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2 Litre Sports [DB1] (1948-1950) |
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Feltham Cars (1948-1959)
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  In 1948, the Two Litre Sports was introduced, closely based on the wartime Atom Prototype and powered by Claude Hill's 4 cylinder 90 bhp 2 litre engine. Thirteen cars received two seater drophead coupe coachwork, which being quite heavy, only allowed a top speed just over 90 mph. At the time it was a very expensive car especially for a 2 litre. A list price of £1,498 was an awful lot of money in post-war Britain when a new Jaguar XK120 was only £988. The shape of the three piece grille gave the first glimpse of an outline still seen on Aston Martins to this very day.
A single car was built with lightweight racing coachwork and in the hands of St John (Jock) Horsfall and Leslie Johnson competed in the 1948 Spa 24 Hour Race. In its only race ever, the car won outright. This car was then re-bodied as 'The Spa Replica' and shown at the 1948 Motor Show, but its high price found no purchasers. With the purchase of Aston Martin by David Brown in 1947 and the sub subsequent announcement of the DB2, the 2 litre Sports was retrospectively renamed the DB1 with only 16 examples completed.
Photographs courtesy of Motorbase
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Apr 09, 2012
