Aston Martin is one of the world's premier sports car producers, but the British outfit had been bankrupt twice and in serious financial trouble when England's wealthy industrialist David Brown bought it in 1947 and built his first post-World War II car, the DB1.

The DB1 ("David Brown, first model") used a leftover-but-advanced pre-war chassis. It had long, sweeping lines and a decent four-cylinder engine. Only 15 DB1s were built because it was just an interim model. Brown had a much different new Aston model in mind for a 1950 introduction.

Brown also bought England's venerable but bankrupt Lagonda auto company in 1947. Lagonda had a superb 2.6-liter dual-overhead-camshaft six-cylinder engine that Brown saw would work in his first serious new Aston model -- the 1950-53 "DB2."

Aston and Lagonda were located just west of London, had antiquated facilities and couldn't afford to put new designs into production. Brown promptly moved the Lagonda business into the Aston factory and began mapping out the future.

Brown made a fortune with tractors and steel gears. He loved auto racing and said he bought Aston and Lagonda to "have a bit o' fun." He kept Aston Martin until 1972, when federal regulations threatened to kill the U.S. market for fast sports cars. It then had a series of owners, including Ford. (Kuwaiti investment firms now own it.) During Brown's ownership, exciting Astons were developed, with the DB2 starting a long line of superb sports cars. But Brown never made a dime with Aston -- a small part of his industrial empire.

The DB2 was sleeker, faster and more successful than the 90-horsepower DB1, with production of 411 cars. That was pretty good for tiny Aston because the DB2 was introduced when sports cars were new to America -- the world's most affluent car market. The DB2 didn't reach here until 1951, when most Americans were aware only of the higher-volume, lower-cost British MG TD and Jaguar XK-120 sports cars, which arrived in 1950. The low-cost British Triumph and moderately priced Austin-Healey didn't appear until 1953.

None was in the upper-class league of the costlier Aston DB2 that, as auto historian Rich Taylor put it, was "just about the best British car of the early 1950s, all things considered." The Jaguar XK-120 was sleeker and slightly faster with a larger engine, but it had a cruder chassis, suspension, brakes and gearbox to keep its price down. The Jag also had a cramped interior and wasn't as well-built as the Aston.

With the purchases of Aston and Lagonda (which occasionally made sedans for decades), Brown inherited a solid Aston space frame chassis, which was years ahead of its time, and the six-cylinder developed under the direction of the legendary W.O. Bentley, Lagonda's technical director since 1935. The engine looked like a work of art with its chromed camshaft covers. It produced 105 horsepower in standard form, with an optional 125-horsepower "Vantage" version later offered. A four-speed manual transmission from David Brown Industries initially was available with a steering column or floor-mounted shifter, the latter of which eventually became more popular.

To produce the DB2, Brown cleverly modified the DB1 chassis to accommodate the Lagonda engine and transmission. He then had the car clothed in a sleek aluminum body by England's exclusive J.J. Mulliner outfit and called it the DB2.

The new Aston looked as good as the best Ferraris and had big center-lock wire wheels, as did top British sports cars of that era, and wore the best contemporary high-speed Dunlop tires.

The DB2 was so good that Arthur Drexler chose it for the landmark Museum of Modern Art's "Ten Automobiles" show in September 1953. It was the only British car at the event.

The DB2 was a large, fast two-seater sold as a fastback coupe or convertible, although only 102 DB2s were convertibles. The drum-tight DB2 had superb ride and handling in either body style. The interior looked as if from a Rolls-Royce, with Connolly leather and West of England cloth, besides thick-pile woolen carpeting.

Bodies were made by hand over steel forms and trimmed by Tickfords in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, where Brown eventually moved his main operations. The body had a race-car-inspired hinged front section, with hood, nose and fenders that tilted forward for easy engine access at tracks. However, there was no exterior access to luggage space. (The small rear "trunk" carried the spare.)

The DB2 weighed only 2,453 pounds, so it was fast with its advanced engine despite horrible-quality European fuel that forced use of an extremely low 6.5:1 compression ratio. ("Premium" gas finally arrived in 1953.) It could top 120 mph with the Vantage engine and a 3.77 rear axle ratio and rush through the quarter-mile run in about 18 seconds. That was supercar performance in the early 1950s. The new Oldsmobile Rocket V-8 -- America's fastest car at that time -- had a hard time getting under 20 seconds in the quarter. Large Girling drum brakes were better than most and provided fast, sure stops.

Three DB2 prototypes were built for racing in 1949 with smooth fastback coupe bodies and entered at that year's prestigious 24-hour Le Mans race in France. Two used the DB1 four-cylinder engine and one had the new Lagonda six-cylinder.

A water pump fault caused the six-cylinder to fail early, but the same car finished a solid third at the prestigious Belgium 24-hour race two weeks later, which shook up quite a few people. A DB2 six-cylinder then won its class at the 1950 and 1951 Le Mans race, with a DB2 finishing third in 1951. Also, David Brown's personal Aston also finished first in class in Italy's 1,000-mile Mille Miglia race in 1951. Astons benefitted from race-proven improvements, and the automaker finally won the Le Mans race against the world's best sports/race cars in 1959, when it also won the World Sports Car Championship.

The DB2 had modern performance and old-world charm, but Brown believed in continually introducing updated models. The DB2 thus was replaced in 1953 by a more refined version -- the DB2/4, which had two tiny rear seats. There again was a coupe and convertible. The coupe had a new, top-hinged hatchback -- the first used for a sporting car -- for access to a larger cargo area. Many are familiar with the DB2/4 convertible because it was featured in Alfred Hitchcock's famous movie "The Birds," especially in the final scene.

The last version of the DB2 was the 1959 Aston Martin DB Mark III, which was essentially just an improved DB2 with a higher $10,000 price tag. (Author Ian Fleming gave his James Bond hero a DB Mark III in his seventh novel, "Goldfinger.")

Astons always have been costly, and prices for early models have soared in recent years.