Aston Martin has made some highly desirable sports and racing cars over its hundred-plus years of history. Singling out just one as the most important is no idle praise, but that's just what RM Sotheby's calls the one you see here.
This 1956 DBR1 is the first of just five made and remains in the most original condition. And it's going up for auction in just a couple of months during the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
Aston's rival to the likes of the Mercedes 300 SLR and Ferrari 250 GTO, the DBR1 – a sister car to this one – went on to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1959. This one has a considerable racing pedigree all its own, though, having won the Nürburgring 1000 KM that same year with Sir Stirling Moss at the wheel, helping the team seal the World Sportscar Championship – the first British outfit to do so. Carroll Shelby drove it too, as did Jack Brabham and Roy Salvadori, to name just a few.
It was then retired by the Works team and sold to the first in an illustrious string of private owners. It was decorated as the Most Elegant Sports Car at Pebble Beach in 2001 before being acquired by its current owner, who is now putting it up for sale.
This will mark the first time that a DBR1 will be offered for auction in public, with RM Sotheby's expecting it to top $20 million when the gavel drops in August. That would make it not only the most valuable Aston Martin ever sold at auction, but the most valuable British car of any marque.
As if that's not enough, DBR1/1 will be joined by a 1935 Aston Martin Ulster Competition Sports valued at upwards of $2.5 million, a '59 DB4GT valued at about $7 million, and a modern DBR9 racer estimated to fetch as much as $375k.
Check out the DBR1 in the images below by Tim Scott courtesy of RM Sotheby's.
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