| 1960
Aston Martin DB4 Series One
Total restoration |
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Update report - July 4, 2009
Many thanks to our friend and customer Bill Collings (world renowned luthier of Collings Guitars fame), who used one of his massive end mills to machine out the seized head studs from our DB4 engine. Thanks to Bill's efforts, we were finally able to separate the cylinder head from the block. That's the good news. The bad news is that the head has some nasty corrosion damage and it is going to be a huge challenge for us to save it. Fortunately, we like a challenge.
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Body now completely stripped...First of all, many thanks to those of you who contacted me with your input and opinions on the issue of RHD -v- LHD. I received some very informative and helpful emails, including an answer to my question about how many of the 150 Series One DB4s were RHD from the factory. I learned that of the 123 cars listed on the AMOC register, it appears that the split is 54% to 46% in favor of the LHD cars, meaning my car is one of 66 RHD Series One cars on record.
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left to be stripped |
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bonnet mouth |
Looking for opinions...I am undecided whether to restore this car to its original RHD spec, or whether I should convert it to LHD. I would be interested to hear opinions, one way or the other. What would such a conversion do to the value/desirability? Also, how many of the 150 Series One DB4s produced were RHD? Anyone know?
Fire me an email and let me know what you think. Thank you!
Special thanks to Andy who helped strip the left flank of the car in his own time yesterday.
This week I felt an irresistible urge to see some of that beautiful aluminum coachwork that has been hiding for many years beneath countless layers of bondo and paint. Starting with the right hand rear wing, which we knew had seen some pretty crude accident repairs at some time in the past, we broke out the paint stripper and got to work!
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Finalizing the AM5 five speed kit
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I am delighted to report that I finally made time to install the new AM5 five speed this morning and everything fit into place perfectly. Other than having to trim the fibreglass top cover (which had already been rather crudely trimmed at the factory), this is a 100% bolt in installation.My thanks to Team CJ technician Ray Silkwood who met me at the shop before 6 this morning. Working together we had the engine and new five speed installed and bolted down in less than an hour.
More AM5 five speed development work.
A little interior work, more R&D with the AM5 five speed....and an absolutely gorgeous aluminium expansion tank!
A 5 speed transmission for my Aston....
Yesterday, I decided to put some work into designing a five speed transmission for the DB4. Given where I am in the overall restoration process, you could be forgiven for thinking that I might be jumping the gun a little! However, experience (with the development of Jaguar performance parts) has shown that now is in fact the ideal time to take all my critical measurements and to begin the painstaking trial fitting process.Having already developed a highly successful five speed transmission for the E Type Jaguar, I must admit we had a big head start when it came to designing one for the Aston Martin. Our Jaguar box (the CJ5) is based on the Tremec T5 WC (World Class) transmission. It is a quiet, smooth shifting box that can handle in excess of 400 ft/lbs of torque. It also has a wide range of ratio choices and overdrive options.
Needless to say, I need the Aston version of my five speed (the AM5) to be a bolt in conversion that requires zero body modification and places the shifter in precisely the same position as the original. Having taken my preliminary measurements, I am delighted to report that the development of the AM5 is going to be a breeze compared to the challenges we faced with the E Type box. Some of the photographs below show how (dimensionally) similar the David Brown four speed and the CJ5 five speed are.
Once I have the first article AM5 built, I will bolt it up to the stripped engine block and install it in the car. At that point all that will remain will be to take a precise measurement for the new driveshaft, and to design the rear trans mount bracket.
A couple of days ago I decided to remove the dash from the DB4. You might think such a basic task shouldn't present too much of a problem to a chap with his own restoration business.....but boy, would you be wrong! I had been forewarned by one of my advisors over at the AMOC (thanks, Arne!) that I was about to undertake what he decribed as an 'absolute bastard of a job'. I see no reason ever to doubt Arne's word again.The task would have been considerably easier had I not come across such a cosmopolitan mixture of screws and bolts of every conceivable size...all thoughtfully located in some of the most inaccessible locations. Most of my labour was performed upside down with my hands and arms thrust through the jagged internals of the dash, blindly floundering in the dark looking for a fastener that vaguely resembled the size and shape of the tool I had squeezed up behind the dash. For a tall guy with dodgy knees and a bad right elbow, having to repeatedly extract myself from the dash to find a different tool was a complete pain in the arse.....literally. Even with Arne's helpful suggestion of how best to tackle the job, it took me five solid hours of contortion, swearing, and extreme physical discomfort to get the dash out.
The usual caveat applies that most of the following photographs are for my own reference purposes and may not be of much interest to anyone else!
Sunday was a long day, although at least I seemed to make some decent progress. As usual, many of the photographs below will probably be of little interest to anyone else as they were taken for my own reference.Thanks to the good folk over at the AMOC web for their encouraging and informative emails!
