A rare Aston Martin that may have been used as an unmarked police car in the sixties has been found after half a century hidden in a garage. The DB24, built in 1955, was discovered at a property in Gloucestershire and is believed to be worth over $3000,000 when fully restored. The classic car, which became famous as the model driven by James Bond in Ian Fleming’s novels, was bought by a car enthusiast who intended to work on the engine when he retired. Instead it was covered by a sheet and forgotten by its owner, and was forgotten.
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00:06Worth a quarter of a million pounds, incredibly this Aston Martin hasn't been seen for almost
00:1250 years.
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00:14Discovered in a Gloucestershire barn, this is just one of the exciting projects currently
00:18being undertaken by Jonathan Wills and his company, Cotswold Classic Car Restorations.
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00:58Ford conditions were perfect, it was in a dry, open, airy building that was heated during
01:04the winter.
01:05So the amount of corrosion that's occurred within the car is remarkable.
01:13What marks this car as absolutely unique is it's a NASA Martin DB2-4, which the build
01:19numbers are only in a few hundreds anyway.
01:23The few that are left are absolutely cherished, command considerable values, ever-rising,
01:30and for the Aston Collector, you're not going to find this again.
01:33Potentially that restoration, typically, takes about a year's worth of work.
01:39Here we have the Maserati Quattroporte 1970.
01:43This is one of only two in the world, and this particular car is a special commission
01:46by the Argonne, the other one was a special commission by the King of Spain.
01:50It took three years to build this car, Maserati themselves.
01:55This car features one of the most opulent interiors you'll ever see.
01:58The super soft calf leather that the seats are trimmed in, the deep Wilton-style carpet
02:04interior that you will not find on many, many cars at all.
02:07Lovely wooden dashboard with a very full complement of dials.
02:10This car would be, apparently, a discreet saloon.
02:15Discreet isn't a word I would use with it.
02:18Propelling this beautiful saloon car is a Quattroporte V8, five litre, in excess of
02:23350 horsepower, is a variation on Maserati's race engines.
02:28The design criteria from the Argonne is a car that would do not the 60 under six seconds,
02:33but 170 miles an hour.
02:35It's really ahead of its time.
02:37It's in absolutely beautiful and original condition, pretty much as it left the factory
02:41all those years ago.
02:44Construction projects are very time-consuming and incredibly detailed.
02:49We actually break the car down into all its component pieces.
02:52We mark out any repairs that are required as well.
02:55We can either build the car as completely original, or we may be able to modify it slightly
02:59to make the car actually more up to current speed of traffic.
03:04The chassis and body would be acid-dipped, so where the actual body and chassis are put
03:07into an acid tank and left there for 48 hours, and that removes all paint, it removes all
03:13the rust, all the sealers and corrosion, and when the body's removed, it is then put
03:17into a neutralising tank, and then the car will come back to us and we'll inspect it
03:21for any cracks or, you know, perforation, or where the panels have become thin through
03:26corrosion.
03:27Then we go through the various processes of the restoration, which include body, paint,
03:32chassis rebuild, and the re-trimming of the leather and the hide, and even down to the
03:36glass, if the glass is marked or damaged, we'll be looking at replacing the glass if
03:41the customer requires.
03:42The main challenges in a restoration of a vehicle is getting the originality correct
03:48and working closely with the customer to ensure that the re-finish article is exactly what
03:53he wants.
03:55Despite all the beautiful vehicles Jonathan has worked on, he still has a wish list.
03:59A car we're yet to restore that we would absolutely love to be commissioned to restore would be
04:05an ex-Formula One car owned by Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill, James Hunt.
04:11The history with those cars, the battles that they were involved with, is just second
04:16to none, and it would be an absolute privilege if one of those projects comes our way one
04:21day.
04:22It would be a dream of mine to restore one of those cars and buy one of those fantastic
04:25drivers.
04:26And it seems Jonathan has no plans to stop working on these classic cars any time soon.
04:33Working on classic cars is an absolute joy, it's something that I see me doing to the
04:36day I die, being involved with them.
04:39When the cars are actually completed and leaving your workshop and you've seen them progress
04:42over one or two years, it's good to see them out there being used again and the customers
04:46enjoying them.