There are years that stand out more than others in automotive history. Take 1934, for instance: Citroën launched the Traction Avant, Tatra put out the T77, Chrysler debuted the Airflow and Bugatti’s iconic Type 57 appeared. Or take 1967, with the launch of the NSU Ro80, the Mazda Cosmo, the FWD Cadillac Eldorado and the Simca 1100, as well as the demise of Panhard, Alvis and Glas. I’d like to make a case for 1954 as being the Year of the Hatch, if only because that was the year Aston Martin introduced this hatchback 2+2 version of the DB2.
Aston Martin officially launched the DB2/4 in October 1953 for MY 1954. This was an evolution of the DB2 (1950-53), that included the following improvements: a one-piece windshield, higher headlights, chunkier bumpers, rear seats and (drum roll, please) a rear hatch.
Quick refresher on early post-war Astons: the marque was bought by industrialist David Brown right after the Second World War, along with Lagonda. Both marques had their own designs in store, so both were produced: Lagonda had a brand new 2.6 litre DOHC straight-6 (designed by W.O. Bentley, if you please) chassis with all-independent suspension, so they were usually dressed in a gaudy saloon body (top left). Aston had a spunky 90hp 2-litre 4-cyl. sports chassis ready, so that was sold as a drop-top (top right). Strangely enough, the Aston was a total dud, but the Lagonda showed promise. So David Brown essentially had the Lagonda engine put on the Aston chassis and a sexy new tubular-framed body designed (bottom row), and presto! The DB2 was born.
And the DB2 was a success. It was one of the best-selling Aston Martins ever at that point in time, in fact – and they only made about 400 units. It raced at Le Mans, it was exported to the ends of the Earth and it looked superb, especially once the front end coalesced from a somewhat clunky three-grille motif into the now-iconic “Aston Hat” shape in 1951.
But the DB2 was a strict two-seater, its luggage area was not very accessible and all one could find in the miniature rear trunk was the spare tyre. Hence Aston Martin-Lagonda designer Frank Feeley, who had penned the DB2, created the DB2-4’s hatch. An inspired idea on such a car.
Because the other hatchback of the year was the Citroën Traction Avant 11CV Commerciale, also launched as a 1954 model. A strange coincidence in many ways, as the French front-driver was in its 20th year of existence at this point, yet its manufacturer gave it a brand-new rear end. It made a lot of sense on a LWB wagon. But then, hatches make sense in general.
If you look at the DB2-4, it’s a classic fastback design, the sort that many cars sported even before the war. Yet it took Mr Feeley’s keen eye to deduce that the easiest way to make the trunk fully and practically accessible was to cut a great big hole around the backlight.
The DB2-4’s initial engine was the 2.6 litre in Vantage spec (125hp); in the spring of 1954, a new 3-litre version of the Lagonda straight-6 was introduced, providing the DB2-4 with 140hp in standard spec, or 165hp for Vantage cars. I’m not sure which of the two our feature car has, truth be told. Not a big deal, either would be more than sufficient I’m sure.
From the get-go, the DB2-4 was available as a “drophead coupé,” as per its official title. In late 1955, the Mark II (top pic) was unveiled. Its main improvement was the grafting of small fins tipped by stop lights at the back, as well as a slightly revised roofline. The Mark III (bottom pic) followed in 1957, with a completely revised engine, a major front facelift that announced the upcoming DB4 and vertical taillights.
If you wanted something a bit more bespoke, you could just get your DB2-4 in chassis form and ship it down to a coachbuilder – usually an Italian one. Touring (top right) made three drop-tops like this one in 1956-57. Ghia (bottom right) used their Supersonic body on a number of other chassis, including the Fiat 8V; the final one used a DB2-4 Mark II and was finished in 1956. This one-off by Vignale (bottom left) was ordered by King Baudoin of Belgium in 1955. Hermann Graber of the Canton of Bern, Switzerland, bodied several Astons in the early ‘50s, including this DB2-4 (top left) shown at the 1954 Geneva Motor Show.
The coachbuilder that seems to have been called upon the most by DB2-4 owners was Bertone. Most (if not all) of these were ordered by American businessman Stanley “Wacky” Arnolt, who liked to put his name on the badge as well, just as he had done on a number of MGs and Bristols. It is rumoured that David Brown took exception to this and ordered Aston to quit supplying rolling chassis to that particular client.
