The Aston Martin 2-Litre Sports was a

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

sold by

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with ...

from 1948 to 1950. It was the first product of the company under David Brown's ownership and is retrospectively known as the DB1. The car debuted at the 1948

London Motor Show London Motor Show, formerly the London Motorfair, is a motor show in England. It was held biannually at Earls Court Exhibition Centre, from 1977 to 1999. When the event won the support of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders and P&O ...

and was based on the Aston Martin Atom prototype. Just 15 were sold.

History

The Atom was an Aston Martin project developed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Its tube-frame chassis and 2.0 L

four-cylinder The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categorize ...

engine were developed by

Claude Hill Sir Claude Hamilton Archer Hill (1866 – 1934) was Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man. Career Educated at St Mark's School in Windsor and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Hill joined the Indian Civil Service in 1887.

. Shortly after David Brown purchased Aston Martin, construction began on an updated version. This prototype was entered at the 24 Hours race at

Spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...

in 1948 as a way of testing its durability, and the car won the race outright with drivers St. John Horsfall and Leslie Johnson. The Spa car was rebuilt and shown at the London Motor Show as an example of a new "Spa Replica" series for public sale, but there were no takers. The single Spa car has been until recently kept in the Dutch Motor Museum. In 2006 it returned to the UK and has been fully restored. Along with the cycle-wing Spa car, Brown directed Aston to build a 2-seat roadster with a more conventional body for the London show. This 2-Litre Sports, as the name suggested, used the 2.0 L Claude Hill engine. This 90 hp (67 kW) unit could propel the small, light vehicle to 93 mph (150 km/h). 13 of the cars wore an open roadster body, as shown in London, complete with a three-part grille suggesting the later Aston Martin design. One unusual feature of these cars was the compartment in one front wing for the spare wheel. One more 2-Litre car was shipped as a chassis for custom

coachwork A coachbuilder or body-maker is someone who manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles.Construction has always been a skilled trade requiring a relatively lightweight product with sufficient strength. The manufacture of necessarily ...

. After the 1950 introduction of the replacement DB2, with the

W. O. Bentley Walter Owen Bentley, MBE (16 September 1888 – 13 August 1971) was an English engineer who founded Bentley Motors Limited in London. He was a motorcycle and car racer as a young man. After making a name for himself as a designer of aircraft a ...

designed

Lagonda straight-6 engine The Lagonda Straight-6 is a famous automobile engine used by Aston Martin and Lagonda marques in the 1950s. Designed by Willie Watson under the supervision of Walter Owen Bentley of Bentley Motors Limited, it vaulted Aston Martin to fame as a m ...

engine, the 2-Litre Sports became known widely as the DB1. At this point only 12 had been produced; however since the DB2 was a hardtop and the occasional customer still wanted a softtop, chassis numbers 13, 14, and 15 were produced to special order. A 1949 Aston Martin DB1 (reg UMD123) was sold to New Zealand in 1991, then sold to Japan in 1994 but stolen off the wharf, perhaps by a Japanese gangster. It was recovered in 2007, and then sold to an Australian.

History

References

Further reading