Aston Martin DB3S - Auto Restorations

ASTON MARTIN DB3S
CHAPTER FOUR
Aston Martin DB3S
impressive record, having been a designer at Auto Union
in the 1930s. The mighty German Auto Union and
Mercedes Benz Grand Prix cars of the 1930s were all
conquering and their designers were held in the highest
regard.
The new Aston Martin was de ignated the DB3 but
was not to deliver the success hoped for. It was overweight,
had handling problems and took considerable development
before becoming competitive enough to give its only
reasonable reSUlt, winning the nine hour race at Goodwood
in August 1952.
By then it was realised that a new development of what
was basically a sound design was needed. Enter Willie
Watson who came to Aston Martin in 1952 as a senior
design engi neer. He was very capable and would pursue
some idea which took his fancy at the moment. By such
wanderings in the otherwise organised train of events, are
new directions sometimes found. Everything starts with
nothing more than an idea - just a small one usually which
is then bandied about, first in the original person's mind
and then by a larger team until a workable package is put
together. Not many are gifted enough to have an idea,
work it through and then carry out the practical work which
will make it happen. How often do we hear, "I thought of
that a long time ago," when some new method or invention
becomes news. An idea is just that, a figment of the
imagination, the easy bit really until it is shown to be a
practical, worthwhile way of doing the task, be it a better
race car or a mousetrap.
Watson took hi s concept of a new car to John Wyer
first who was quick to realise the potential. The idea was
that they crank the 4 inch diameter side members of the
chassis outward between the front and rear wheels, lower
the overall profile and narrow the car down, shorten the
wheel base and generally build in lightness. A reduction
of gauge in the main chassis frame from 14 and 12 gauge
down to 16 and 14 gauge, reduced the tracks from 4 feet 3
inches front and rear down to 4 feet 1 inch and shortening
the wheelbase from 7 feet 9 inches to 7 feet 3 inches and
so produced a shorter, smaller overall profile car with
weight down from 2010 lb to 1850 Ib.The reduction in
frontal area was most important as a square foot less there
is better value than several yards of streamlined, contoured
body shape.
Another change was David Browns' Gear Works
producing a spiral bevel final drive unit with an alloy
casing. This was to replace the Salisbury bypoid, which
had a heavy iron casing and had always been prone to
give trouble as at Le Mans in 1952.
With the new purpose built unit, the change was made
to locate the De Dion tube by a sLiding block in a slot on
During one of my infrequent visits to Auto
Restorations, a collection of parts, chassis body etc, which
looked as if they had come from a farmyard scrap heap,
were lying where they had been dumped out of a large
crate. They had come from a farmyard all right but had
that look of class and dignity that only good breeding can
give. A few questions elicited the information that it was
an Aston Martin DB3S of 1956 vintage and in fact had
finished second, with Moss and Collins driving, at that
year's Le Mans.
It was one of the last of the breed of "racing sports"
cars, such as Jaguar C and D types, 4.5 litre Ferrari and
Maseratis, which were not too far removed from
production cars, and in many cases shared components.
The late 1950 and 1960s saw new breeds of purposebuilt "sports racing" cars such as Ferraris, Ford GT40,
Peugeot, Porsche, Matra and so on. Aston Martin built
the DBRI with which they won Le Mans in 1959. These
later, no-compromi e cars were built for just one thing winning races - and were in their own way nominally two
seat Grand Prix cars.
The Aston Martin had been sold by the factory to an
Australian where it had raced for some five years before
being dismantled in 1962/63 by a West Australian farmer
hoping to restore it.
When I decided to write on the restoration of these
cars, or rather the rebirth of them, I set out to get some
background on each one. I read extensively all I could
find and was fortunate in that my son-in-law, Peter Blake,
had quite a library on Aston Martins.
The saga of the DB3S really begins back in 1946 when
a North of England industrialist David Brown purchased
both the Aston Martin and Lagonda car manufacturing
companies. The former company was bought it is believed
so as to enable David Brown to dabble in motor racing
and Lagonda so as to acquire the design of a new 2.3 litre
engine they had designed and developed.
On racing a two litre prototype Aston Martin sports
car acquired with the purchase, they won the 1947 Spa 24
hour race in Belguim. The decision was then made to
build and race coupes based on this prototype using both
the 2 litre engine and the ex Lagonda 2.3 litre engine
enlarged to 2.6 litres. The new cars were raced at Le Mans
in 1949 where a 2 litre car finished 7th. The 2.6 litre car
expired after six laps. Better results at Spa saw the 2.6
litre car finish 3rd overall and second in the three litre
class.
