Here’s a lovely, one-of-a-kind episode: it comes from a recording made way back in 1992. That year, the well-known motoring writer Jonathan Wood chatted with Harold Beach while gathering material for one of his many books.
Harold was a brilliant Aston Martin chief engineer and designer who shaped the chassis for the DB4, DB5, DB6 and right through to the V8 Volante. He began his journey as a draughtsman at Barkers coachbuilders before joining David Brown Tractors in 1950.
We’re very grateful to the Michael Sedgwick Memorial Trust for kindly providing the original recordings. These were captured on cassette tapes and weren’t broadcast quality, but thanks to today’s technology we’ve been able to edit, polish and tidy them up into something really presentable.
The recording starts off with Harold spotting a newspaper advert from David Brown Tractors…
Host: Jonathan Wood
Guest: Harold Beach
Producer: Garry Taylor
