Description
The value of a classic car – both in terms of financial stability and service to a future owner – is in its provenance or ownership and service history. This is a car whose care has been in the hands of engineering folk and it shows.
Its first owner is said to be engineering giants GKN (the car sits on GKN alloys) and the
records show that this lovely car’s next keeper was a company purchase by Richard R Leader of Chertsey in Surrey. Whilst the comprehensive maintenance history begins with the car’s purchase from HWM as a used car, we can be confident of the first owner’s enthusiasm for well-maintained machinery.
Richard Leader established the company in 1951 as a subcontractor dealing in military aircraft parts. But as an engineer – and inventor – at heart, as the demand of the aircraft business reduced, he transferred his attention to the textile industry and identified a need for a device to check the shuttle on classic weaving looms and designed a hydraulic shock absorber using polyurethane diaphragm – the Leader Shuttle Control. After a tough start the product enjoyed a success that, although the original company wound down, is maintained to this day.
And it is rewarding to recognize that the purchase of the car as a used car from Aston specialist HWM was by the boss of another engineering company Kesson Engineering of New Malden and the background of Ralph Kesson who cherished the car for over forty years. Following in the engineering background of his Dad, Ralph served an apprenticeship with DECCA in conjunction with a sandwich course at Brooklands College in Surrey.
His course focus was on precision engineering but alongside his training was a burgeoning love of sports cars – TR4 and TR4A were early loves but travelling to college, he regularly saw an Aston Martin DBS and set his heart of the model.
His apprenticeship over, he continued to work for DECCA and the various later owners of the company and the level of precision is reflected in working on what were the then analogue instruments on Tornados and Lynx helicopters. Meanwhile, his Dad had left employment with British Industrial Tooling and established Kesson Engineering and invited Ralph to join the company.
At this time, Ralph’s car ownership had gone beyond TR4’s and he had progressed to a 1965 Mercedes 230SL Pagoda that he exchanged at Paradise Garage for an Aston Martin DBS Vantage that he had set his heart on his journeys to College. Then is 1979, a friend told him that there was a DBS V8 for sale at Bell & Colville. He duly went to check the car out but disliked the Gold colour and the fitted wing mirrors on the car – the car was one of the fuel injection models and it was suggested that he went down to HWM to ask about the system.
He went down to HWM and there was a beautiful V8 Series III and, as they say, it was love at first sight! Ralph briefly had his own “stable” of Astons as he still owned the DBS and there is a lovely contemporary photo on file showing the two cars together.
As you may expect from a precision engineer, there are immaculately recorded notes and inevitable raft of parts invoices supplemented by occasional referral to specialist suppliers. When asked about those referrals to specialists, Ralph reflects that, as his business grew, it was more economical to concentrate on his business and employ a third party. He uses an example of a differential repair – there is a small but vulnerable shaft in the diff that, when worn, is vulnerable to sharp acceleration – he discovered that when he undertook the repair himself but 17 years later, when the same problem recurred, he used a specialist!
But this was not a “Sunday special” classic car for showing off at shows or down the pub, this V8 was in daily use – a real family car for outings and holidays with his wife and his three kids in the back seat. They all loved the car and all gave him some grief when it came time to say goodbye to her.
But at his heart, Ralph was and remains an enthusiast – regular visits to Le Mans (the 24 hours and later the Classic) – and involvement in other classic car events with like minded friends. Many of those were with the Aston Martin Owners Club (AMOC) – in those days, membership was by invitation and Ralph’s came from John Herring who was a well-known expert on the Aston Martin parts.
One of Ralph’s favourite memories was the Track Day at Brands Hatch when there was a clearly stated number of laps and a big gap had opened between him and the fast guys and when he came round Clearways, rather than follow the pack into the pitlane, he happily drove on followed by several others. He got a telling off but enjoyed his bonus lap.
It was at another classic car event – a Club Lotus meeting of all things – that he met the current owner of the V8 and formed a friendship that has lasted.
Realising that the car was not being used enough and with his eye on a Ferrari that there was not enough garage space for, Ralph finally relinquished stewardship to the current owner in November 2021 whose engineering speciality is hydraulics so he has maintained the car through the services of specialists like Trinity Engineering and Race Ltd of Charlwood in Surrey.
