Object Number: AMHT-2007-288
Object Type: Photographic Material
Object Description: The Aston Martin stand at the London Motor Show, October 1934
With our Heritage Festival happening at the end of the month, it seems only fair that this ‘Object in Focus’ highlights the other ‘birthday’ cars on display, the Mark II and Ulster.
It is now 90 years since the 1½ Litre third series models were first unveiled to the public at the London Motor Show held at Olympia in October 1934. What better object to pick than one of the first photographs taken at this very event. This large black and white image is board mounted and measures 23cm by 29.5cm. It captures the layout of stand number 144 for Aston Martin Ltd. Beneath the towering totem of the huge Aston Martin wings, are two Mark II models and one of the first three customer replicas of the Ulster TT race cars. Interestingly, three of the Ulster models were built prior to the TT race, so the chassis number contains the /S suffix, rather than the /U suffix seen on the subsequent Ulster models.
Further handwritten details that accompany the image on the mounted board shed more light on the price of the different models on display:
- A Mark II Sports Saloon, priced at £700.
- A Mark II four-seater, priced at £640.
- An ‘Ulster’ two-seater racing, priced at £750.
These prices are the equivalent of approximately £55,000 to £65,000 in today’s money. In addition, details from the AMOC registers in the AMHT archive record the chassis numbers of these show cars as G4/458/L, F4/445/S and G4/460/S respectively.
As an extra point of interest, at the rear of the stand is the Trader Publishing Company, advertising subscription to Export Trader for 10 shillings and 6 pence (10/6), and Motor Trader for 15 shillings (15/-). For those not familiar with ‘old’ money terminology, there were 20 shillings to the pound. If the subscription was a yearly cost, the price of a new Ulster model at £750 was the equivalent of 1000 years of Motor Trader magazines!
