ENGINEER'S CUT

The DB4 that Aston Martin Lagonda chief engineer Tadek Marek called his own is a special blend of bespoke touches

- MARTIN BUCKLEY

Tadek Marek, designer of the DB4's straight-six, is one of the cornerstones of Aston Martin's success during the golden age of David Brown's as a factory development mule, chassis DB4/170/L became Marek's own in 1965, subsequently upgraded and massaged to suit the whims and fancies of the Polish engineer who was also a very good, quick driver.

So, even if it's not one for the purists, this 'Director's cut' Aston, KKX 4C, must be one of the most interesting DB4s around. Not that here is such a thing as a boring DB4. Launched at Earls Court in 1958, this was the car that established the products of David Brown's Feltham works as the ultimate in wholesome, high-quality grand touring machinery.

It was a British supercar. With 240bhp and running a 3.54:1 rear axle ratio, the 3500lb DB4 was, for a while, the fastest four-seater production car in the world, able to top 140mph. Very British in conception, yet clothed in the latest Italian style from Touring of Milan, it was powered by an engine that would take Aston Martin through to the early 1970s, latterly alongside Marek's even longer-lived four-cam, 5.3-litre V8.

Born in Kraków in 1908, Marek arrived in Britain in 1941 as part of the Allied forces, following some colourful wartime adventures that included internment by the Germans and a daring escape to Britain via the Moroccan city of Casablanca. For a while he settled in Finchley, north London and met a local girl called Peggy, whom he married.

He moved to Aston Martin in 1953 (when it was still based in Feltham), fresh from a job helping to create an amphibious version of the Centurion tank and, before that, a posting with Austin at Longbridge. There he had designed the 2.6-litre C-series and a stillborn V8 based, intriguingly, around a pair of A40 engines.