This success was enough for Aston Martin to invest in
a purpose built sports car with which to contest the major
races. The design was to be prepared by the recently
employed Prof. Robert von Eberhorst, who had a most
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ASTON MARTIN DB3S
the rear of the casing. A Panhard rod was used on the
DB3, the Sali bury casing having no provision for a sliding
block set up. This wa not as good at giving stable,
predictable handling as the lateral loads were not fed into
the chassis centrally.
Retained were many components from the DB3 such
as brakes, the trailing link front suspension with torsion
bar springs both front and rear and the De Dion tube at the
rear for suspension.
The well developed engine was also retained. The
design of this engine is credited to the legendary
W.O.Bentley who, after his company had been taken over
by Rolls Royce, had taken a position at Lagonda. Detail
design was by a little known engineer whose c.v. is most
impressive. Stewart Tresilian was an honours graduate
from Cambridge who spent some time at Rolls Royce
where his work included the SchniederTrophy "R" engine,
later to become the legendary Merlin. He later had a
distinguished career as a consultant to the motor industry.
De igned in the 1930s this engine had that era of
thinking in several of its features . A barrel-type crankcase
came down around and under the main bearings. The main
bearings were in alloy diaphragms or, in the slang term,
"cheeses", being like slices off a round cheese The
cylinder block and crankcase being ca t iron and the main
bearing "cheese" in aluminium alloy, the greater
expansion of the alloy made for a nice tight fit as the engine
warmed up. This combination, popular in the 20s and 30s
for high performance engines, was by the 50s pretty much
out of favour. A two valve cylinder head, initially in ca t
iron and later changed to aluminium alloy, with double
overhead camshafts chain driven , was conventional
thinking for the time.
That the design was sound is born out by the engine
being enlarged from the initial 2.3 litre and 100 BHP up
to a capacity of 3 litres and 230 BHP by 1956. That was
just about its limit and was replaced by a Ted Cutting
designed all alloy engine for the DBRl which won Le
Mans in 1958.
This then was the DB3S. What the "S" stood for I
have not been able to ascertain. Someone, no doubt, will
read thi and inform me in the fullness of time.
The most distinguishing thing about the DB3S was
the body which was so beautifully proportioned and
effective that it set a new yard tick at the time - not brutally
beautiful like a well muscled heavyweight boxer as in the
375 Plus Ferrari, but much more lithesome as would be a
ballet dancer.
Frank Feely joined Lagonda in 1926 as assistant to the
assistant works manager who wa re ponsible for chassis
and bodywork. Eventually he got to do some bodywork
drawing. He was fortunate to be employed by such a small
company who could not afford specialists but whose
employees had to pitch in on whatever task was at hand.
In 1935 when Lagonda folded he was kept on by the new
boss A. P. Goode. He attained the position of body
designer at the "mature" age of 25. Some of his finest
work was the body on the V I 2 Lagonda - a fine car and
every bit the equal of the Rolls Royce of the time - the late
1930s.
The influence of those pre-war Lagonda's was in the
gothic arch shape to the top of the fenders. A raised line
down the centre of the body also overcame the curved
panel look. This di tinctive line to the top of the fender
gave what would have been an otherwise plea antly curved
shape a certain "chic" qUality. As stated before, the car
had in many ways an almost ballerina quality where the
poise and grace of the body shape was complemented by
the agility and balance of the chassis handling as it was to
prove on circuits where such qualities were a major asset.
At Goodwood, Spa or Dundrod, it could give away some
20 mph of top speed and con iderable horsepower, and
still be more than competitive.
By early January 1953, time was, as they say, "the
essence of the contract" and so by using and adaptingjigs,
part building sections of the car without having fmalised
the next steps, overcoming each problem as it arose, as
only experienced, resourceful fabricators can, they had
the first DB3S ready for testing at Monza during the last
days of May, some 130 days later. Only a well coordinated
enthusiastic team such as at Aston Martin could do this.
It was not quite like Bruce McLaren 's ' Woosh Bonk'
car. lohn Thomson used to teIJ the story of how, in the
early days of Bruce McLaren Motor Racing, Bruce came
in one morning and said ,"We are going to build a sprint
and hill climb car for Patsy Burt", an accomplished lady
driver at that time. It transpired that Bruce had been in
conversation with Patsy and sold her on the idea that a car
with an American V8 engine would be just the job to go
hillclimbing and sprinting with. Bruce was a great one at
implanting the idea that what you needed was just what
could be built with the parts of cars he had surplus at the
time.
