Chassis number is LML, 49/3. This car, which linked the fabulous twin-overhead camshaft 2,580cc engine with Frank Feeley’s handsome styling, crystallized Aston Martin character throughout the 1950s. The final development, the DB Mark III, finally ceased production in 1959, late production overlapping with the DB4 which was announced in 1958.

For rather over fifteen years, all Aston Martin cars had 1-1/2-litre engines, but shortly before 1939, a 2-litre version of the well established overhead-camshaft engine was announced. The company completed an entirely new car shortly after the outbreak of hostilities, and completed much development worth with it, on essential business during the following few years. The design incorporated a tubular chassis with independent front suspension of the trailing link type.

After the war, in 1947, the David Brown Group took control of both Lagonda and Aston Martin. The retrospectively termed DB1 was an interim 4-cylinder model until the DB2 could be introduced. Early DB2 cars used a rolling chassis similar to the DB1. The decision to use a full-width saloon body on a sports car in 1950, caused many raised eyebrows. It was a bold decision to fabricate the entire fore-part of the body ahead of the windscreen, to lift up in one piece. As a result, the entire front-end of the chassis was exposed, making maintenance a simple matter. By removing the pivot pins at the front, the entire section could be removed quite rapidly.

The DB2 was to enjoy an enviable competition career, especially at Le Mans and Spa in Belgium, prior to the introduction of the much more highly specialized DB3 and DB3S models. UMC 66 is currently owned by Derek Durst who lives in Newport, Rhode Island.

Photos: Bottom right first page, the beautiful lines of Frank Feeley’s design are apparent. The DB2 created a sensation when it first appeared, 46 years later the shape has hardly dated. Top right first and second pages, UMC 66 proudly carries number 14, worn in 1949 at Spa in Belgium where it finished 3rd overall, driven by Leslie Johnson and Charles Brackenbury. Bottom right second page, 1949 prototype Aston Martin DB2. Currently this car resides in America, owned by Derek Durst.