’s a 3.0-litre ‘VB6/J’ type used in late DB2/4s and standard DB2/4 Mark IIs.
Cars ready for reassembly tend to do well at auction, like the AC Ace 2.6 that made more than a Condition 3 ‘Good’ equivalent car (£202,500) complete in the Hagerty Price Guide. RM Sotheby’s DB2 is priced (and it’s a sale, not an auction) at what a standard condition 2 (excellent) DB2 saloon would be worth, according to the Hagerty Price Guide.
Who knows, perhaps its new owner could return it to the race track and have it rebuilt as a Le Mans Classic eligible racer, or just be content in the knowledge they are custodian of the earliest DB2.
Read more
Seven cars that have saved Aston Martin from collapse
Retro Rematch: Aston Martin V8 Vantage vs Audi R8 4.2
Dieter Klein travels the world in the quest for the perfect photograph of abandoned cars
The DB1 was not a commercial failure! It was a critical car that established the union of three motoring teams, David Brown, Lagonda and Aston Martin. It provided the new AML with the critical funds it needed to get out of debt and become successful… not to mention the Le Mans success as well! Please do more homework and stop spreading untruths!
LM50/11 was not the first production washboard DB2 to leave the factory, it was LM50/12 which was the first DB2 to be delivered to the USA in November 1950. LM50/11 was sold afterwards. I owned LM50/12 after it was returned in pieces to the UK, with Four Ashes finishing the restoration, I have all of the documentation to confirm this, when LM50/12 was completed 1998, LM50/11 was a incomplete car being garaged in Dorset.