RESTORATION PROJECTS
Aston Martin DB4 Restoration Project
Stratton Motor Company proudly undertook the meticulous restoration of “Primrose,” a stunning Aston Martin DB4 with a rich history. As one of the first customer cars delivered worldwide and the original brochure car for the model, this DB4 was a rare barn find in need of complete rejuvenation. Starting from the chassis up, every element of the car was expertly restored to its former glory, combining modern precision with traditional craftsmanship. From the rebuilt engine to the hand-finished bodywork, Primrose now stands as a testament to Stratton Motor Company’s dedication to preserving automotive heritage while honouring the legacy of this iconic Aston Martin.
This is why we are a respected Aston Martin restoration company
The DB4 is a beautiful and very important car in Aston Martin’s history. It is actually the first car to be totally conceived under David Brown’s ownership and the first Aston Martin to start its production life at Newport Pagnell.
This particular DB4, chassis number 110, was the tenth DB4 to be built and was originally delivered to a customer in Glasgow in 1959. It was a series 1 model and as such had a front opening bonnet, no over-riders, no oil cooler as standard, a small sump and no door frames. Those were the main differences compared to later cars. This car in addition has jacking points going through the body rather than under it, a feature that disappeared shortly after this car was built. It also has thinner superstructure steel, additional boot floor re-enforcements and an access panel to the top of the exhaust.
In 1962 the car was bought by Neville Reece, a farmer from mid Wales. He used the car extensively and even had a tow bar fitted to pull his caravan with! He was very fond of the car and in 1982 when the car developed a misfire, he vowed one day to repair the car and get it back on the road. It was not to be.
The car languished in a farm building until 2006 when Roger Bennington acquired it in a very bad state of decay but with only 49,000 miles on it. Neville Reece was a reluctant seller but on the understanding that Roger would restore it he agreed to part with it and it made the journey back to us at Stratton Motor Company.
Over the past 5 years we have been restoring the car, as it deserves. Inevitably much of the chassis and body had to be repaired or replaced but this was done by skilled ex factory craftsmen.
The engine, as with about 7 other cars produced around that time, has a ‘PP’ engine number: Production Prototype. We were able to re-use the alloy head, block, liners, rods, crank and pistons and its original engine specification was faithfully retained. Everything had to be rebuilt on this car but mechanically it has managed to retain every major element.
Hopefully the photo diary will give you an indication, as to what was involved in restoring Primrose to her former glory.
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Primrose featured on the renowned Vantage Magazine cover
This is a very promising motor car,’ said David Brown to the designer Harold Beach after his first drive of the DB4 in 1958. It was a promise that would be fulfilled beyond anyone’s expectations. Demand for the DB4 greatly outstripped the ability to supply cars for many
years and the DB4 would evolve through five different series between 1958 and 1963, by which time the car was virtually the DB5. Indeed, the original Bond car was a Series 5 DB4, not a DB5, but good luck trying to tell the world that Bond ejected a man from a DB4.
On a sun-filled spring day outside the old Newport Pagnell buildings is a sight that stops Aston employees and blasé Newport Pagnell inhabitants in their tracks. Not just a DB4 but one of the very first, and in startling but perfect (and original) primrose yellow. Roger Bennington, whose car it is and whose Stratton Motor Company has just completed its painstaking restoration, feels (rightly) that originality is paramount. Seeing the car roll off the transporter with just 14 post-rebuild miles on the clock, back at the place of its birth for the first time in over 50 years, is a real privilege. It dazzles Tickford Street with its presence, its simplicity and its beauty.
There is always something special about the ‘first of the line’. Be it the 1950 DB2, 1958 DB4 or 1967 DBS, these were the cars that the designers created with a seminal vision.
Later versions may have been an ‘improvement’ in many ways but rarely did the changes improve on the look of the original. They were also invariably heavier. This car, then, just the tenth to be built, is the DB4 in its purest form.
The DB4 was, of course, a very important car in Aston Martin’s history. It was also the first to be totally conceived under David Brown’s ownership and the first to start its production life at Newport Pagnell. John Wyer, general manager of Aston Martin at the time, had instigated the replacement for the DB2 series of cars as far back as 1955.
‘It is axiomatic,’ he declared, ‘that the design of a successful car should be one third engine, one third body and one third chassis. Undue emphasis on any of these departments leads to an unbalanced entity.’
