THE CHRISTMAS PRESENT

The story of this car begins in the Federal Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, where Charles A. Ward—narcotics possession—and Herbert Huse Bigelow—income tax evasion—met. Bigelow and Ward struck up a rapport, and upon their release, Ward found employment at the Brown & Bigelow Company of St. Paul, Minnesota, the United States’s leading manufacturer of promotional calendars.

Bigelow drowned in a fishing accident in 1933, and Ward was elected to take over the firm. By the time of his death in 1959, the former convict had built B&B to total annual sales of $55 million. It seems an unlikely source of grand fortune—about as unlikely as the Bigelow-Ward friendship—but consider that each of those years, B&B turned out 50 million promotional calendars for tire manufacturers, oil companies, and the like, at a time when there were only about 160 million Americans. Few people went about their workday without seeing one of Charles A. Ward’s products, as recognizable a part of the mid-century American experience as tailfins.

Ward was a talented businessman and a generous philanthropist, but he retained a bit of the flamboyant charisma that had talked its way from the jail cell to the executive suite. His 60 regional sales managers recognized this, and for Christmas 1953 they 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 with a combination of unmistakable Aston Martin design cues, including the distinctive radiator grille and curved windshield, both lightly “tweaked” to smooth their edges, and delicate Italianate touches, including thin, shapely bumpers 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, and stocked with china and picnic accessories; a custom picnic hamper, fitted next to the single rear seat, and bearing 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, 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; a brief article, “A Present to the Chief,” appeared in the 25 November 1953 issue of The Motor.

MODERN HISTORY

The calendar magnate kept and drove his flamboyant Bertone DB2/4 until his passing in 1959. Reportedly he had offered it for sale shortly prior, at $5,500, but found no takers. The car was sold by his estate back to S.H. Arnolt, who resold it to another prominent St. Paul businessman, William Peters, Sr., of Peters Meat Products, for $2,000. At the time the car had a blown engine, which perhaps explains the reluctance of buyers to meet Mr. Ward’s price. It was no problem for Mr. Peters, who installed a Shelby Cobra engine and drove the car from St. Paul to Tampa, Florida, to begin his retirement. He had Mark Doins service the original DB2/4 engine, however, completely rebuilding it and installing new sleeves.

In 1975, Mr. Peters sold the Aston Martin to Virgil Campbell of Nebraska, who paid the meat magnate $250 to bring the car to Omaha, saying that if he liked the car, he would pay for Mr. Peters’s return flight. Mr. Campbell liked the car, and the seller flew home for free, minus the DB2/4. Its new owner then set about restoring the car, refinishing it in all-over red, including the paint, carpeting, and seats, which were upholstered in red Bridge of Weir leather cut to the original patterns. The original top fabric, a matte material, was replaced with Haartz cloth, again in the correct pattern. Most importantly, the original engine, now rebuilt, was at last reinstalled.

Mr. Campbell sold the DB2/4 in 1983 to Tom and Ellin Dunsworth, who extensively investigated the correct materials and colors, and eventually completed the restoration, changing the car back to the original blue livery while preserving its correct trim and tools. Completed, the Bertone Aston Martin unsurprisingly drew much attention. It appeared prominently in Stanley Nowak’s article, “Aston Martin Bertone,” in Vol. 26, No. 4 of Automobile Quarterly, and it won 3rd in Class at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 1987. Eventually the car passed into the care of James Vandergrift, who in 1997 returned it to Pebble Beach and again finished 3rd in Class.

Mr. Vandergrift eventually sold the DB2/4 to Gene Ponder, the renowned American collector and connoisseur of modern Bertone coachwork. It was refinished in his preferred bright red livery and passed in 2006 to Michael Schudroff, who again displayed it at Pebble Beach, this time as part of the Aston Martin feature in 2007, finishing Second in Class. Later it was acquired by Paul and Chris Andrews, longtime admirers, and was kept as one of the most prized possessions in their renowned Texas collection until its dispersal in 2015.

With its restoration now over three decades old, the Bertone Aston Martin nonetheless remains largely well-preserved, with few flaws found in its crimson finish or tight leather interior. Significantly, all of its original bespoke accoutrements, including the picnic hamper, tool set, and all of the special monogrammed and engraved touches, remain intact and exactly where one expects them.

As in 1953, Charles A. Ward’s sublime Bertone-bodied DB2/4 is the perfect gift, or acquisition, for the man who has everything.

Hail to “the Chief.”