1953 Aston Martin DB2/4 Drophead Coupe (Bertone)

In total, eight rolling chassis were supplied to Bertone, Two became drophead coupes, one or two were fixed-head coupes and four (or five) were spiders.

A unique model for the Bertone output of 1953 was the cabriolet based on the mechanics of the Aston Martin DB2/4. The car was commissioned and given as a gift to the president of a large American company by a group of business partners. The styling encapsulates some of the classic elements of the American car, like the long streamlined bonnet, smooth wings and the lowered asset typical of the sporty cabriolets of the day.

A PRESENT TO THE CHIEF

At one time, the Brown & Bigelow Company, of St. Paul, Minnesota, was the United States’ leading manufacturer of promotional calendars and products, distributing some 50 million calendars a year at a time when there were only about 160 million Americans, which meant that there was roughly one B&B calendar in circulation for every three people in the U.S.! The company was most famous for its pinup calendars, for which they employed a lineup of such genre-defining artists as Gil Elvgren, Earl Moran, and Rolf Armstrong, and they could be found on the walls of garages, packing sheds, workshops, and loading docks across America.

Brown & Bigelow was unusual in more ways than one. Its president and general sales manager was Charles A. Ward, who had been befriended by Herbert Huse Bigelow under the most unusual of circumstances, while both were serving time in the Federal Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, with Ward there for narcotics possession and Bigelow there for income tax evasion.

The two men struck up a friendship, and Bigelow hired Ward to work at his company. When Bigelow drowned during a 1933 fishing trip, his young protégé was elected to replace him as the head of the company. By the time of his death in 1959, Ward had built Brown & Bigelow from annual losses of $250,000 in 1933 to total sales of $55 million annually. He was a generous philanthropist who took pride in employing reformed convicts and giving back to his community, but he was also a flamboyant and decadent sort—the kind of man who would be seen behind the wheel of a bespoke, Italian-bodied Aston Martin covered in his initials.

Brown & Bigelow’s 60 regional sales managers realized this, and for Christmas 1953, they got together, pooled their funds, and ordered, through Chicago importer and Bertone board member S.H. Arnolt, one of the two Bertone-bodied DB2/4 Drophead Coupes produced.

These cars were brilliantly designed by Giovanni Michelotti to feature a combination of unmistakable Aston Martin design cues, including the distinctive radiator grille and curved windshield, both of which had been lightly “tweaked” to smooth their edges. Delicate Italianate features found on the car include thin and shapely bumpers, a gently curved roof line, and a subtle hood scoop. Little else about Ward’s car was subtle, as the sales managers specified a monogramed CAW hood button; a fine-quality two-piece fitted luggage set (also monogrammed), complete with china and picnic accessories; a custom picnic hamper that fit next to the single rear seat and bore a lode of barware; and a set of chrome-plated tools in a varnished wooden box.

The car arrived in St. Paul bearing a large commemorative brass plaque under the hood, which had been engraved with the names of all 60 sales managers—lest Mr. Ward forget their names when it came time to assign bonuses?—as well as another plaque on the dashboard, which stated, “This motor car was especially designed and created for Charles A. Ward by S.H. Arnolt, Chicago and Carrozzeria Bertone, Torino, Italy.” The gift attracted attention even in Europe, where a brief article, “A Present to the Chief,” appeared in the November 25, 1953, issue of The Motor.

In the halls of Brown & Bigelow, during those days of three-martini lunches, it was a merry Christmas.

Эта уникальная для "Bertone" модель 1953 года была построена на основе автомобиля "Астон Мартин" DB2/4. Она была задумана и изготовлена как подарок президенту одной крупной американской компании от деловых партнеров. Поэтому ее стиль включает в себя такие классические элементы американских спорткаров, как длинный обтекаемый капот, лишенные рельефа крылья и низко посаженное шасси.

Всего в Италию отправили восемь шасси, одно или два из которых стали закрытыми купе, еще два - купе со съемным верхом и четыре или пять были спайдерами.