This was the case, and as finances were at their usual
critical state, he could see some assistance both to Patsy
and himself. Anyway, he announced that they had two
weeks to build it in. When all four staff protested that it
was impossible in the stated time, Bruce, in his usual armwaving robust style said, "There is nothing to it. You just
cut four long tubes, weld in some cross ways, some to
brace it, hang some wheels on it, pop in an engine and
gearbox and then ' Woosh Bonk', you have a race car".
When the incredulous looks faded a they usually did when
they realised that Bruce wasn ' t joking, they tarted work
and in two weeks there was the car. Not a sop hi ticated
car but one that had quite a distinguished career with Patsy
driving. This was the fir t single seat McLaren and still
appears at historic events.
Peter Collins, who had driven a DB3 in the Mille
Miglia only days before did the test driving. Aston Martin
had fielded three DB3 car at that year's Mille Miglia.
Parnell finished fifth with a broken panhard rod bracket
and a broken throttle cable. He drove a large ection of
the race, which has a total di tance of 938 miles from
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ASTON MARTIN DB3S
about how easy it all was to go quickly in the new DB3S.
I can just picture Reg with his verbosity doing a psycho
job on a harassed team trying to sort out their car so as to
come to grips with his. Bluff, genial old Reg, never one
to use one word where two or more could be used, would
be in his element and savouring every moment of it. He
was just what other team managers and mecbanics didn't
need. Reg knew that and loved it. He was one of racing's
great characters. The problem was that while Reg was
indulging in all this, fust Moss in a C type Jaguar and
then a Ferrari set faster times than his. Wyer bad a problem
to locate Reg, tear him away from his "fun" and put him
in the car, where he promptly went out and set such a fast
time to totally underline what a great car this new one
was, and set the final seal on his demoralising job. This
then wa the first victory of the DB3S, the British Empire
Trophy race on 18 June 1953, the engine a 2.9 litre six
developing 182 bhp at 5,500 rpm in the chassis of DB 3S1
l.
When John Wyer was promoted to general manager in
late 1956, Reg Pamell was appointed race team manager
where hi vast experience allied to his ability to weld
together a great team pirit brought ome of the best results
achieved by A ton Martins.
It seemed that with the new car the team had the 'load
by the tail on a downhill haul.' Silverstone, Charterhall,
Goodwood 9 hours, and the TT at Dundrod all brought
victorie . This wa heady stuff for the team who had long
dreamt about vanquishing Jaguars outright.
1954 was to be the year where they planned to take up
where they left off in 1953. Horsepower was up to 225
when a new twin plug head was fitted for Le Mans. Entries
were a mish-mash of sports cars and coupes. In the
eventuality, 1954 was a shambles, with Astons trying to
do too much, not the least trying to make the ill-fated
Lagonda V12 4.5 litre into a race car. That engine was a
disaster from start to finish. They even supercharged one
car, DB3S/1.
1955 was the year when Aston Martin consolidated
themselves in the big league. The faithful LB 6 engine
designed all those years before was delivering a reliable
220/225 bp at 6,000 rpm. A new camshaft later in the
year saw a boost to at times 240 bp. Frank: Feeley had
redone the body and put a gothic arcb line through the
centre of the bonnet and tail section to fmally make them
one of the prettiest racing sports cars ever built. Air ducts
to the carburettors and to cool the cockpit were placed
near the no e of the body. The biggest change was disc
brakes at last. They had been tried at Silverstone in 1954
on evergreen old DB3SIl on the front only. Yes, 1955
saw the DB3S at its best with several wins and high
placings.
Chassis number eight was built as a 1955 team car.
This car won Spa, was retired at Le Mans, was fourth at
Aintree, retired at Goodwood, won at Oulton Park and
finished the year at the Dundrod TT in seventh place.
Brescia down the east coast, over the Alp to Rome then
back to Brescia, with only the ignition switch to control
the motor, having wired the throttle in the fully open
position. This fifth place of Parnell is the highest placing
ever for a British car
Pamell was one of the breed of middle-aged, gutsy
post-war drivers, whose career like Duncan Hamilton and
Peter Whitehead, had been foreshortened by the war. He
never gave in while there was a chance to do some good.
Spit the dummy and quit because of some malfunction never. These drivers would almost pick up the car and
push or carry it five miles to finish if it were possible.
