The Vintage Sports Car Club of Australia

Mystery Aston Martin

By Brian McMillan

 It was more than 20 years ago. I was trying to list all the pre war Aston Martins in Australia and NZ when David Manson, from the Alvis Club, came up with a pic taken at an event which showed part of the front of an early Aston.

A2 127 as it was on the Gold Coast in 1989

This was a car I had not seen before and had never heard mentioned. Nothing more was heard until July this year when, Les Johnson, an Aston Club member from Sydney sent me a sales document detailing the sale of an Aston in 1961. This was the first confirmation of the mystery car. It showed the engine number as S19.

When I went through the 20 or so cars on my Australian list I noticed that there was a car which was listed as having engine S19. This car I had listed as A2 127 which meant it was built in January 1932. My data showed that it had crashed in a race in NZ and had ended in Lance Dixon's possession in the mid seventies. He had built a new Ulster style body on it and supercharged it. It ran at the Geelong sprints and did a 17 sec. standing quarter. The engine was damaged at the sprints.

The supercharger was removed and the car eventually ended up on the Gold Coast in 1989 where it was restored and sold at auction to Goddard from the UK.

After numerous emails to and from UK, NZ, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth we have concluded that there was only ever one car.

A2 127 had the engine from S19 fitted in the UK about 1953. It came to Australia sometime after this and ended up in Sydney where it was sold, in 1961, as S19 for the princely sum of 25 pounds. It was crashed somewhere and finally ended up in Melbourne with Lance Dixon.

The real S19 had a new engine fitted in the late eighties and now resides in Italy. It never came to Australia.

If anyone can add to the story I would love to hear from them. Was it ever crashed in a race and where. Was it ever in NZ or WA. Brian McMillan brianmcmillan@optusnet.com.au