Aston Martin DB2/4 ‘barn find’
You’ve probably heard of those wildly fictitious ‘barn finds’ before, where someone supposedly stumbles on to a country property in the middle of nowhere and presto, inside the barn doors lie fifty of the world’s most exotic automobiles collecting dust and hay.
I doubt very much whether anyone on the planet has ever been lucky enough to have had this real world experience, but when it comes to the odd classic in a farm shed, well that’s a different story.
Take this particular farmer in England, who ended up the proud owner of a 1954 Aston Martin DB2/4 Mk 1 3-litre in average condition, as payment for a bad debt in 1973.
‘The Motor’ magazine tested a DB2/4 in 1954 and found the car had a top speed of 118.5mph and could accelerate from zero to 60mph in 10.5 seconds. Fuel consumption was a commendable 23 miles per gallon.
The double overhead cam straight-6 was designed by W.O Bentley himself and used in the Vantage version of the DB2.
Below is photo of what the car should look like.
But here’s where the story becomes interesting. This particular farmer only ever drove the car once, when he and a group of friends drove to a local barn dance shortly after taking possession of the car.
The car was clearly overloaded on the trip home from the dance and while driving more enthusiastically than he should have, the farmer scared himself and the Aston was promptly assigned to the chicken shed for the next 34 years.
The car was last sold in 2007 to a rather eccentric buyer who oddly enough decided to maintain the car in it’s ‘barn find’ state, and not touch the paint, but choosing instead to rebuild the engine.
According to the press release from the Brooklands auction people who will put the car under the hammer on the evening of June 2 as part of the ‘Historics at Brooklands’ “the engine has been rebuilt with 9.5 to 1 Omega Pistons with new liners, polished crankshaft, new mains and big ends, new chains, gaskets, valve guides and many more new parts besides. The petrol pumps have been replaced and the petrol tank removed, cleaned and replaced.”
The exterior is totally ‘barn find’ original with black coachwork and magnolia hide, black painted wire wheels, red painted grille and racing roundels.
Offers are expected to be in the region of £65,000 - £85,000 given the car will be sold with a current road fund licence and MoT road test certificate, good until January 2011.
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