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Aston Martin 1950 DB2 – Still A Supercar

Aston Martin debuted the creation of the DB2 at the New York Auto show in 1950, it was considered to be the first genuine David Brown vehicle despite the creation of the DB1, also having his name, and very little unit produced. The initial DB2 was a 2 seater, but later on there was also a “Drophead coupe” version was created and was a huge success, accounting for more than a quarter of total sales of the DB2, 102 of this version were built. The DB2 was a civilized and beautiful looking car, but it still had the roughness of a racer. It was designed as a competition car more than a road car, because racing prototypes were built before it in 1949 and successful in races entered.

The DB2 had an aluminum body over “Tubular Steel Spaceframe” chassis with handcrafted panels, as it also featured a hinged front sector consisting of the nose, hood, and both fenders being able to tilt forward for easy engine approach, this was a racetrack design. And in 1951 the simplistic three-pice grille was exchanged for a more stylish singular one. The dimensions of the car are a weight of 1134kg, a wheelbase of 2515mm, a front and rear track of 1372mm, a length of 4299mm, a height of 1359mm, and a width of 1651mm.

The transmission is an original David Brown four speed manual and had an option of either a floor positioned shifter or a steering column. The front suspension of Trailing Arms with shock absorbers, an anti-roll bar, and coil springs, the combination was quite unusual at the time. And the back suspension consisting of a live axle with coil springs, Panhard Rod for high side pressure, and radius arms. Both front and back brakes are “Girling Hydraulic Drums” with a size of 305mm on either end. The wheels of the car are front housed and very large with 38cm centre locked wire, outfitted with original Dunlop tyres with front size of 5.75 x 16, and rear size of 6 x 16.

Aston Martin did have at the time excellently designed chassis, and the Lagonda team brought with them a brilliant design for a brand new engine. The design of the engine occurred under the immediate supervision of the renowned W.O. Bentley, who has been Lagonda’s technical director since 1935.

David Brown had been inspired by those facts, and a bright idea of modifying the DB1 chassis to hold the bigger Lagonda engine and transmission, the resultant was spectacular blend of technologies. The multi-tube chassis was a great leap from the DB1, and so was the newly designed 2.6 litre Lagonda I6 with a dual overhead camshaft straight 6 engine. The engine was water cooled, and made out Cast Iron and positioned front longitudinal, with natural aspiration. It displaced 2580cc (157.4cu in) with a horsepower of 105bhp (93kW) at 5000rpm with a torque of 169.48 Nm (125 ft-lbs) at 3100rpm. The top speed of the car 110mph (177km/h), and accelerated 0-60 in 11 seconds. The fuel system was feed through “Twin SU Carburetors. The valvetrain was made of DOHC with 2 valves per cylinder.

The DB2 prototypes had a successful racing report entering the 24 hours of Le Mans its first year, and placing third overall in the Spa 24 hours race with a modified model. Those prototype models where later taken to form the rest of the DB2 series of cars. The Aston Martin DB2 did not reign long, and it was given no time to establish itself as a monster of cars, as it was replaced in 1953 by the much more purified DB2/4. But the DB2 was the initial one to bring back success and sales to Aston Martin, and would always be considered the singular model to make a giant, and be the milestone for all future Aston Martins. A total of 411 DB2s were produced between it inception and its displacement.

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