About Tough to Crack puzzle #175: 1953 Aston Martin DB2

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Less answers than expected came in on last week’s car puzzle, so a tough one indeed? When even one of our real car boffins thought this to be based on a Fiat 1100, it must have been. This was an Aston Martin instead, as the picture leaves no doubt. But then this 1953 DB2 had a much-modified front end. Before that happened it was a DB2 as we know it, which was sold to Alfred Ouvelay of Lausanne. Marco Gastaldi adds: “Sold new in Zurich by Limmat Garage, Jos. Stierli & Co.” but we cannot verify that.

But it was the second owner who thought it would benefit from some reworking. Who exactly carried out the modifications remains unclear although the job was commissioned by a Mister Desmeules. Luc Ryckaert wrote: “1953 Aston Martin DB2 Coupé with unique period bodywork modifications. Chassis LML/50/118 was delivered new in Switzerland, and later sold to Mr. Desmeules who kept the car till his death in 2016. To solve the DB2's well-known overheating problems, and probably also to give it a more valuable Ferrari look, the new owner commisioned extensive body modifications. New bonnet with enlarged air intake, air scoop, headlamps recessed into the wings, enlarged rear window and different bumpers gave the car a Ferrari 250 GT SWB touch.” That is spot on.

And very similar answers were sent in by Guido Wyss, Marco Gastaldi and Gerd Klioba. But Gerd added a nice touch: “Quite a similarly looking front treatment was done by Ghia-Aigle around 1965 to a BMW 503”. That's a good one and it makes him today’s winner. Congrats Gerd! To be honest we hoped one of you would have shed a light on the coachbuilder of this car, who remains anonymous to this day. Could it have been Ghia-Aigle? Or that other Swiss body builder - Graber? There were other DB2s by them, too (Ghia-Aigle one here, Graber one here), but these both look pretty different in the frontal area. And how about other DB2 or DB2/4 modified by anonymous coachbuilders, like this one and this one though? Questions, questions… Oh – the puzzle car will be offered for sale next month during Retromobile. See it here.

(Words editor, picture courtesy Bonhams)

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