Aston Martin DB4

The DB4 caused a sensation when it was first shown in 1958. John Wyer, then General Manager of Astons, was asked for a quote for the publicity blurb. He took out his slide rule and said ’Tell them it will accelerate to 100mph and brake to a standstill again in under 30 seconds.’ ’Autocar’ tested it and managed to do it in under 27 seconds. Disc brakes all round and over 200 bhp and relatively (!) light weight must have made the DB4 very impressive compared to anything else which could be bought in the late ‘50s.

This car was made in August 1959 and would have shared the factory, then in Feltham, with the Le Mans winning DBR1. When it was re-painted in 1996 the colour was chosen to exactly match that car.

This car has been upgraded from standard in several areas, but retains a mainly original specification.

Tadek Marek designed the DB4 engine (in use all the way through to the DBS). It started life at 3.7 litres, and was designed to be made with an iron block. However, Iron Foundries were so busy with export work in the late fifties, that only Aluminium castings were available and so the engine was produced in Aluminium. The engine in this car has the larger sump, added as the DB was developed, and an oil cooler, situated under the front bumper. It has also been sympathetically re-built as a road going 4.2 litre engine. This has very relaxed characteristics for the road with low end torque rather than top end power. This makes it easier to drive in modern traffic conditions. It also has a deeper radiator to aid with cooling. It is usually forgiving in all but the most extreme traffic conditions and has yet to boil over in the last 10 years.

David Brown bought Aston Martin from an advertisement in the Sunday Times. He justified his purchase by seeing it as a way of providing publicity for the other businesses he owned. These included tractors and industrial gearboxes. He made car gearboxes too, which was a pity for the competition results gained by the DB3S and DBR1, because they were not very reliable. The David Brown gearbox was eventually dropped with the introduction of the DB5, when a 5-speed ZF box was introduced. This car has a DB Gearbox. It is in very good condition, having been expertly re-built in 2000 (at a cost of over £3,000).

This DB4 is a wonderfully satisfying driver’s car. It is definitely set up on the firm side for fast road use. There is considerable weight but also considerable precision to the steering, clutch and brakes but they are all sharp and responsive and the car responds probably more crisply to driver inputs than when it was brand new. It does require respect for its increased power to weight ratio and it is not as strongly grippy or surefooted as the high performance cars of today (it is 47 years old!).