1969 | Aston Martin DB 6

Delivered new, via Arnold G Wilson Limited of Leeds, to G&F Milthorpe Limited of Wakefield, with a Guarantee Issued on the 25th January 1969. Finished in Platinum over Red Connolly, there are numerous nonstandard equipment notes on the build sheets, including ‘to DB6 ZF saloon spec’. Also fitted, from new, was power steering.

The first invoices on file date from May 1975, when the DB6  was only six years old. These are service invoices from Robin Hamilton – the exuberant Aston specialist who built and competed in the V8 Aston Martin ‘The Muncher’ at Le Mans – to the then owner, Michael Gregory, owner and founder of Cromwell Tools (Leicester) Ltd, a company that still exists today.

In 1982, there’s a Bill of Sale to T.E Lewis for the princely sum  of £5,100 from Paradise Garage, Parsons Green London. A V5 issued into Lewis’s name shows the previous owner, since 1977, was Dobsons Civil Engineering, Yorkshire, which we assume was a Director’s car. In a letter to the current owner from Tim Lewis, he records that when he owned it there was documentation from when Robin Hamilton serviced the car through the 1970s and 1980s. This is still evident today.

Tim Lewis immediately shipped the Aston Martin to his native Australia (it looks like he might have had Paradise Garage issue a second invoice at this time with a slightly lowered sales figure!) where it stayed throughout his seven years of ownership. All the original shipping documents from this period are present. Lewis regularly had the Aston serviced, with a number of invoices from his ownership era.

It was Chris Heyer of Surrey who bought the DB and shipped it back to the UK in July of 1990. Upon its arrival,  Heyer undertook an extensive recommissioning of the Aston using Promech Automotive Ltd, an Aston Martin specialist in London. In 1993 further work was undertaken, partly by Aston Engineering, including extensive bodywork and repaint.

The engine was rebuilt in 1995, which was about 30,000 miles ago.

The current owner bought the DB6 in 1998, immediately sending the it to Goldsmith and Young for servicing. This included, in 1999, the rebuild of the cylinder head by them. Sigma Engineering took over the servicing and maintenance at this point, and they did so for the next 15 years.

In 2017, Andrew Mitchell of Mitchell Motors was instructed  to completely repaint the car, and carry out any remedial work to the body. This is all documented in a series of invoices over a three year period, whilst the dash board was also stripped out and fully restored, the engine bay detailed as well as being retrimmed.

Within the past six months, after a period of little use, it has been recommissioned. Today, it presents very well, a good drivers car. The power steering makes the car  well suited to modern traffic, without hampering the feel on faster roads. MOTs dating back to 1975 show the odometer move from 24,213 through to today’s reading of 92,321, which we can assume is the correct total mileage for the car. With close to 50 years of continuous history, and the current owner for over a quarter of a century, this is an attractive example of the DB6 that stands out from the wealth of poorly restored cars with little or no history. Matching numbers, on its original registration, and with a fresh MOT.

Ownership History

(As known, August 2024)

1969 – G&F Milthorpe Limited, Wakefield

1975 – Michael Gregory, Leicester.

1977 – Dobsons Civil Engineering, Yorkshire

1982 – Tim Lewis, via Paradise Garage, Australia.

1990 – Chris Heyer, London

1998 – Current Owner