HomePick of the DayPick of the Day: Aston Martin DB4 emerges from a barn

Pick of the Day: Aston Martin DB4 emerges from a barn

Car was gifted to serviceman returning from Vietnam with intent to be restored

-

Beneath the dust and dirt in the photo above is a 1962 Aston Martin DB4 that has been extracted from a barn after 30 years and is now the Pick of the Day on ClassicCars.com, where the ready-for-restoration coupe is being advertised by a dealership in Astoria, New York.

The car comes with a story. It seems the previous owner returned from military service in Vietnam in the 1970s and went back to work at a local body shop. The boss asked the returning vet if he’d help repair the boss’s personal car, which meant going to the boss’s house for several weeks. 

Afterward, in thanks for the extra effort, the boss gave the vet this Aston Martin, which the vet then had towed to his home with plans to restore the car.

As you likely have guessed, he “just never got around to it,” the dealership reports. “He parked it in a barn where it sat until recently.”

Extracted from storage, the car is being offered for sale for $325,000. 

The dealership points out that this is a DB4 with matching-numbers components, in blue over a red leather interior.

“The introduction of the Aston Martin DB4 marked a new era for the British sports car manufacturer that would restore performance and prestige to the fabled marque,” the dealer adds.

“Wrapped in a seductive, lightweight alloy body fashioned by Carrozzeria Touring of Milan and featuring a powerful 3.7-litre engine, the DB4 offered performance to match its pedigree, becoming the world’s first production car to achieve 0-100-0 mph in under 30 seconds.”

Aston Martin unveiled the DB4 at the London Motor Show in 1958. The car featured styling by Touring on a new tube-frame chassis and with a new inline 6-cylinder, double overhead-cam engine by Tadek Marek, the former racing driver from Poland. The engine was rated at 240 horsepower. The car also had 4-wheel disc brakes.

If the $325,000 asking price seems high, consider that the Hagerty Valuation Guide reports that in just “fair” condition, these cars are worth nearly $400,000 and restored to “concours” condition are worth more than three-quarters of a million dollars.

To view this listing on ClassicCars.com, see Pick of the Day.

Larry Edsall
Larry Edsall
A former daily newspaper sports editor, Larry Edsall spent a dozen years as an editor at AutoWeek magazine before making the transition to writing for the web and becoming the author of more than 15 automotive books. In addition to being founding editor at ClassicCars.com, Larry has written for The New York Times and The Detroit News and was an adjunct honors professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

11 COMMENTS

  1. Very nice to see a valuable car find like this DB4, but one must think why couldn’t it have had some sort of sheet over it or cover to at least save bad body deterioration & to protect the nice red leather interior, worth as they say $750,000 – $million restored.

  2. The scariest thing is that while relatively young it was in such disrepair and need it was to be abandoned by several car involved owners.

    Only worth forgetting in a barn. Needing everything then and now are yet 2 different things.

  3. I agree w burns. Do a full mechanical restoration, but only remove the dust not the rust. Preserve the patina; protect the leather & carpet. Find old tires & wires. Unlike all the other prom-queens, can you imagine a larger crowd than gathered around this car parked outside the Del Monte Lodge at Pebble?
    Forget talk of comps. Cars like this are worth more than the value of the leather and steel. It’s all about the story!!! If I didn’t have too many in my stable, I would snap her up in a heartbeat. Love it. Love it. Love it.

  4. A “barn” with a dirt floor is the complete opposite from a barn with a wooden or concrete floor.
    Also, if a barn has an airy second floor, that also make a big difference,
    Therefore, when you see a “barn find”, ask about the barn before the car.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Recent Posts

spot_img