1969 Aston Martin DBS

• Registered to the first of just five owners on 01/08/1969
• Bought by our Aston collector vendor in 2014 and who is now emigrating to Spain
• Finished in Dubonnet Rosso with tan leather and walnut veneers
• Looked after and last serviced by marque specialist, Christian Lewis, in 2020
• The MOT is valid until June 2021 and the odometer reading is some 11,200 miles (atoc)
• Supplied in good order, this automatic DBS is offered with a history file and V5c

Although always intended to house the new Tadek Marek-designed V8 engine, the Aston Martin DBS was launched in October 1967 with the 4.0-litre 'six' of the concurrently produced DB6. Styled in-house by William Towns, the beautiful DBS caused quite a stir, Autocar magazine observing: 'Without the aid of an Italian stylist the Newport Pagnell team came up with something as modern, handsome and Italianate as anything from the Turin coachbuilders at that time.'

Beneath its shapely exterior, the DBS employed a platform-type chassis with independent suspension all round: wishbone and coil-spring at the front, De Dion with Watts linkage at the rear. Larger and more luxuriously appointed than the DB6, the heavier DBS disappointed some by virtue of its slightly reduced performance, but the Vantage version's top speed of 140mph and a standing quarter-mile time of 16.3 seconds were highly respectable figures nonetheless. Assessing the virtues of Aston's new flagship, Autocar judged it superior to the DB6 in many areas, the bigger DBS offering four full-sized seats in addition to transformed handling and road holding courtesy of the new rear suspension and standardised power steering.

Registered to the first of just five owners on the 1st August 1969, the car was bought by our vendor, the curator of the Generation GT Collection, in 2014. It has benefitted from attention from marque specialist Christian Lewis in 2020 with recent works to the carburettors. The mileage of just under 11,200, at the time of cataloguing, leads us to believe it was either zeroed at restoration or has gone round the clock. The MOT is valid until June 2021 and the car is supplied to auction with a history file showing recent and historical invoices and the Swansea V5c.