The words ‘company car’ typically don’t exactly spark joy, often being associated with a greyscale assortment of boring saloons with engine displacements that might have once seemed adequate for a lawn mower. However, RM Sotheby’s Cliveden House sale on July 8th may just have the most exciting company car from the entire history of the automobile: a 1957 Aston Martin DB4 Prototype used as the personal car of famed Aston Martin Lagonda boss David Brown’s wife. 

Boasting one-off bodywork designed in-house by Frank Feeley at Aston Martin, chassis number DP114/2 was completed in 1957 with a tubular chassis developed by engineer Harold Beach. After a great deal of testing, Aston turned to Touring Superleggera for further input, who insisted that a platform chassis be developed, rendering DP114/2 a ‘prototype abandoned’ as listed on the car’s build sheet. With development of the new chassis underway, DP114/2 was repurposed as personal transport for Marjorie Brown, wife of chairman David Brown. 

First registered on August 23rd, 1957, DP114/2 originally featured a white body with a blue top and matching blue trim, earning it the nickname, “Walls Ice Cream Van” after the well-known ice cream manufacturer’s corporate colours. According to its build sheet, this prototype boasted a special exhaust and fuel tank, while the engine and gearbox were practically identical to that found in the DB4’s predecessor, the DB2/4 MK III. 

Mrs Brown used DP114/2 as here daily driver until 1962. Since then, DP114/2 has undergone a number of restorations, first at the hands of former owner Ivor Howells in 1977, then by Aston Martin Works in Newport Pagnell over the course of five years, starting in 1990, who recommissioned the car once again in 2005. At this time it was finished in its current colour of Almond Green over a Fern Green leather interior. Still retaining its matching numbers engine and transmission, this is an unmissable opportunity to acquire a fascinating one-of-one prototype from Aston Martin’s illustrious history. 

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