Car Guy Magazine Car Guy Magazine Issue 215 | Page 28

Kay says this Aston Bertone was featured in the November 25,
1953 issue of the English magazine The Motor. In 1954 it appeared
in the Earls Court Motor Show. It showed up at Connecticut’s
Lime Rock Park Concourse in 1986 and ‘87, at the Pebble Beach
Concours in 1987. But the Bertone Aston’s history is otherwise a
blur.
Kay says Bertone affixed its elegant coachwork to the chassis with crude welds, instead of bolting it to the underpinnings as
was the custom at the Aston Martin factory. “This thing, they just
took the Aston chassis and literally just welded stuff all over it,” he
says. “Italian coach building was not the equal to English coach
building by any stretch.”
Yet Kay says welding the Bertone body to the chassis actually
made the car more rigid than its English counterpart, potentially
making it more agile navigating through the weaves and winds in
the roads of East Texas, where Ponder keeps his collection.
But it won’t be doing that any time soon. Like his Arnolt Bristols and Arnolt Bentley, Ponder is putting this Aston Martin Bertone under the auction gavel. And with it will go a distinctive piece
of European automotive history entwined with a chunk of Ponder’s
legacy.
“I just like the flair and the style that the Europeans had,” Ponder says. “And my cars, every one I do, I’ve got to do better than the
last one. That in itself drives you crazy.”

26 CarGuyMagazine.com