Ferrari v Aston Martin is still going on in Formula 1 to this day, but the battle has also raged elsewhere over the years, as Autosport has chronicled.
Autosport hasn’t merely covered the top end of motor racing during its 74 years of existence to date. It has frequently looked into the world of the amateur enthusiast and offered plenty of advice on what’s out there for them to get the full petrolhead high.
The Motor Show at London’s Earls Court was always a good source of copy, not least in 1952 with its reporters running the rule over some highly impressive looking new motors.
The Aston Martin DB2, for instance, was described as having, “A matchless reputation for high speed, coupled with reliability.” The saloon version was yours for just £1,750.
Or perhaps you aspired to a Ferrari, with a Type 212 2-seater, a Type 212 chassis and a Type 342 ‘America’ Ferrari all on Stand 147a. The 342 was designed to, “Take a full 4-5 seater saloon bodywork with adequate luggage space. Engine is a modified edition of the famous 4.1litre V12 competition power unit, and maximum speed is 120mph.”
Price? £9,897 5s 10d. That five shillings and ten pence (29p) made all the difference. Not a bad investment as it turned out, given you wouldn’t get a lot of change out of $2million if you tried to buy one now.
You can drool over more early ‘50s supercars here.