They always kept the young new blood on their toes and
trying, because to quote one, "The old buggers were always
there, grinding on."
The new DB3S immediately showed a big
improvement over the DB3 which had been tested only a
few months before at the same circuit. A decrease of almost
4% in lap times was attained and that before development
started in earnest. It was reckoned that a 3% increase in
performance over a year was pretty good and here they
were starting the year with better than that.
Le Mans was only six weeks away and there were three
more cars to build and prepare. The team had taken their
courage in both hands and started to build these cars before
the tests at Monza, but there was very little time for more
than shake down tests to ensure that everything worked.
There was no real high hopes for Le Mans as the team
recognised that it takes a miracle or better to overcome a
lack of testing and preparation for such an arduous event.
Car DB3S/2 with PameIJ driving cra hed on the 16th
lap, and DB 3S/3 retired with the clutch gone. The 9 inch
single plate clutch was not really up to the job. DB3S/4
lasted 182 laps before valve trouble stopped it.
The Empire Trophy, in which Pamell was anxiou to
drive, wa only four day later at the Isle of Man. He set
off fir t thing on Monday morning from Le Mans, drove
to England, collected a mechanic at the factory and crossed
to the Isle of Man the next day ready for the fust practice.
Reg was in fme form and made fastest practice time in
both ses ions. DB3S/l was the prototype car and had been
taken to Le Mans as a mobile spare parts kit and had not
received the tender loving care of pre-race preparation.
This showed up when, as the car was being driven back to
the garage after practice, it broke a universal on one of the
drive shafts. There were no spares available as the car
they had was the complete spare parts inventory! By very
late in the evening team manager John Wyer had located a
mechanic who removed the dri ve haft from one of the Le
Mans cars only just returned to the factory, and then drove
to Liverpool in time to catch the fust flight to the Isle of
Man. They fitted the parts in time for Pamell to win the
Empire Trophy without over extending himself.
A delightful tale i told of how during the practice
sessions Reg went out, set a fast time in his fu t few laps,
parked the car and then went off to engage in his favouri te
sport, that of revving up the opposition by being so smug
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ASTON MARTIN DB3S
trouble. This was to be a shake down for Le Mans as both
nine and ten had been built up specifically for that event.
At Le Mans on 28 and 29 July 1956 A ton Martin
entered three cars - DB3S/9 and 10 and the new OBRlIl
in 2.5 litre configuration. It was a crazy time as all cars
with a production run of less than 50 cars were supposed
to be in the prototype clas with a 2.5 litre engine capacity
limit. Obviou ly 50 OB3S models had not been built, nor
had that number of 3.8 litre engine 0 type Jaguars, but by
being able to prove that they "planned" and had provision
for 50 the companie got away with it. It was a difficult
time for organisers truggling to overcome the aftermath
of the horrific Le Mans tragedy of 1955. Eventually ten
team DB3S cars were built, plus another 19 production
car with single plug engines as used in the saloons, giving
about 180 bhp.
Mo s and Collins were paired in OB3S/9, Walker and
Salvadori in DB 3S/1O, while Brooks and Parnell had the
new DBRlIl. Walker cra hed hi car on lap 175 while
the DBRl did its bearings in after 20 hour and 246 lap .
This new car had not performed so well as there was a
new fuel consumption limit and the 2.5 litre engine, while
powerful, was thirsty. It howed 212 bhp on the test brake
but, after the airbox was removed and the mixture leaned
down, it was well down on thi figure.
In DB3S/9 Moss led the race for long periods but
gearbox problem slowed the car towards the end and it
was only able to finish econd to Sander onlFlockhart in
a 0 type Jaguar. Being first car home in the three litre
class it had a win there. The car covered 298 laps, 2,492
miles at an average speed of 104.01 mph.
A feature of the two new DB3S car built for Le Mans
was the change to the bodywork. The separate cockpit
and carburettor air intakes , which had appended
themselves to the original, were deleted and incorporated
into the nose alongside the radiator intake. Visually this
was a big improvement. A faired-in head rest was added
behind the driver. This more or les proclaimed to those
who would think otherwise that this was a eriou race
car with provision for driver only. In many ways it was
the culmination of Feeley's design of the original body
four years before, and was a lovely "clean" piece of work.
Most cars gather weight as they age and the DB3S was no
exception. It had grown from 1,850 lb in 1953 to 2,0611b
in 1956. Disc brakes, stronger suspension, little brackets
and gussets here and there to stop cracking - all add up.