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which matches the factory build sheet |
I spent a few more hours in the engine bay today, although I have to admit that the going was a little slower than I would have liked! Most of the following photographs are for my own future reference, although some of them should make wonderful 'before' pictures when the car starts going back together. I also took a series of measurements in relation to the new CJ5 five speed transmission we are developing for this car.In case you were wondering, yes, the cylinder head is still stuck solid...although I remain blindly optimistic that I will have the thing on my work bench in the next couple of days!
I have received an encouraging email from someone over at the Aston Owners Club who apparently stumbled across the CJ website and found my Aston page. Maybe one of them can answer the question relating to the last photograph in the following sequence?
Slowly but surely, I have been stripping out the engine bay. Everywhere I look are signs of very poor workmanship in the past - it really is a crying shame that this great old car has been so badly neglected.The cylinder head is stuck solid, presumably by virtue of the steel head studs 'welding' themselves to the aluminium head and block, although we should have it loosened up in the next couple of days. What I can see of the engine and cylinder head internals has given me cause for hope that we will be able to save them. Watch this space!
Today I got to spend a few hours in the engine bay of the Aston - and unfortunately I must report that the day didn't go too well. As you can see from the photographs below, my new parts wish-list is going to include pretty much anything aluminium that ever came into contact with coolant. The waterpump literally fell apart on me when I removed it, as did the thermostat housing, but more worrying still was the state of the front cover - which is corroded beyond repair.Trying to keep a positive attitude(!), I have been telling myself that Bob Fountain (The Aston Workshops) will no doubt be able to sell me all the shiny replacement parts I am going to need. Continuing with the positive vibe theme, I have just about convinced myself that the head and the block will be servicable.......I certainly hope so, because I don't think Santa can stretch to one of those new, magnificent looking 4.5 litre blocks I have seen advertised in the owners club magazine!
More shiny new parts......this time a high torque gear reduction starter motor made for me by the Keith Gustafson, who makes our Jaguar starter motors. I also have Hayward & Scott in England making me a pair of special polished stainless steel exhaust manifolds. It will be a long time before I need them.....but I couldn't resist!

A thing of beauty...One of the things I like best about my business is that I get to make (or have made) some seriously cool stuff. The new Aston Martin radiator pictured below really is a thing of beauty. Tipping the scales at just 13lbs and upgraded to handle over 400 HP, it also represents a prodigious performance upgrade over the original.

The restoration gets underway!Yesterday I awarded myself half a day off from my CJ office duties and spent some quality time with the Aston. For me there is no better therapy or form of stress relief than to crawl all over a classic car, scratching my knuckles, banging my head and getting oil under my finger nails. These days the opportunity to spend time in the workshop doesn't present itself very often, so yesterday was something of a treat for me.
When you look at the photographs below it might not look as if I achieved much in the 5 hours I worked on the car. In fact, I feel like I got quite a lot accomplished and certainly learned a good deal about how these cars are put together. Unfortunately, the car has sustained a pretty decent hit in the right front at some time in its past, so Bob Fountain's prediction that a complete new front clip might be in my future appears to be correct. Really the only decision I have to make is whether to buy a nose section (from midway along the wheel arches forward) or a complete assembly (everything from the windscreen forward).
One thing that slowed my progress somewhat was the fact that (presumably following the front end collision I mentioned above) somebody had literally bondoed the right hand headlamp bucket into place. In fact, most of the right front corner of the car has been sculptured from bondo and fibre glass! It took me a full hour just to chisel the RH headlamp bucket away from the wing.
The next task will be to pull the engine and transmission, something I hope to find time to do next week.
Before tearing into the DB4 and reducing it to a very expensive pile of parts, I put it up in the air and took the following photographs showing the rather sorry state of the under carriage. Clearly we have lots of rust repair ahead of us and lots of new challenges!Earlier today I spoke with Bob Fountain of the Aston Workshop in Beamish, England. Bob graciously answered my many questions about the sequence I should follow in disassembling the car. I also quizzed him about the availability of certain repair panels as I obviously want to avoid reinventing the wheel and attempting to repair panels which it makes more sense to replace. Apparently most (8 out of 10) of the DB Astons that the Aston Workshop restore receive new front ends. As my car has clearly been in a front end collision at some time in its past, it is quite likely that I will be biting that particular bullet a little deeper into the restoration process.
With the staff in the CJ Workshop working flat out on customer's cars, I will be doing much of the work myself, at least initially. I am looking forward to the challenge - and to learning more about the way these great old cars were put together.
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I have an exciting update for you today! My family back in the UK have been doing some detective work for me and one of the things they did was to place a letter in the Yorkshire Post asking for any information regarding Mr Mainz, the first owner of our DB4. Yesterday, as a result of the insertion in the Yorkshire Post, we received a letter from a Mr Malcolm Holmes stating that he used to work for Mainz & Sons in the early 1960's. Mr Holmes remembered the Aston Martin very well and said he even got to drive it on a number of occasions. Even more encouraging, Mr Holmes was pretty sure that Mr Helmut Mainz was alive and well and living in Harrogate.Less than 24 hours after hearing from Mr Holmes, we were thrilled to receive the following letter from Mr Helmut Maintz himself.
