 Barnfound DB2s or 4s will pop up with a certain frequency, especially in auction press releases. Yet rarely a more significant, pre-war Aston Martin. We only remember the one presented by Tony Paalman many years ago. Read the exclusive report by pre-war Aston Martin expert Andy Bell who did a truly magnificent find at the south coast by the end of last year: a most original 1929 Sports Model. Arguably the best AM find of this still young millenium: "I found this 1929 Sports Model purely by chance. This car has been under the radar of the AMOC and the AMHT for over 40 years. I had a small article in a magazine describing how I found a car (another Sports Model) in the USA. A couple of weeks later an old chap phoned me and said that he also had one of them and if I would be interested in buying it. I was, and did! It is possibly the earliest Bertelli Aston which has never been dismantled and rebuilt. Incredibly, it still has its original upholstery and is exactly the same as the original build sheet describes (thanks to the Aston Martin Heritage Trust) right down to its original early cotter type valve gear. I only know one other car running on this type of valve gear and it has all been renewed, so arguably this is the most original engine in existence. The car has only ever been re-painted. It left the works in 1929 painted sky blue with blue upholstery. All this blue paint is still under the dark green paint which was probably put on in the 1950’s and this is the only thing that has been changed since the car was first sold. (Editor: would it be possible to strip off the green paint alone, while preserving the sky blue paint below?) Only six 2 seater ‘Sports Model’s were made. They represent the beginnings of Bertelli’s decision to aim production more towards sports cars than the touring cars (the ‘T-type’), that the early company was set up by Renwick and Bertelli to produce. The original idea (mostly on the insistence of Renwick who was providing the capital to start the Renwick and Bertelli company) was that the new Aston Martin car should be a top quality touring car to rival Rolls Royce. However, Bertelli advised Renwick right from the start that this aim would surely use up all his inherited fortune and so they decided to make the overhead cam engine to sell to car manufacturers, rather like the Blackburn or Meadows engines, so they produced the overhead cam 1 ½ litre engine which was to provide the design for engines right up to 1939. When Renwick and Bertelli bought the Bamford and Martin Ltd. (who made the side valve Aston Martin), they were then able to make cars and even at this time Renwick was fairly determined to make touring cars. However, after Renwick left the company Bertelli, who had a lot of motor racing experience more or less had a free hand to make his beloved sports cars and this is immediately what he did. The ‘Sports Model’ is therefore the short wheel base (but with underslung chassis) version of the touring ‘T-type’. From 1929 onwards with slight modifications to the chassis and running gear it became the ‘International’ which is the model that put the Bertelli Astons on the map." |
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Arguably the best Aston Martin barnfind in years (engine photos added)
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