The Le Mans DB3S cars ran LM6 engines of 83mrn
bore x 90mm stroke, 2,922 cc developing 219 bhp at 6,000
rpm and a top speed approaching 150 mph. The car was
to be remembered from then on as the one which finished
second at Le Mans.
The next outing was at Oulton Park on 18 August
where, driven by Moss again, DB3S/9 won the sports car
race . At that same time, 1956, I had been racing
motorcycles in England and competed once at Oulton Park.
I can well agree that this circuit was tailor made for a good
handling car like the DB3S Aston Martin. At Goodwood
Chassis numbers nine and ten were built up to be team
cars during 1956, with No.9 being the car I was to see
being restored at Auto Restorations over 30 years later.
By this time the decision had been made to build a new
car, the DBRl. The decision to build a further two DB3S
was taken 0 as to ensure they had good competitive car
in case there was any delay or hitches with the new model.
Work had tarted on the DBRl in Augu t 1955 and it was
to be a straight out 'sport racing' car as distinct from the
previous cars which were 'racing sports' cars. There is a
world of difference between the e two terms. The one is
a road going automobile exten ively modified and
developed to be raced. It can be driven on the road and to
illustrate this the DB3S/8 wa driven from the works to
Spa in Belgium It won the race and was then driven back
to the works. DBRl was going to be a straight out racing
car with bodywork to comply with the regulations but
highly unsuitable to be ever driven on the road although
this was done at times to give the car a shake down run .
Ted Cutting, chief racing car designer who had done
much of the work to make the DB3S the success it was,
started work to design not only a new chassis but a new
engine as well. He decided on a space frame for the chassis
and an all-alloy six for the engine. That Cutting could
design an all-new, space-frame chassis and a new engine,
even allowing that he used the front uspension from the
DB3S and the cylinder head design from the old LB6
engine, and see both into production between July 1955,
when he first put pencil to drawing paper, and May 1956
was a remarkable achievement.
The engine fust ran on the test bench in March 1956
and an interesting point with this new motor, designated
RB 6, is that in 1958 when searching for more power they
went to AJS motorcycles where their very successful 350cc
single cylinder 7R racing engine was developing some 40
bhp at that time, or 114 bph per litre. The most the LB6
engine, a used in the DB3S cars, put out on 45 DCO
Weber carburettors was some 230 bhp or 77 hp per litre,
the normal yardstick on engine horsepower. The new RB6
engine with a 6000 valve angle cylinder head and in 2.5
litre form delivered 85 bhp per litre. By 1957 with the
9500 twin plug cylinder head, a new camshaft and increased
in capacity to 3 litres. the power was 252 bhp, still around
85 hp per litre. In 1958, using the data supplied by Jack
Williams, the race engineer at AJS, Ted Cutting, designed
a new 8000 valve angle cylinder head. This was pretty
much a copy of the AJS head and while the peak
horsepower on the three litre engine was only marginally
improved, it gave a much better spread of power and did
not "drop off" the top of the power curve. It is well known
how Van wall used Norton technology to design their
outstandingly successful Grand Prix engine in the 1950s.
Little has been written of how AJS were to be equally
helpful to Aston Martin.
Back to chassis DB3S/9. which is the subject of the
remainder of this chapter. Number 9 appeared for its first
event at Rouen on 8 July 1956 where it retired with bearing
207
ASTON MARTIN DB3S
on 18 September, DB3S17 won driven by Tony Brooks,
with DB3S/9 driven by Salvadori second.
1957 saw the fInal appearance of DB3S/9 as a team
car. The new DBRl cars were taking over a the works
team car . At Goodwood on 22 April , and driven by
Brooks, it fIni hed third. Second was Salvadori in DBRlI
I. The final appearance of a DB3S a team cars was at
the 1,000krn Nurburgring on 26 May when DB3S/IO
fini hed ninth. DBR1I2 won , driven by that supremely
gifted driver Tony Brooks, and Noel Cunningham-Reid
as co-driver. This was Astons first win at one of the real
elas ic races and the whole team were over the moon. They
had beaten the full might of the Ferrari team.
As the new cars were to replace the good old faithful
DB3S models, there was nothing to do but tart up the now
redundant ones while there was still a market for them.
