Commemorating David Brown

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Enzo Ferrari may have been the subject of umpteen books; little is written about his British equal David Brown. The Yorkshireman who reputedly took over the struggling Aston Martin company and turned it into a dream factory. The life work of both Brown as Ferrari is commemorated 70 years this year, and Rétromobile will therefore be showcasing a grand display of David Brown Aston Martins next weekend. Naturally, it starts with a tractor, but then goes all the way from DB1 to DBS, with all the major models in between on display. And you may like to know that some of the cars in Paris have a nice slice of provenance. The DB6 seen there, for example, is the car that used to belong to tough girl Francoise Sagan. The DB5 is one of the four cars built for Goldfinger in 1964.

With chassis number DB5/2008/R it was the first of two publicity cars having all the possible and typical Bond-features. The car hasn’t been seen in public for years and is just finished after a comprehensive three-year restoration. We are told even the ejector seat possibly works now, so don't touch the buttons when you are allowed to have a close look. Oh - also worth a view is the 1961 Aston Martin DP 208 prototype, which looks like an ordinary Volvo P1800 but is a unique prototype for a less expensive Aston model with 2.5 litre 4-cylinder Aston Martin engine. Brown never publicly told that story…

(Words Jeroen Booij, pictures Rétromobile/archive, imaging JB)

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