Glynn Allen Blogspot: Aston Martin DB 2/4 LML/742 Restoration

Aston Martin DB 2/4. 1954. 3L. Reg: 370AKP LML/742

The two Aston Martin DB 2/4 cars as they had been stored for the previous 30 years awaiting restoration. The car with the white bonnet is LML/50/742.

Finding the car:-

During the summer of 2008 I had a chance meeting with David Reed from DAVRON in the paddock at Silverstone during the Silverstone Classic meeting and asked him if he could keep his eye out for a Feltham car for restoration.

Somethime later David mentioned that two cars were for sale bt the owner would only sell both together. Both cars were purchased and it was a simple matter of selecting which of the two cars I would take on for restoration. The final selection was based on a more interesting and complete history, which included sprints and hill climbs with LML/50/742. This car was also in slightly better condition body wise than the other car.

The other car LML/50/979 Reg: 11 LKM was sold to an enthusiast in Europe it is the car in the picture with the grey bonnet and white body.

Below are some pictures of both the cars when located:-

Once the cars had been moved down to DAVRON I selected the car I wanted to restore and came to an agreement with David from DAVRON on the processes and budget and time scales for the rebuild.

The car LML/50/742 was then taken to pieces to see what needed to be replaced and what could be restored and also what we needed to up grade as it was decided that the car would continue its racing/sprint/hill climb history but with the addition of road rallying so a fast rally/race engine would be required as well as safety cage etc.

The car LML/50/ 742 in pieces:-

A rig was made for the body work for easy moving and maintaining the correct body shape.

Once the car was in pieces the rig was made and the body work originally located in my garage as I intended to do the body work but due to my own work commitments with was not really an option so the job was out sourced to Andy Mitchell who has an excellent reputation for top class body work for high end historic and classic cars.

I will up date more on the body work as the work progresses over the next few months.

Building up the Chassis:-

Due to the poor condition of the bulkhead most of this was rebuilt and replaced by DAVRON. At the same time the chassis was straightened out as the car had been crashed in to a farm gate post in the 1950's which had bent the chassis, front suspension and bonnet. (The bent damaged bonnet was sold with the other car).

When we looked at the records with the car it was difficult to understand how the car had been in a crash in 1955 with the damage listed on the invoice from the period but the bonnet was perfect. We asked the long time owner of both cars about this and it was explained that he had swooped the bonnets over so as to make one good car from the two he had. This is why my car had the good bonnet from the other car and showed no damage.

Further chassis prep. work:-