From Scrapped To Millions

Picture of By Rob Harvey
By Rob Harvey

A 1954 Aston Martin DB2 Vignale has gone up for sale for an eye-watering £3.6 million.

While the price tag may seem steep, the story behind this vehicle is certainly one that gives the car an interesting history. The car was commissioned by King Baudouin of Belgium in 1954. It was designed by Alfredo Vignale and was kept in the former Kings collection for a while.

Eventually, it was sold to a palace aide and, at some point after that, it was sold to an American soldier who purchased the car before selling it on one more time to a scrap yard in Virginia, USA as a non-runner.

When Aston Workshop owner, Bob Fountain, heard about the car, he purchased it from the scrap yard and had it shipped over to his workshop in Newcastle.

Bob and his team worked on restoring the rare Aston for 16 years, transforming it from a shell into the stunning car now worth more than three and a half million pounds.

During the restoration process, Bob used historic documents to handcraft the fawn leather interior to the exact specifications the King of Belgium had ordered back in 1954.

When asked about the project, Bob said “It’s always great for us to discover vintage Aston Martins in need of restoration, but when we found that this one had been specially commissioned by a king it added a real sense of excitement to the project”

It’s not every day you get to rebuild a royal Aston Martin but, after 16 years of hard work and commitment, this DB2 Vignale is looking better than ever and has earned its £3.6 million price tag.

More details and images can be seen here.

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