Think about this; you’ve loved a leisurely afternoon together with your vital different within the French Riviera. You’ve had a small chunk to eat, a beautiful refreshing drink and loved life within the second. The drive as much as your home takes about half-hour however takes you alongside the shore for a bit earlier than heading inland and twisting and turning by means of the undulating countryside. You step into your automotive, hearth it up, roll down the window and head out into the sundown in an intoxicating mixture of carburettor fumes and an excellent straight-six symphony. In model in fact, as you’re driving a one-of-a-kind metallic blue Aston Martin DB 2/4 by Bertone. A dreamy situation for certain, however for one person who may be very a lot a sensible risk as RM Sotheby’s has just lately offered that very automotive, and boy is it a beautiful machine!
They are saying ‘they don’t make them like they used to’ and this distinctive Aston Martin, together with many others for that matter, is a superbly good illustration of simply how true that assertion is. Simply take a look at it, in all its metallic blue splendour. The signature-shaped grill up entrance, the contoured chrome bumpers, the creases and curves down its profile, the wire wheels, the tan leather-based inside, the fastback rear finish and the upright tail lights. It’s an absolute factor of magnificence! However how did this automotive find yourself being constructed solely as soon as?
That’s easy actually, as again within the day it was fairly frequent for rich sufficient individuals to order one thing distinctive and particular from a producer and Aston Martin was no exception when it got here to agreeing with its shoppers to take action. This typically went by means of dealerships and specialists, equivalent to Stanley H. “Wacky” Arnolt II, who made his fortune by manufacturing marine engines. He additionally had a profound love for automobiles and motorsports. A lot in order that in late 1950 he began promoting British automobiles within the Chicago space within the US. Very early on in his journey as a automotive vendor, he had the thought to order a collection of particular MG TDs with a physique by Bertone, one of the crucial revered Italian design companies and well-known for automobiles just like the Lamborghini Miura, the Alfa Romeo B.A.T. trilogy and the Lancia Stratos HF Zero. These rebodied MGs grew to become generally known as the Arnolt-MGs, and much more adopted. One of the best identified ‘Arnolt’ automotive is the Arnolt-Bristol, however he additionally labored on Alfa Romeos, Bentleys, Ferraris and extra.
One such producer was Aston Martin, who supplied Bertone with seven DB 2/4 chassis and 7 new our bodies have been designed and constructed by the Italians. Each is barely completely different however from the seven there’s just one two-door coupe. This particular automotive is believed to have been commissioned by Henri Pigozzi, the founding father of Société Industrielle de Mécanique et Carosserie Car, higher generally known as Simca. Years after its completion it was proven to the general public through the 1957 and 1958 Turin Motor Present, however ever since this one was constructed, Aston Martin refused to provide any extra chassis to Arnolt. The explanation why stays a thriller, though Bertone was trying to work on the later Aston Martin DB4, an task that finally was given to Touring, one other fabled Italian coachbuilder. So maybe a enterprise deal went bitter within the course of, who is aware of?
Nonetheless, what we’re left with is solely a surprising machine. Components such because the crease within the bodywork that runs over the entrance tires and into the doorways are simply very good. Being a coupe, the 2 doorways speak in confidence to an expensive inside wrapped in tan-coloured leather-based with matching carpets, a black three-spoke steering wheel and a gear stick to control the four-speed transmission.
Up entrance, there’s a three-litre in-line 6-cylinder engine constructed by Aston Martin, initially producing round 140bhp. By now it has been rebuilt to a high-output spec with the next compression, completely different valves and camshafts and an upgraded oiling system. No efficiency figures are listed, however for a automotive like this, it doesn’t matter how briskly it goes. It’s all about driving round in model, not velocity.
By the mid-Seventies it was offered and shipped to the US, the place it was at one level restored to manufacturing unit recent nick. It modified arms a couple of times extra earlier than in 2019 the automotive was acquired by its final proprietor (other than the one who purchased it on the RM Sotheby’s public sale on the eighth of December this 12 months). That proprietor gave Aston Martin specialist Kevin Kay the duty of returning it to its unique shade of metallic blue, matching it to color traces within the trunk and across the headlights. A full restoration adopted the place no nut and bolt was left unturned. In accordance with information, the work price round USD 800,000 and the automotive was prepared simply in time for this 12 months’s Pebble Seashore Concours d’Magnificence. It nonetheless has its unique straight-six engine, matching the unique chassis and bodywork by quantity.
This Aston Martin DB 2/4 by Bertone was awarded First In Class on the 2023 Pebble Seashore Concours d’Magnificence within the Postwar Touring class. It has not been proven publically since, so its new proprietor, who paid a hammer worth of USD 1,105,000 for it, nonetheless has fairly a number of choices to enter into high-profile traditional automotive occasions. It’s invited to take part within the 2024 version of the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este on the shores of Lake Como, so for everybody who’s visiting I’d say; preserve a watch out for this wonderful machine! It would simply win Better of Present there!
For extra data on this attractive Aston Martin DB 2/4 Coupe by Bertone, please go to RMSothebys.com.
Editorial Observe: All photographs for this text are sourced from, and used with permission by RM Sotheby’s until said in any other case.
