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Next week sees the opening of the 74th Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California, with hundreds of the world’s finest pre- and post-war classic cars competing to be crowned best in show. Among them will be a stunning and unique restoration of a 1935 Aston Martin Mk2 Sports Saloon – one of only 24 made – that was found in a suburban garage in Liverpool.
“It’s believed to be the first Aston Martin to be painted in the marque’s now trademark metallic green, a new ICI paint technology at the time,” says the car’s owner, Neil Pickstone, 62, who bought the car at auction for £67,500 in 2019. Before that the car had been in the same family for 66 years, having been bought in 1953 by electrical engineer Philip Kenyon. Kenyon had been involved in the development of radar during the second world war, and was a member of the Radio Security Service, a branch of British intelligence involved in cracking German Morse code transmissions. His activities during the war raised suspicions among his neighbours that he was a “fifth columnist” – he had a flagpole in his back yard that he used as a radio mast – but the authorities, aware of his true role, took no action.
For many years the Aston Martin served as the Kenyon family car. Philip’s youngest daughter, Joan, recalls travelling in it over mountain passes on holidays in the Lake District. It was retired to a leaky garage – and later to his eldest daughter’s home – after a brake cable snapped in 1972, not to reemerge until Pickstone came across it at an H&H Classics auction. Despite its poor appearance at purchase, Pickstone says 90 per cent of the restored car is original – disintegrated leather, fabric and wood having been replaced as closely like-for-like as possible.
But it was the paint that proved to be the revelation. At some point the car had been brush-painted flat green, but the original metallic shade was discovered behind it. Paint expert John Falder of HMG Paints in Manchester established that the colour could only have been applied in 1935, following its introduction by ICI. Says Aston Martin historian Steve Waddingham: “Having checked records and conducted a paint analysis, it appears this is the first Aston Martin painted in metallic green. It’s amazing to discover a model in the colour.”
Pickstone commissioned Simon Isles Coachbuilding in High Peak, Derbyshire, to carry out the restoration work. The car was stripped down to every last nut and bolt and repaired piece by piece. “I dread to think about the cost, but it’s probably £350,000,” says Pickstone. “The car’s probably not worth that, but winning a prize at Pebble Beach will add value, whatever that is.”
So what are its chances of victory? Stephen Archer, 68, vice president and former chairman of the Aston Martin Owners Club and an Aston restoration consultant, knows the concours well: he project-managed a client’s 1962 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato to a class win in 2019. He says Pickstone’s task has been mammoth because Pebble Beach is about perfection, and to restore a car back to the state in which it left the Aston Martin factory, or better, is a massive undertaking.
“Judges look for amazing paint, amazing chrome, an amazing interior, every part clean enough to eat off; it should also have a story.” The car has already made it down to the last couple of hundred from around 2,000 entries across 20 classes and is one of just four Aston Martins that will be on show.
The words of Pebble Beach Concours selection committee member Colin Feichtmeir, a lifelong enthusiast for and collector of pre-war cars, should give Pickstone reason to believe: “It’s also about the underlying car, and how good that car really is that makes the difference,” he says.