Description
In 1953 David Brown, the owner and director of Aston Martin, decided to move his focus from the Racing world to one of more a more commercial stance and an opportunity to provide an income based around his successes on the race track.
Following the brief production of the DB2/ 4, in 1958 he launched the first model of what probably became the most infamous trio of Aston Martins, the DB4.
In his quest to launch one of the most beautiful sports cars in the world he turned to Italian designers in Milan (Carrozeria Touring) and acclaimed Polish ex-racing driver and engineer Tadek Marek to come up with a new engine to give the car real credence.
The success of that pairing saw over a decade of production, and variations on a theme that saw only minor changes through the DB4, to the DB5 and DB6.
The model remained much the same through that period with the major changes only being made to the length and height of the car, the capacity of the engine and aesthetics changes, the most notable ones being to design of the lights, fuel fillers and laterally the inclusion of a ‘Kamm Style’ spoiler lip on the rear of the DB6 to provide downforce as the characteristics of motoring in the UK changed with the emergence of the motorway network and faster travelling speeds.
There can be no doubt that these three models quickly established their rightful place not only in the UK motoring history but throughout the world.
WMF38G was one of the last production DB6 Mk1 Volante’s before the Mk11 was launched. The model was then discontinued in favour of the much larger William Towns designed DBS model, although the DB6 MK11 and the DBS ran side by side, sharing the same 4. 0 straight six engine in that time before the official launch of the Tadek Marek V8 engine.
This particular car was originally sold by H R Owen, Aston Martin dealer from central London to a Greek business owner from London in 1969. He sold the car in 1972 after which it’s next owner took it to Greece and a warm Mediterranean climate.
In 1979 the car returned to the UK and was placed into the private collection of a wealthy Suffolk businessman who kept the car in heated garage. The car continued to be driven and maintained by the owner at Ian Mason Aston (Kensington), with any major work being carried out by Aston Martin Works Service at Newport Pagnell.
In 2008 the car was sold to fellow Aston Martin enthusiast and expert Roger Benningtion (Stratton Motor Company) who has managed the cars complete and detailed restoration to a point where this simply must be one of the finest examples of an Aston Martin DB6 Volante in the world.
Originally the car had been dressed in Dubonet red coachwork with a ‘Natural’ leather interior that had been noted as ‘Commensurate with it age’ and in need of new paintwork.
Its complete and detailed restoration has seen extensive work to what was already considered to be a very solid car, having been looked after well by it’s previous owners, but now wears beautiful Bahama Yellow coachwork (As seen on the DBS driven by Roger Moore in the 1970’s TV series ‘The Persuaders’) with a completely new and sumptuous black leather interior and hood.
The full ground up, nut and bolt restoration, which included a body off process and rebuild of all mechanical components has been completed carefully over a number of years by Roger’s own team of craftsmen and specialists, experts in their own right, resulting in what must be a condition that is as close as can be to original condition, and in fact probably better than original with the continual development of materials used in its re-birth and at a cost of circa £270k.
The engine has also been subject to an extensive and complete rebuild in 2020 by Aston Engineering which included the fitment of new pistons and cylinder liners, increasing the cubic capacity to 4. 2 litre resulting in an increase to 281 bhp (max torque 296lbft at 4500rpm)
All major mechanical components, gearbox and axle etc have been stripped, examined and parts replaced where necessary prior to careful rebuild with new gaskets/ seals and repaint.
The car is fitted with the more desirable 5 speed ZF gearbox and had factory fitted power steering from new, along with three-ear hub caps and electric aerial and has completed approximately 75000 miles from new. It is one of only 140 long wheel base DB6 Volantes ever produced.
This beautiful example of the acclaimed DB6 Volante has to be seen in the flesh to be really appreciated, the attention to detail being simply forensic with the addition of the slightly wider chromed wire wheels.
A true car for the discerning enthusiast/ collector.
