Prior to 1964, many on U.S. shores were not familiar with Great Britain’s brilliant Aston Martin motor cars. A spectacular spy movie that premiered that year introduced the uninitiated to the Aston Martin marque. But A-M occupied a significant slot in the British motoring scene for decades prior, actually going all the way back to its 1913 founding. Today we have an earlier example in the form of a 1957 DB Mark III. Parked since the ’70s, this Aston Martin is looking for a new home. It is located in Astoria, New York and is available, here on eBay for $267,500. There is a make an offer option too.
Offered as a two-seat drophead or fixed-roof coupe, the DB Mark III was also produced as a 2+2 coupe, with an unusual rear lift-up hatch, such as this example. Three years of production (’57-’59) yielded a bit over 500 copies for the $7,450 luxury/sports/performance car. On a trivia note, while James Bond piloted a gadget-ridden 1964 Aston Martin DB5 in the film Goldfinger, the Bondmobile, as described in Ian Fleming’s 1959 novel of the same name was, in fact, a DB Mark III.
Well, it’s a barn find but hardly sporting a barn find price! Sitting for many years, the faded black finish is a repaint over the original “Moonbeam Gray” hue. The body is pretty straight, marred by a dent or two here and there. The trim is all in place and in reasonable condition though the grille looks more like hardware cloth than an actual automobile grille. That said, the other examples that I could find look pretty much the same. The images are not comprehensive enough to discern the presence of rust and/or rot though the passenger side rocker panel may be a bit shaky.
The interior could use some serious help. Both front seats are missing as is any semblance of door cards, kick panels of a floor covering. Unfortunately, there are no included images of the rear area. While the instrument panel still presents well, the steering wheel has seen better days.
Under the bonnet is a non-running 162 HP, 2.9 liter “Lagonda”, in-line, six-cylinder engine. The seller states that it has been out of commission since the mid-’70s so there is the possibility that it is seized though that is not known with certainty. Power to the rear wheels is provided courtesy of a four-speed manual transmission. While more powerful versions of the Lagonda engine were available, performance reports of the time claim a 0-60 MPH time of 9.3 seconds with a top speed of 120 MPH in this configuration – pretty fair for the era.
Other than the missing seats, this Aston Martin is pretty complete, just very tired and the price of entry is steep for a car with an unknown mechanical and structural status. That said, it is rare, and it is an Aston Martin, and those two elements, alone, are major price drivers. It’s way out of my reach but automobiles like an A-M are still fun to research and review. Now if I could only figure out how much it would cost to install an inejector seat…
Definitely rare. Maybe unicorn rare.
I fee like I’ve seen this car before..
It was on BAT in March, sold for $211K, would make for a great project, but waaay out of my reach
Well, yes, there was a blue Aston DB-4 that Gullwing pulled out of an even crustier barn and was on mere in April. Both are still for sale,
https://www.gullwingmotorcars.com/inventory.htm?page=1:24&orderby=make
And yes, there was a DB-2 that sold on BaT for a much more reasonable price. That one makes both of these seem insane. But Gullwing does sell cars, so they must be reasonable to work with at some point.
Missed the chance to buy a running DB2 for $500 once. Price on this one is a little to close to the moon for me but it certainly deserves to be restored.
Injector seat? can I get my Covid Vax just by sitting in it, Jim?
Ooops, ah yeah, sure, that’s the ticket though I think that’s supposed to go in your arm, not in your…
(Thx fixed!)
JO
The price is getting into the unrestored BMW 507 territory, but both cars are extremely rare and valuable. The buyer, if they’re not just investing, almost suredly has another car like this. Most likely to make one good one out of the two.
Injector seat? Would that be a place to get vaccinated?
Hugh the Aston man has a pair of front seats with glides.
Clearly wasn’t “a” DB2 – it was this DB2. They were even too lazy to take new pictures but used the old ones from the BAT advert (https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1957-aston-martin-db-2-4-mk-iii/). They really appear to be simply marking it up $55k and putting it back on the market.
Super rare car! I always wish I could take a ride back in time to the person with the disposable income to buy one of these ‘in the day.’ I’d love to know the kind of person who in 50’s America says nope to a tbird or corvette and says, “I’m buying an Aston Martin”
I am sure they´ll find a masochistic Aston fan who has more money than he knows what to do with. Considering the horrendous track record of this make, one wonders who kept it alive all these years (and WHY?) considering they NEVER turned a profit and had deserved to be relegated to the dust bin of automotive history long ago. It is really inconceivable that people would fall for a scam-car like this, solely based on its carefully manufactured and artifially maintained reputation, which if it were truth-based would make these technical nightmares the laughingstock of the automotive world.
I think I just gave myself whiplash from shaking my head at that outrageous price. But, remember the famous words of W. C. Fields; “There’s a sucker born every minute, and two to take him”. Or, if you prefer, the used car salesman slogan; “There’s an ass for every seat”.
Check out sellers other items. Wow!!
The stuff that dreams are made of.
Jim O’Donnell: just a small reminder that prior to 007 in ’64, American film audiences did get a fairly big introduction to Aston-Martin. The DB-2, albeit in drop-head form, played a starring role in Hitchcock’s The Birds.
Good memory Laurence!
Thx,
JO
Aston Martin was certainly NOT unknown to anyone who drooled over Tipi Hedren in Hitchcock’s “The Birds.” which beat 007 to the silver screen! Hitchcock must have been a “car guy” – in the opening scene of North by Northwest, Cary Grant is followed by a Skoda Octava – in NYC!! Whooda thunk??