This new publication includes stories from Octane and Vantage in its 220 pages. Here, 75 years since David Brown bought the company, you’ll find the unique history, people and all the milestones of Britain’s favourite dynasty of motoring greats – as well as the cars that made the marque.
NEW BRITISH ‘BOND STYLE’ SUPERCAR GETS INTO GEAR • Bespoke, limited-edition Vl2-powered BAEVantare coupe to go on sale in 2022
THE GOLDENAGE OF ASTON MARTIN
75 Years of Aston Martin DB
A BIG DEAL • Martin van der Zeeuw meets the Atom, the unique prototype that convinced David Brown to buy Aston Martin
DAVID BROWN • The man who turned Aston Martin into one of the world’s best-loved marques
SPA TURN • The first post-war Aston Martin was designed for the road, but at the 1948 24 Hours of Spa it scored an improbable win. Johan Dillen takes the car back to the scene of its triumph
ST JOHN ‘JOCK’ HORSFALL • One of Aston Martin’s most reliable racers, and much more besides…
FIRST OF THE LINE • Launched in 1948, the 2-litre Sports (aka DB1) was the very first production model of the David Brown era and is among the rarest of all Astons. But what’s it like to drive? John Simister finds out
A CUT ABOVE THE REST • Andrew Frankel explores the roots of Aston Martin’s family of high-performance ‘Vantage’ cars, and drives one of the earliest: a DB2 Vantage
GO YOUR OWN WAY • The DB2/4 was the basis for a number of stunning custom builds that broke with Aston Martin styling conventions
LEARNING CURVES • Works driver Darren Turner gets to grips with an Aston Martin racing car of a bygone era: a 1953 DB3
FAMILY TIES • The late, great Tony Dron tells the tale of a competition-spec DB MkIII and the fathers and sons who have raced and fettled it
BEST IN CLASS • The DB3S ruled the 3-litre class in the mid-1950s, when this particular car was raced by the likes of Stirling Moss, Peter Collins and Roy Salvadori
FRANK FEELEY • The stylist responsible for the classic designs of the early David Brown era
LABOUR of LOVE • Restoring DB3S/5 was both a joy and an enormous responsibility for the craftsmen of Aston Martin Works
‘IT’S THE NEW BELLINI’ • DB3S/5 had a brief film career, appearing alongside Terry-Thomas in the much-loved British comedy School for Scoundrels
ROAD RACER • Just three were built, only two survive, and now Paul Chudecki drives one of them. This is the seldom-seen DB3S Coupé
The purist’s choice • Robert Coucher spends a morning in London with arguably the most covetable road car of the David Brown era: the DB4 Series I
FOUR PLAY • At Snetterton, Henry Catchpole tests a factory-fresh DB4 GT, the very first of Aston Martin’s ‘continuation’ cars. Can it possibly be as magical as the original?
HAROLD BEACH • Aston Martin’s chief engineer from 1956 right through the David Brown years
EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN • The 25 continuation DB4 GTs were built at Newport Pagnell using both cutting-edge technology and age-old skills, as John Simister discovered on a visit to the production line
A DATE WITH HISTORY • John Simister follows in the tyre tracks of Jim Clark as he drives 2 VEV, the most famous DB4 GT Zagato of all
JOHN OGIER • The poultry-farming patriot who kept Aston Martin racing in the early 1960s
DBR WON! • On 21 June 1959, Aston Martin finally won Le Mans with the brilliant DBR1. Stephen Archer drives the car that finished 2nd that day, and explains what made the DBR1 such a world-beater
TED CUTTING • The man who designed the DBR1 was as modest as he was brilliant
‘You always wanted to drive the Aston’ • Roy Salvadori and Carroll Shelby, the drivers who steered DBR1/2 to victory at Le Mans,...