Chassis DB3S/9 was offered to the Au tralian branch of
the David Brown organisation who contacted David
McKay, an ex patriate Englishman with quite a record as
a driver and journalist. McKay found backing from
AMPOL, a local oil company, to run the car. He changed
the colour while it was still at the factory from Briti h
racing green to dark red.
McKay, after sorting the car to his liking, went on to
win eight race , including the Australian Sports Car
Championship. It was beaten only once by a 300S
Ma erati, a faster car in sheer speed, but as had been een
in Europe when it came to handling on a tricky circuit,
there wa none superior, let alone equal to, the DB3S.
McKay sold the car to Stan Jones who found this lovely,
Lithesome car not to his liking a he raced it only once,
when it retired. He then promptly old it on to Ray Barfield
of We tern Au tralia. Barfield raced it when and where
the opportunity arose until late 1961 when he retired it
from competition. At some stage, he dismantled the car
and engine. On inspecting the crank haft he noted what
he took to be crack and 0 promptly irnrner ed the whole
engine in a drum of oil. There it lay at Barfield's rural
property for almost 25 years, and where, whenever some
keen collector arrived to see it, and attempted to purcha e
it, they were promptly ordered off. No one was permitted
to even look at the car.
Barfield had every intention of obtaining another
crankshaft and restoring the car, but the years just slipped
by as they are wont to do. We have our younger years
when we have dream and nothing is too big to tackle.
Racing cars, maintaining them, and running a farm or a
business all at the same time can be taken in our stride.
Comes middle age when family and other commitments
take up time and so our dreams are put in the background.
I can well understand Ray Barfield coming into such a
time in his life. Next month or next year he would not be
so busy and so time slip by. He had no intention of selling
so why waste time with tho e who think they can get hold
of the car, restore it and race it in classic events which
were becoming popular. The odds are that 95 % of them
would drag it home, then sit and look at it for a few more
years while they regale all who would listen with their
plans.
Enter onto the scene Kerry Manola who was the
saviour of the Ferrari 375 Plus. The difference between
Kerry and the others was that he knew the value of the car
and was prepared to pay it. The car was valuable as the
year was 1987 and the world was awash with the millions
made from speculation in share and property. The market,
particularly for sports cars of this type which can be driven
on the open road to rallies etc, had gone through the roof.
I have no knowledge of what McKay paid the factory in
1957 but it would have been a considerable amount for
that time. I have read where Stan Jones paid £4,750 for it
in November 1958. He raced it once and sold it for £3 ,500
I believe, to Barfield. An excellent book by Paul
Woudenberg on Aston Martin , which can be u ed as a
buyer's guide, Lists the value of a DB3S ex team car with
a twin plug head and racing Borrani wheels at well over
£ 100,000 (NZ$300,000) in 1986 and the market till had
a long way to go before it peaked.
Kerry Manolas, by talking reali tic sums of money,
made Ray Barfield top and li ten for the first time. Finally
an arrangement was made where Manolas was to bring
the ca h to a freight forwarding company some distance
from the farm . There Barfield would deliver the car, or
rather all the pieces, and so complete the deal. The day
wore on and Kerry waited. Eventually Ray Barfield
arrived with his truck stacked with DB3S parts in a woeful
condition. Manolas had not even been able to inspect what
he was to buy. Part of the deal wa that he not vi it the
farm. To ay that he was di mayed when he viewed hi
purcha e would be an understatement. Over twenty year
of storage in a farm hed with hens and sundry farm
animals for company had not improved its condition.
Another factor in his dismay was that much was missing.
Ray Barfield then advised that he would go and fetch the
re t but wanted all the ca h before he did so. Kerry was in
a dilemma. He had purcha ed it, sight unseen, for a very
considerable sum of money, the sort of amount that would
buy a very comfortable suburban home. Did he hand
over this large amount of cash and risk not getting the re t
of the car, if indeed there was a rest of the car? He decided
that having gone this far he had better go the rest and so
handed over the cash He waited, and waited, until just
before the freight depot closed for the night Ray Barfield
arrived with the rest. It transpired the reason he did not
want visitors at the farm was his on had dreams of
restoring the car and was emphatic that he did not want it
to be sold.
This motley collection of parts corroded and laden with
farm yard flIth was soon in New Zealand. It took no time
for Kerry Manolas to decide who would restore this
collection of parts into a pristine concours car, and that
was Auto Restorations at Christchurch who had done such
a fantastic job on the Ferrari 375 Plus.
