1938 Aston Martin 15/98 Short-Chassis Open Sports

This Aston Martin 15/98 was delivered as a standard chassis with Bertelli saloon coachwork to A.W. Stewart-Dean, Esq., of Sudbrook Maon, Grantham, on October 21st of 1938. The second owner was I.H. Mann of Terreagles sic, Maidenhead, Berkshire, on March 6th of 1954. The next known owners were R.W. and R.J. Mills, who apparently acquired that car in the early 1980s. In their care, the car was shortened to the 'Short Chassis' configuration, and a two-seat Open Sports body built, to the original Abbey styling, and installed, apparently by R.W. Mills' own hands.

In this new configuration, the car was acquired Vincent Young, who commissioned a fresh and complete, body-off restoration. As part of the restoration, the car was converted to left-hand drive and outfitted with hydraulic brakes and a gearbox with synchromesh on second, third, and fourth gears. As part of the left-hand-drive conversion, the entire machine-turned aluminum firewall was fabricated.

It is currently in the Orin Smith collection. It was judged Best in Class at the Cavallino Classic's Classic Sports Sunday at Mar-a-Lago in 2012.

By Daniel Vaughan | May 2017