Rare stolen Aston Martin DB2 found

Guest Blogger David Ellis says that a dilapidated and unroadworthy 1949 Aston Martin DB2 sports car has just sold at auction in England for 679,000 British pounds—the equivalent of nearly AU$1,243,000.

But it is the car’s amazing history the new owner obviously thinks worthy of every penny of what he’s spent: after competing in the 1949 French Le Mans and Belgium Spa-24 endurance races, it raced for a few more years before being retired and eventually bought by an English enthusiast – from whom it was stolen in Hertfordshire in 2002.

Looking forlorn after being recovered from a storage shed in
Holland 14 years after disappearing, the famous Aston Martin DB2
sold at auction for the equivalent of AU$1,243,000. (Pic: Bonhams Auctioneers)

Two men were subsequently convicted of auto theft, but after being released on bail and ordered to surrender the vehicle, both disappeared… and not surprisingly the Aston Martin with them.

Amazingly, in March of this year, Hertfordshire Police were tipped off that the car was in a storage shed in Eindhoven, Holland. While it was recovered there in dilapidated condition, the two men who stole it have still never been found after absconding all those fourteen years ago.

The Aston Martin in action in its racing heyday over a half century ago.

And as the English owner died in 2003 – one of the last things him asking of a relative “has that nice policeman found my car yet?” – it was returned to his nearest of kin. Not able to afford the thousands of pounds to restore it, they put it to Bonham Auctioneers in 2016, where it fetched that amazing 679,000 pounds.