As described at the start of the chapter, the
conglomeration of parts was indeed a sorry sight. A good
208
ASTON MARTIN DB3S
bracket, with the liding block for location. Thi is
traightforward work but great care is needed so as to retain
the original rear wheel toe in. The wheel were Borrani
specially made and unusual in that a third row of poke~
were fitted to a special flange on the out ide of the wheel
rim. Thi was so that the wheel off et could be such that
di c brakes could be fitted. At thi time (1956) di c brakes
were only just beginning to make their pre ence felt in
motor racing, and rather than rede ign the whole
su pen ion and brake mounting et up, 0 as to tuck them
into the wheel more, they were grafted onto the drum brake
mounts. It was easier and quicker than to have special
wheels made. It also meant the racing team could change
back to drum brakes if that uited their purpose, and indeed
they did at times do this. The e wheel were dismantled
and then rebuilt. Luckily they were in good order a it
would have been extremely difficult to find replacement
as they were unique to the DB3S.
The antiroll bar pivoted in needle roller bearing ,which
were in a bad way, and so they had to be replaced.
Suspension wa in pretty good hape really and only
required a good clean up and service to be ready to bolt
back on. The brake ,early Girling type, were all machined
from solid material and, as is usual with development
equipment, had seals of odd size which took a lot of
tracking down for replacements. The pad naturally were
not of a size one would find at a replacement part tore
and so proprietary one were selected of a large size and
hand cut to fit.
While Alan Stanton wa soldiering on with the cha is
and body, lan Jone had orted through the engine and
transmission to asse s the condi tion and need for
replacement parts. All looked in reasonable order, even
the crankshaft which the previous owner had as essed as
being cracked. Exhaustive tests at the Air New Zealand
engineering facility found after Auto Re torations had
cleaned it up, only slight surface cracks in the journals
radiused corner which they were able to poli h out. New
connecting rod were ordered from Corrillo's in California
and new pistons made from blanks by local engineering
expert , Denco Engineering. The ca t iron block was in
remarkabl y good order. If there had been any defect there
it would have been a major disa ter. Crankshaft, con
rod , pistons, valves etc can be made up fairly readily.
Head and blocks for thirty year old factory special racing
engines are as carce to obtain a the proverbial hen's teeth.
The cylinder head wa in relatively good order also,
only requiring a more or les routine ervice. The complete
engine went together pretty well after the oil pump had
been overhauled. Fitting the crankshaft, always a tricky
job with the diaphragm , or "cheese " as the race hop
personnel at Aston Martin called them, required the block
to be heated while the diaphragms were chilled to enable
a snug fit. As already detailed these diaphragms carried
the crankshaft and a race car designer Ted Cutting aid
they were well past their "use-by date" in engine design
by 1956.
DB3S as received for restoration.
clean up to remove the accumulated crud was neces ary
before Bruce Pidgeon, Alan Stanton and lan Jones did an
assessment. The steel cuttle was badly corroded as wa
much of the body. The tubular subframe which carried
the body wa al 0 damaged and corroded. The grill area
had been altered during the repair of a track accident and
so would neces itate rebuilding to the original. The engine
and tran rni sion seemed to be all there and on initial
examination in not too bad a condition.
The decision wa made by Kerry Manola to re tore
the car to it Le Mans specification, that being its finest
hour. This simplified much debate as there was available
a good supply of data about the car at this time.
Bruce Pidgeon is an indefatigable researcher and one
whose energy, enthusia m and attention to detail is what
makes Auto Restoration one of the world's foremo t
restorers. He dug up magazine articles, records and
photographs from Le Man pIu a large wall type cutaway
illustration which made the job possible. As Alan Stanton
said, "It was like all the bones of a dino aur being dumped
on the floor." The bit were all there but which bit went
where?
Alan started on the twin tube chassis which was similar
in many re pects to the Ferrari 375 Plus in that two large
diameter tube formed the basis of a ladder type cha is.
This was in good condition, apart from the right front
uspen ion mountings whicb bad been damaged in an
accident in Australia and not very well repaired. It took a
lot of work to restore it to its original condition. It was
time-consuming, fiddly work, but it had to be right. The
tubular frame which supported the body wa badly
corroded and damaged in parts. New tube were needed
and had to be formed back to the original. The bulkhead
which was made of steel sheet, was replaced, another tricky
job but made simple by the badly corroded original still
being in place undamaged.
On the rear suspension the De Dion tube had been badly
bent at some stage and straightened with a blowtorch and
a big hammer. It was formed in a wide angle vee and so
Alan cut the damaged half off, made a new piece, which
he welded into the hubs at one end, and into the central
209
ASTON MARTIN DB3S
respects. It had also been modified in the grill area while
having damage from a race shunt repaired in Australia.
