Overview

The Aston martin DB2 is a sports car manufactured by Aston martin. The car was introduced in 1950 to replaced the 2-Liter Sports also known as the DB1 and production ended in April 1953. Originally the Aston martin DB2 was designed to be sold only as a closed 2-seat coupe but a drophead 2-seat coupe was later added to the lineup.

Variants

The Aston Martin DB was a major advancement over the DB1 model. It was equipped with a dual overhead cam straight six 2.6-Liter engine that produced 108 horsepower and 125 lb-ft of torque, mated to a four speed manual transmission. This engine was bought by David Brown from W.O. Bentley, the owner of Bentley motorcar Company. This engine was built in collaboration with William Watson. In performance test done by the British Magazine “The Motor”, the Aston Martin DB2 accelerated from 0-60 in 11.2 seconds and reached a maximum speed of 116 mph. A fuel consumption of 20 mpg was achieved.

The first DB2 prototype appeared as one of three Aston Martins which entered the 1949 24 Hours of Le Mans. The prototype used the new 2.6-liter engine and it was built on the tube-frame chassis created by Claude Hill.

The production model was unveiled at the 1950 New York Auto Show. The first 49 cars sold to the public had a three-part grille with large rectangular side vents. This grille was updated soon and had a more rounded appearance with horizontal slats.

The DB2 closed coupe had a top-hinged boot in back containing a spare tire. Luggage space was behind the front seats and it was accessed from outside the car. A large single piece bonnete was hinged at the front.

By the end of 1950 model year the Drophead coupe version was introduced. It is estimated that at least 102 vehicles were sold.

In 1951 a Vantage upgrade was made available. The Vantage was equipped with a 3.0-Liter engine with larger carburetors, inlet camshaft and higher compression ratio pistons. This upgrade to the engine increased the engine’s power. The engine was now producing 125 horsepower. All DB2 model sold before could have been updated with the Vantage upgrade to the engine. The name "Vantage" was chosen after leafing through a thesaurus looking for suitable tags for higher performance variants of the then current model. In the same tradition were later the names Volante for a convertible and Virage for a model in the 90s created.

Additional Information

The second, third and fourth DB2 models were produced to race in the 1950 24 Hours Le Mans Race. The cars achieved the first and second place in their class that year and all three continued to race until the end of 1951.

The 21^st Aston Martin DB2 was raced in December 1950 at the first Sebring race by american sportsman Briggs Cunningham. The car was placed second.