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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports - the first Aston of the David Brown era

Name: Aston Martin Two Litre Sports 1948
Brand: Aston Martin

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Created on November 27, 2022

Text:

Bruno von Rotz

Photos:

Bonhams

Bruno von Rotz

Roos Engineering Ltd / Classic Car Trust

Fondation Hervé

Archiv

Bonhams

Bruno von Rotz

Roos Engineering Ltd / Classic Car Trust

Fondation Hervé

Archiv

Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - compact sports car

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - almost pontoon shaped

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - 447 cm long

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - pretty to look at even with the soft top fitted

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - 171 cm wide

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - three-part radiator grille, as worn by the DB2

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - Silhouette

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - room for three in the front row if necessary

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - ready to go

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - bench seat, not bucket seats

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - there wasn't too much space

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - there was a fold-down center armrest for two-person use

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - classic wooden steering wheel

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - Speedometer with km graduation

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - Rev counter without red zone

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - built-in radio with station preset buttons

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - Seat can be folded down

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - Luggage rack behind the seats

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - Additional instruments for fuel level, water temperature, oil pressure, charge level and time

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - Chassis badge

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - the bodywork was created at Aston Martin

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - two SU horizontal carburetors are responsible for mixture preparation

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - the four-cylinder engine with 1970 cm3 and 91 hp at 4750 rpm

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - trademark on the radiator grille

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Aston Martin Two Litre Sports (1950) - two small windows in the roof

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Aston Martin Atom (1940) - top and side view

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Aston Martin Atom Factory Prototype Concept Car (1939) - offered as lot 357 at the Bonhams auction on the occasion of the Goodwood Festival of Speed on June 27, 2014

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Aston Martin Atom (1939) - squat but aerodynamic silhouette, the car is 4.43 meters long

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Aston Martin Atom (1939) - the body consisted of a tubular construction with aluminum panels attached to it

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Aston Martin Atom (1939) - cramped cockpit, the large gearshift on the cardan tunnel only selects forward or reverse, the gears are changed in the shift gate to the left of the steering wheel

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Aston Martin 2-Litre Works Team Car (1948) - as Lot 083 at the Bonhams Quail Lodge Auction on August 14, 2015

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Aston Martin 2 Litre Sports Car (1949) - the posthumously named "DB 1" post-war debut model at the 1948 London Motor Show

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Aston Martin 2 Litre Sports Car (1949) - today it is also called "DB 1", here at the Geneva Motor Show 1949

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Aston Martin 2 Litre Sports (1949) - at the Geneva Motor Show 1949, detail wheel arch

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Aston Martin 2 Litre Sports (1948) - two- to three-seater sports car

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Aston Martin 2 Litre Sports (1948) - attractive post-war sports car

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Aston Martin 2 Litre Sports (1948) - Chassis without bodywork

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Aston Martin DB1 (1949) - "Two Litre" in racing mode in time - to be seen at the David Brown special exhibition at the Rétromobile 2017

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Aston Martin 2 Litre Sports (1949) - Hervé at the 1953 Alpine Rally

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Aston Martin 2 Litre Sports "Spa Replica" (1948) - Participant in Class D - Aston Martin - at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este 2013

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Aston Martin DB1 (1949) - "Two Litre" - on display at the David Brown special exhibition at the Rétromobile 2017

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Aston Martin DB1 - part of the Collection Fondation Hervé - on display at Pantheon Basel from October 19, 2014 to April 6, 2015

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Aston Martin DB1 (1949) - early sports car in the David Brown retro perspective - Rétromobile Paris 2017

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Aston Martin DB1 (1950) - one of the rare examples, owned by the family from the very beginning - Pantheon special exhibition "Hervé"

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Aston Martin DB1 (1950) - only a few examples have survived - Pantheon special exhibition "Hervé"

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Aston Martin DB1 2-Litre Sports Drophead Coupé (1948 ) - as lot 289 at the Bonhams Goodwood Revival Auction 2018

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Aston Martin DB 2 (1950) - only the first 49 examples had a three-part radiator grille

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Summary

The first sports car created by Aston Martin in the David Brown era was not the well-known DB2, but the Two Litre Sports, posthumously known as the DB1. It used the knowledge gained from the pre-war four-cylinder Aston Martin Atom prototype and, as a racing sports car, achieved the first major Aston victory of the post-war period. Commercially, however, it was a flop. This vehicle report tells the story of Aston Martin's first post-war production sports car and shows it in current and historical images, as well as in the sales literature of the time.

This article contains the following chapters

With the prototype to Spa
Presentation of two cars at the London Motor Show
Also shown in Geneva
Only 15 units built
Chassis AMC/50/10

Estimated reading time: 6min

Preview (beginning of the article)

It wouldn't have taken much for Aston Martin to go under for good after the Second World War. But the tractor and screw manufacturer David Brown discovered a small advertisement in The Times in 1947 and bought the ailing sports car company for around £20,000. That was not a lot of money, as the company's first post-war sports car to be built in series was to cost around £3,000. The entire company therefore cost just over six times the price of a sports car. However, Brown did not get too much for the money he invested. At least he was able to take on Claude Hill, the chief designer, who also brought along the last pre-war design, the Aston Martin Atom.

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