The bonnet straps were recessed as originally and every
care taken to be completely as per Le Mans.
On removing the eyebrows over the front wheel arches
there were traces of the yellow paint with which these
appendages had been painted for that particular car. The
factory team used :a different colour for each car as an aid
to identifying them in a race. They had no details of what
colour had been allotted to this car and so this settled the
quest for absolute detail authenticity.
There was wer,e a host of 2BA hex headed bolt u ed
in fitting the body and cockpit parts together. It took a
considerable time to track down a supply of these.
The big fuel tank was suffering from corrosion and had
to be taken apart and new baffles made and fitted . It was
fiddly work to get it all just right. It is on tasks such as this
the private restorer often fails. One can get mechanical
work done of a fairly high standard, get the chassis
straightened and repaired, get the body work remade and
welded, but produce a big alloy fuel tank all riveted and
welded together and, say, take thi apart and fit new baffles
and see how many are keen to tackle it, especially if it has to
be done just as it was over 40 years ago.
The car went together very well really when you
consider the tate it had been in, but then no one had put a
big American V8 engine in it, or otherwise tried to modify
or improve it.
There were no great problems motor-wi e, nor was
there with the transmission which was all in relatively good
shape. New bearings were fitted as a precaution to make
sure all wa set up as it hould be.
DB3S bodywork nearing completioll.
Meanwhile, back on the bodywork, Alan Stanton had
made a new steel bulkhead, cut out all the rotten sections
of the body and remade the tubular frame which attached
the body to the chassis. The body was rebuilt to the original
Le Mans specification as it had been rebuilt at the factory
before being shipped to Australia and was altered in some
DB3S chassis, all shiney again!
210
ASTON MARTIN DB3S
David McKay, Aston DB3S Slillwell 'D ', Amaroo 1990.
presumably the box as used at Le Mans had been removed
before the car was sold. The synchro gearbox was a better
proposition for the private owner in far off Au tralia a
face dog gears and the dog rings have a high wear rate
and need to be constanJy replaced.
The body was then fitted and what a beautiful picture
it made. Under Bruce Pidgeon' in i tence that only the
highest standards were good enough, it was turned out
fini h wi e better than it had ever been. A race car is a
tool to do a job and so cosmetic finish ranks below race
preparation for speed and reliability.
It appeared at the 1989 Monterey Historic Automobile
Race's, "Tribute toA ton Martin," correct in even the most
minute detail. This was at the Laguna Seca raceway on
the west coast of the United States. The car won the Louis
Vuitton Cup for restoration, and for its new owner Dudley
Mason Styrron of England, was outright winner of the
British Concours de Elegance. Thi wa fitting tribute to
the dedication, craftsmanship and hard work of the staff
at Auto Restoration on the other ide of the world from
this historic car's birthplace.
The restoration of DB3S/9 wa not a mammoth
rebuilding as the Ferrari 375 Plus had been where the car
had been worn out, hacked out, and cruelly abused. The
DB3S/9, as purchased by Kerry Manolas, was none of
these - it was just plain neglected, with the ravages of time
and weather doing their worst.
A small point but worth mentioning is that a set of
bows for a hood was neatly in place under the scuttle. It
seems that it wa part of the regulations pertaining to sport
car racing that provision be there for a hood . When all
was finished , they were back in place, of course.
Mter assembly, the car, without the body, went to a
local racing circuit for 100 miles of running just to check
all was as it should be. First irnpres ions were what a
delight the gearbox was to use. As i often the case when
such a thoroughbred is run at a fast touring speed, it all
feels just right. At racing speeds, any little design fault i
magnified and so it wa with the gearbox. Most of the
racing drivers made a comment that it could have been
better.
This gearbox, which tarted out its life on the 1952
2.6 litre engine was by 1956 handling twice the
hor epower at 220 and torque at 220 lb/ft. It underwent
design changes, including pre ure feed lubrication, needle
roller bearings, wider gears and better materials. The
weight had increased by only a few pounds and externally
it still looked the same as that fitted to production car .
For 1956 there was a rede ign to change the method of
engagement to face dogs. This gives a really quick change
and a competent race driver can flick it from gear to gear.
Up until 1955 a synchromesh gearbox had been used and
the car, DB3S/9 , had one of these boxes fitted 0
211