LONDON.- This highly desirable 'garage find' from Liverpool - an Aston Martin Mark II 1.5 Litre Sports Saloon - which has been in storage since the early 1970s will be sold by H&H Classics at their next Duxford Imperial War Museum sale on June 19th. The car has been untouched for 50 years.

It was bought in 1953 by a brilliant self-taught electrical engineer, Philip Kenyon, who worked for radio companies on the development of the first Radar system during WW2 and spent time with the Radio Secret Service.

Often these cars were ‘chopped’ in the 70's and 80's to create open top tourers, as that was then the fashion. But this car has virtually had no modifications at all. Aston Martin fans see features in this car that they have never seen before. So this incredibly rare example of an iconic historical car, a piece of British automotive history, would add significant lustre to the most select classic car collection.

When the car finds itself at Duxford it will be just a hundred yards from the runway which today sees another 1930s icon still in action, the legendary Supermarine Spitfire (in production from 1938) that fly in and out of this aerodrome.

Supplied new on 31/1/36 by Watson & Co Ltd of Liverpool this car was originally finished in green with green upholstery. Much of the car's history is known and documented.

The Aston Martin has stayed with the Kenyon family since then and they are now offering it for sale. Joan Kenyon, recalls travelling in the car with her father at the wheel all over the Lake District and into Wales, driven hard across mountain passes and thinking of that as nothing unusual. It was only when the cable on the handbrake went that the car was laid up for decades.

Nick Lumby of H&H Classics says: “This is a wonderful opportunity to acquire a rare and charismatic pre-War Aston for restoration, one of just 24 of these historic cars built. When new the car was capable of an 80mph top speed from its 1.5 litre four-cylinder engine. Its predecessors in the years between the wars had established the marque’s reputation on the racetrack.”

Once restored this wonderful pre-war Aston Martin will surely reward its happy new owner with a superb driving experience as well as the opportunity to continue the preservation of an historically significant motorcar.

Introduced in 1934, the replacement Mark II model sported a new, stronger chassis and a revised engine incorporating a counter-balanced crankshaft and dry sump lubrication.