Dacre Stubbs - 1935 Aston Martin Ulster

We drove down to The Boulevard, Studley Park nearby, one of my father's favorite locations for photographing Peter Dale's various cars at that period. LM20 was one of the four 1935 'works' cars. It won its class, the 'Rudge Whitworth Cup' and was third overall in the 1935 Le Mans driven by Charles Martin and Charles Brackenbury. It returned to Le Mans in 1937 and won its class again. After the factory sold the car, it passed through a number of hands in the UK until it was purchased by Henry Dale and it started its years in Australia. Alan Puckett purchased it in Melbourne and he owned the car for a number of years in Sydney before selling it to America. It is my belief that LM20 has returned to the UK but would be grateful if anyone could confirm this."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Aston Martin 'Ulster' (AUG898)                                                                                                                          My father also bought an Ulster in 1935 and I quote: "I retraced my steps and contacted the Central Garage where the car was being kept. Immediately I set eyes upon it I knew this was what I wanted and after an examination by an engineer as to its condition, I purchased the beauty. The Aston seemed perfect in all respects, but required more ‘running in’. I wasted no time in a visit to Brooklands where I obtained a room, or rather Bertram didthis at the Queens Head. On the way down I visited the Aston Martin factory which was on my route from London to Byfleet to have the car checked over. In the course of this visit I met Gordon Sutherland the joint director of the company as well as the other direc­tor, Cesare Bertelli, the actual designer of the 1 1/2-litre Aston. All this was veryreassuring and gave me confidence that I could not have chosen a better vehicle for my particular purpose". Later in this 'Ulster' my father had a bad accident, the original body from the scuttle back was beyond repair and the factory suggested that they rebuild it with a new Mk11 sports 2/4 seater body by transferring all the original 'Ulster' components. My father comments that after the rebuild the cars performance seemed not to have diminished. I often wondered wether this car is still about? The last photo of this page is the only one I have of this car and shows the replacement bodywork at the time he sold it.