Pretty though these continental rarities are, the standard body is hard to top, really. And that goes for the interior, too. When testing the DB2-4 in October 1953, The Autocar described it as “businesslike and very fully equipped.” Hard to argue with that – it all looks very well-made, if a tad impersonal. The classic mini-Aston Martin grille instrument binnacle was still some years away, only gracing the car with the Mark III in the late ‘50s.
The car’s party trick in behind the front seats. Loads of room back there, thanks to the folding rear seats. Said rear seats are quite basic, by the way, being referred to by Aston insiders as “toilet seats,” due to their circular squabs and cramped conditions.
When The Autocar tested a 2.6 litre car in 1953, they managed to push it to 120mph once, though they recorded the mean top speed at 111mph (178.5kph). Naught to 60mph was reached in 12.6 seconds. Placing that back into the context of the time, this makes the 125hp Aston Martin quite a high-performance car.
But it was also an expensive car. In the UK, it was well over twice the price of a Jaguar XK. In the US, prices in 1955 were north of $6,250 – a veritable fortune. Let’s pretend we won the lottery back in late 1954 and found ourselves in, say, France. What else might have been on the shopping list?
My, what a cornucopia of delights! The Jag remained a steal, of course. The Caddy may seem odd in this company, but to European eyes, it was certainly exotic. And pretty darn powerful, come to that. Certainly more than that cute but sad French Ford – a Thunderbird would have been a better option from the blue oval. Still, between the Pegaso, the Facel and the Lancia, the Aston looks a little tame, styling-wise. But it’s the only hot hatch of the bunch.
Aston Martin made 565 chassis of the DB2-4 Mark I, of which 102 were soft-tops and a couple handfuls went for bespoke coachbuilding. The hatch was the one that typified the beast, and it lasted all the way to the end of the Mark III in 1959. By that date, 200 Mark IIs and 550 Mark IIIs had been manufactured, bringing the DB2-4 tally to a grand total of 1315 cars in seven years. For an outfit like Aston Martin, it was a pretty good score.
So here’s to 1954, the Year of the Hatch on both sides of the English Channel. One was a very workmanlike opening for an old delivery wagon that still had some juice left in it, the other was for a hot car that could use more luggage space and needed a practical way to access it. Who did it best? Well, Citroën missed an opportunity, given that the spare tyre remained in the way. Rookie mistake or too cheap to do it properly? Probably the latter, truth be told. The DB2-4, on the other hand, spared no expense (especially not that of their clientele) to deliver a top-notch hot hatch. Aston Martin for the win!
Wow! Does that thing look good in bright red! The hatch makes this the perfect configuration for grand touring. Jaguar later built their own hatch E Type in the ’60’s. The rear end looks a little ’50’s dowdy, but the front end is quite handsome in my book. Especially with the Euro headlamps. Aston Martin… the name evokes romance, adventure, and exclusivity. Back then, and still Today. This is one of my favorite cars. A convertible model was featured in the Hitchcock movie “The Birds.” There was no fanfare made over the car, it was just a car in the movie. Though it was fun to see it being driven around. I didn’t even notice it until I became an Aston fan only a decade or so ago and I noticed the car in the movie when I watched the movie on TCM.
It’s hard to choose a favorite Aston Martin, but I think the DB2 is beautiful. It’s not nearly perfect like a DB4; as Jose said above, the rear end lets it down just a little, but for some reason, if you told me that I could have any model I wanted, the DB2 would be at or near the top of the list.
I cannot share the enthusiasms of our learned author. For mine, the It Ain’t ‘Alf Hot Mum pith helmet grille looks too like a dog baring its teeth (or the face of an owner who has trodden in what the dog has produced from its other end). The front in general is that of a wide and low-ish machine, the back that of a tall-ish pumpkin coach, and they comingle about as successfully as that combination may be thought to imply: Cinderella surely wouldn’t have got into a carriage pulled by half a glum-faced sportscar.
They fixed up quite a bit with the Mk 3, though it will never rise to glamor of the early DB4 – few cars do – which may possibly be explained by the latter car being a pukka Italian job.
Fine history as ever, Prof T, and some intriguing alternatives tabled. I do wish that that lowly Ford had been a better car, as I’ve always thought it an awfully good looker.
Gorgeous car, for sure! But putting modern LED headlights in an old car should be punishable by death. Frickin foul.
+1
What a glorious compendium of post-war European sports vehicles. Thank you, Tatra !