Of the 149 Aston Martin DB4 Series I cars produced between October 1958 and January 1960, just 73 were built in left-hand drive. When one surfaces with a matching-numbers engine, factory build documentation, and a history stretching from San Francisco to Laguna Seca to Kuwait, it warrants close attention. Chassis DB4/190/L is one of those cars.
Engineering Legacy
In the late 1950s, Aston Martin had a clear target under David Brown: build a grand tourer that could match Ferrari on the road and at the track. The DB4 was the answer — new platform, new body, new engine, none of it carried over from what came before.
The body came from Carrozzeria Touring of Milan, built using their Superleggera method: aluminium panels formed over a lightweight framework of small-diameter steel tubes. The result was a shape built with function in mind — long bonnet, short tail, Perspex-covered headlamps — with Series I cars featuring a rear-hinged bonnet, pronounced over-riders, and a cleaner face than the revised versions that followed.
The 3.7-litre straight-six beneath was designed by Tadek Marek — twin overhead camshafts, around 240 brake horsepower, 140 mph within reach. Chassis 190/L retains its original matching-numbers engine, confirmed by the factory build sheets on file. Originality at this level is increasingly hard to find in the DB4 market; replaced units carry a meaningful discount and the gap rarely closes.
The chassis number tells its own story. Originally stamped DB4/190/R, the car was reconfigured for left-hand markets before delivery and reissued as DB4/190/L. Both the steering conversion and the revised chassis plate were factory-executed — the kind of detail that matters to registrars and researchers alike.
Ebrahim Alawadhi © 2026 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
A Life Well Documented
Chassis 190 left the factory destined for California, arriving in San Francisco on 19 November 1959. Its first owner, Mr J A Dalziel, took delivery in Peony — a warm burgundy — over black leather, fitted with chrome wire wheels and Avon whitewall tyres.
By 1972 the car had found its way to Lieutenant Colonel A Boone Crow of Newman, California — and with him, a different kind of life. Crow stripped the bumpers, had it repainted red, and entered it in competition. A photograph from 1976 shows the DB4 carrying race number 96 at Laguna Seca; the following season he finished eighth in class at the same circuit. He owned DB4 GT chassis 0175/L at the same time — a detail the Heritage Trust records confirm alongside his ownership of 190/L until 1989.
A subsequent owner, Mr LaWarre, had the car restored to concours standard — well enough to take Best in Show at an Aston Martin Owners Club event in the 1990s. It later passed to Eugene Sorbo of Fort Lauderdale before being exported to Kuwait, where it was repainted dark green and retrimmed in cream leather with green piping.
Market Insights
The DB4 market has shown steady strength, with values supported by genuine scarcity and sustained collector demand. Recent sales give a clear picture of where the market sits: a 1962 DB4 achieved £426,875 ($540,000) at RM Sotheby’s London in November 2024, while Series examples more broadly have ranged from around £150,000 ($190,000) to well over £500,000 ($635,000) depending on condition, originality, and provenance. The rarest variants — GT, Zagato, and early Series I left-hand-drive cars — sit at the upper end of that range and beyond.
With only 73 left-hand-drive Series I cars ever built, comparable sales are rare. That scarcity supports values, but condition and documentation carry disproportionate weight. A matching-numbers engine is as close to essential as the market gets; cars without one are priced accordingly and rarely recover the difference.
Now finished in dark green over cream — a striking departure from its original Peony over black during its Kuwait ownership — the car has been on static display and will require mechanical inspection before returning to the road. With provenance of this quality becoming increasingly rare, the market for a well-documented example remains strong.
The Long View
The DB4 Series I arrived at a moment when British manufacturers were still proving themselves against the Italians. The left-hand-drive cars were part of that effort — built for markets that had other options and needed convincing. Chassis 190 has outlasted most of the competition it was built to beat, and survives with more of its original story intact than most.
RM Sotheby’s Monaco sale took place on 24–25 April 2026 at the Grimaldi Forum, alongside the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique. The DB4 Series I (chassis DB4/190/L) sold for €241,250 (approx. £206,000 / $282,700 USD)
