Aston Martins

 With no new issue for March 1966 I have had a few moments to look again at the #218 Aston Martin DB4.

It is a pretty simple model, with just the opening bonnet as an extra feature, but one of my favourites. Strangely, I never did have one as a child, (other than the gold James Bond version but then everyone probably had one of those!). I even managed somehow to miss the later Competition DB4 as well but made up for all that, firstly by having a delightful 1:1 1983 V8 for a while in 1984/5 and, secondly, by having 50 or more #218 models at various times in the last ten years.

What I hadn't appreciated for some time was the number of different variations for just the #218 model. I used to think that the first issue was the one with  smooth fixed wheels but I am now of the opinion that it would have been the one with the criss-cross 'spoke effect' fixed cast wheels. So it is time to update the table of what you may find out there for this model. In this respect I am most grateful to Göran Hellsin, a collector in Sweden who has helped a lot (and is still helping to look for other possibilities).

Firstly, there are, of course, two main colours - a bright yellow and somewhat brick-flavoured red. There are ranges of shades, with the yellow sometimes looking quite creamy and the red rather darker. I have decided, though, not to attempt to identify any particular colour variations other than the main two.

The second feature to examine is the type of wheel fitted. This we now believe started with the 'criss-cross' cast wheel, then the smooth fixed wheel, followed by the fixed shaped wheel and finally the free-spinning shaped wheel.

The third feature is the shape of the vent on the bonnet. This starts out as quite large and open, quite heavily raked back. A later version remains open but is much less deep with the top edge not significantly further back. My colleague has noted two different widths of this variety too but whether I shall list what would be a fourth type has yet to be decided. The other type, as things stand, is a closed vent.

V1 Open large vent

V2 Open smaller vent

V3 Closed vent

The fourth feature is the hinge on the bonnet. I am not sure I can describe the differences in a few words but a quick view of the photos below will show you which is which. (I was hoping that there is an association with the vent in each case but it seems that the same type of vent may have different hinges, although let's hope that is restricted to just H1 or H2).

H1

H2

H3

The fifth feature is the base. On early models there are holes below the axles. The next issue has no holes but retains the catalogue number 218. The third and last issue loses the number, possibly so that the same base can be used for the #309 Competition edition. Incidentally, I have often wondered what the purpose was for the holes in early Corgis with suspension and came to the conclusion that they may have been to enable a drop of oil to be applied from time to time. A can of 3-IN-ONE was never far away in my home. Lots of things seemed to need oiling in the 1960s as I recall. I suppose now the 3-IN-ONE has been replaced by the ubiquitous WD40. Having said that, I suspect that few parents today would let their 11-year-olds anywhere near a can without gloves, a mask and protective glasses, probably also staying in attendance in case the kid tried to drink it. But that is for one of my other site's articles, I fear.

So here is a table of what we think might exist. I would be grateful for any observations, additions and we might even consider a deletion as there are a couple of entries we haven't yet tracked down.