The DB2 is David Brown's first true postwar Aston Martin grand tourer, launched in April 1950 with Frank Feeley bodywork on a tubular chassis carried over from the earlier 2-Litre Sports (DB1). Under the bonnet sat the new 2.6-litre Lagonda straight-six — designed at Lagonda before David Brown bought both companies, by W.O. Bentley and Willie Watson — producing 105 bhp in standard tune and, from October 1950, 125 bhp in an optional Vantage-tune specification: the first time the Vantage name was used, initially as an engine option rather than a model.
A class victory at Le Mans in 1950 confirmed the car's competition credentials and elevated the marque's standing at home and abroad. Production ran to 1953 (approximately 411 cars, Verify), when the DB2 was replaced by the more practical hatchback DB2/4.
The DB2 is the origin point of two Aston Martin lineages that still matter today. It is the first true postwar Aston GT — the car that established the marque's grand tourer template — and it is where the Vantage nameplate begins, as a 125 bhp engine option that every subsequent Vantage traces back to. Its 1950 Le Mans class win gave David Brown's new ownership immediate international credibility.
