1935 Aston Martin MKII Sports Saloon

THE CAR

Some cars are bought for what they are; a few are bought for what they can still become. Chassis J4/505/L is one of the latter — a genuine, matching-numbers Mark II Sports Saloon, closed and elegant, whose history can be followed almost without a gap from the day it left Feltham in January 1935. It has spent the greater part of its life in the care of a single family well known in pre-war Aston Martin circles, and comes to us as a restoration very nearly complete, wanting essentially one thing: the finishing of an engine already built, on the car’s own original block, by one of the marque’s most respected specialists.

DELIVERED NEW IN JANUARY 1935

Chassis J4/505/L was completed at Feltham as a Mark II Sports Saloon on the long chassis, finished when new in black with chromium brightwork and fitted with a sliding sunroof. Supplied through Grosvenor Garage, it was first registered UN 8110 on 19 January 1935 to Miss D. Evans of “Oakfield”, Somerset Road, Wimbledon Common — the same lady who, on marrying, became Mrs Cecil Williams of Whitehall, Denbigh, a Welsh connection that accounts for the car’s Denbighshire registration. From the outset it was properly kept: the works service card records its first visit on 3 February 1935 at just 547 miles, an accident repair that March, and a steady run of attention thereafter.

A SPORTING FIRST OWNER

The history file offers a charming glimpse of that first ownership. Among its period material is the 24 May 1935 issue of The Light Car, reporting the thirtieth-anniversary meeting at the Shelsley Walsh hill-climb, in which a Miss D. Evans is pictured — “the smile of victory” — having just set a new ladies’ record. The car’s first owner very active in motor sport.

AN OWNERSHIP TRACEABLE FROM NEW

Few pre-war Astons can show a chain of ownership as complete as this. From Miss Evans the car passed in 1939 to Captain V. A. Cheney of Gerrards Cross, a Royal Navy officer who kept it until 1954, through the war years and beyond; then to G. H. Wilkinson of Chalfont St Giles, to B. L. Etchell of Manchester, and to J. A. Dymock of Horsham, for whom it was resprayed and refurbished in 1960. Later that year it passed briefly to J. Bradford of Chelsea, then to K. J. Hewett of Bog Farm, near Ashford, Kent, and to the Hon. Robert Erskine of London, under whom it received an extensive body rebuild and respray in 1968; thereafter to B. T. Pook. Every one of these owners is recorded, most with their own invoices — a continuity almost unheard of for a car of this age.

NEARLY FIFTY YEARS IN THE ARMSTRONG FAMILY

In the later 1970s the Aston was acquired, through the specialist dealer Roland Duce, by the family in whose care it has remained ever since — enthusiasts long associated with the ownership, restoration, racing and rebuilding of pre-war Aston Martins. Over close to half a century they carried a careful restoration almost to the finish before other projects drew their attention away, and the car was then stored, complete and close to done, rather than dismantled or dispersed. It is exactly the sort of custody these cars deserve.

THE ENGINE, AND WHAT REMAINS

During the restoration a new engine was built around the car’s original cylinder block — numbered J4/505/L, matching the chassis — by the noted marque expert David Taylor. Sadly, while the car was in storage and before the engine could be run in, the original block suffered significant frost damage. It is likely that much of the engine remains usable, and the work already carried out is of the first quality; the buyer should, however, budget to resolve the block before the car returns to the road. Beyond the engine, little of substance remains to be done — this is a car to finish, not to rebuild.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Taken together — the rarity of the model, its matching-numbers originality, an ownership record traceable from new, long and knowledgeable family custody, and the very advanced state of the restoration — J4/505/L represents an unusually attractive way into pre-war Aston Martin ownership for a modest outlay. The car is available to view now at our Olney workshops. In our experience, well-documented cars offered close to completion do not stay available for long.