Ex-racing Aston Martin DB2/4 for sale at NEC classic show

A 1954 Aston Martin DB2/4 that’s raced against greats like Colin Chapman, Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori is up for auction next month.

The car, which goes under the hammer at Silverstone Auctions’ two-day sale at the NEC classic motor show on 15-16 November, is expected to fetch between £130,000 and £160,000.

Sold to Frank Defty in February 1954, he entered his near-standard road car in the 2000-mile RAC Rally. This was quickly followed by events at Goodwood, Oulton Park and Snetterton.

Just three months later, in May 1954, the car was on the grid at the then new Aintree race circuit, lining up against Chapman and Carroll. Defty continued to race UPC 893 at meetings all over the country, before being selling the car a year later.

Having survived a garage fire in 1978, it was restored to a high standard. The current vendor discovered the car in storage in good condition and recommissioned it in 2007.

Above: Frank Defty at the Aintree race circuit in 1954.