Subject: Your letter to the Yorkshire PostRe your letter to the Yorkshire Post and the Telegraph & Argus asking for info about a DB4 Aston Martin car which was sold in 1960 by David Brown of Huddersfield to A Mainz & Son of Bradford of which I was the owner:
Unfortunately the car did not perform to expectations and I did not keep it for long. On the suggestion of David Brown (the then owner of Aston Martin) I drove the car to Posnan in Poland where both David Brown and A Mainz & Son were exhibitors at a trade fair. The car was put on display on the David Brown stand presumably as light relief from the heavy tractors they were famous for.
My return journey from Poland took me via Berlin, Hanover and Hook van Holland. Between Posnan and Berlin the roads were very poor at that time except for the last 20-30 miles into Berlin which had been the prewar AVVS car racing track. Probably to vent my frustration after miles of Polish cobblestones I put my foot down only to be engulfed after very few minutes in clouds of steam from a blown cylinder head gasket.
I had to nurse the car back to Berlin where I was unable to find a replacement and instead had to wait around for several days for the makers to fly out the part. My upset was the greater because David Brown sought to put the blame on me for my failure to fit an "oil cooler" which they recommended to prospective clients who intended to use their cars at high speeds for sustained periods.
I felt that this should have been a standard fitting on such an expensive car and as a result of their nonchalant attitude I sold the car shortly afterwards.
Helmut Mainz
I have written back to Mr Mainz and will keep you posted as further information comes to light!
Report date - March 19, 2004

I am delighted to report that the DB4 is now safe and sound at Classic Jaguar. The car is very much as it was described by the eBay seller, so I could not be more pleased with my purchase. The following photographs are as much for reference purposes as anything else, although some of them may also be of general interest.I would love to think the indicated mileage of 13,530 is correct, although of course that would seem to be highly unlikely. The glove box contained a handful of invoices dating back to the mid 1970s when a man by the name of Michael A. Waldman of Indianapolis, Indiana owned the car. Are you still out there in the classic car community, Michael? Needless to say, I would love to make contact with Mr. Waldman, assuming he is still alive.
We have learned from Aston Martin Heritage that the number plate (SKY 925) is original to the car, having been issued in Bradford, England in 1959. Incidentally, the car was last registered for the road in Indiana in August, 1976.
As I wait for the DB4 to be delivered (allegedly tomorrow) I couldn't resist buying a 1/18 scale model on eBay the other day because it is the same colour scheme with which my DB4 left the factory. Although I think the 'Peony Red' looks quite distinguished, I don't think it's for me. I am also rethinking my original idea of doing the car 'Silver Birch' as it seems everyone does their car that colour, presumably because of the James Bond connection. I am currently leaning towards one of the Aston Racing Greens, which are kind of a mid metallic green, something akin to Jaguar's Opalescent Dark Green. Anyway, plenty of time to make such decisions - the car hasn't even arrived yet!
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It is with a certain amount of pride that I introduce you to the latest addition to the Team CJ fleet, a 1960 Aston Martin DB4. One of only 150 Series One cars built, ownership of this gorgeous car represents the realization of a boyhood dream for me.
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I bought the DB4 on eBay with a winning bid about 30 seconds from the end of an auction on February 29. Although I don't expect to have the car back at CJ for a couple of weeks, I couldn't resist announcing its impending arrival to the world!
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I just got off the telephone with an incredibly helpful gentleman at Aston Services in Dorset, England. Armed with the chassis number of my DB4 he immediately located a build sheet for the car which he duly faxed through to me. The build sheet also includes a record of various repairs that were carried out under warranty during the first few months of the car's life. This list makes interesting reading!
- January 6, 1960 - An engineer attended (presumably the selling dealership) and tuned the carbs, adjusted the choke and torqued head nuts found to be loose
- January 12, 1960 - Delivery date/supplied to A. Mainz & Son, Limited, 7 Arundel Street, Bradford, Yorks
- February 8, 1960 - Cylinder head removed, broken inlet tappet cap and outer valve sping replaced, # 3 inlet valve replaced, valves ground and new parts fitted: engine timed: track checked: king pin nuts tightened
- June 22, 1960 - Camshaft covers removed and all auxillaries cylinder head and cylinder head itself removed: all components cleaned off, new gaskets fitted, cylinder head refitted, engine tuned and timed (work carried out in Germany)
- July 7, 1960 - New crankshaft, 6 new rods and all new bearings fitted: block and oil filter drilled out: summer thermostat fitted and thermostat housing opened up: head faced up: one new inlet valve and guide fitted: new set of valve springs and one new tappet fitted: new piston rings, starter rack and clutch plate fitted
- July 7, 1961 - Repairs carried out due to accident, including respray
- November 5, 1961 - Underside of spare wheel carrier sprayed
I suspect Aston Martin were relieved to get this particular car out of warranty!