A 1923 Aston Martin that some say is the narrowest race car ever built is coming up for sale for the first time since the 1980s. The “Razor Blade” wears an aerodynamic, super-narrow body built by de Havilland Aircraft Company; the coachwork measures just 18.5 inches at its widest point. (The track of the wheels of course spans several inches more.)
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The car was developed as part of an effort to seize the one-hour “light car” top-speed record from rival AC Cars (yes, the Cobra folks). It was fitted with a bespoke 55-horsepower twin-overhead-cam four-cylinder hewn from half of an eight-cylinder Grand Prix engine. The powertrain and wind-cheating bodywork together helped get the Razor Blade exceed speeds of 100 mph (160 km/h) but attempts at the overall record were thwarted by the car repeatedly throwing off its front outside tire.
Nevertheless, later in ’23, the narrow-bodied Aston netted a record for quickest one-mile and one-kilometre pass from a standing start; it would spend the rest of the decade, and then two decades more, participating in other various forms of competition.
When its racing career ended in the 1950s, it was sold to the famous Harrah Motor Museum in the U.S.; the current owner picked it up in the 1980s, and for most of the time since has loaned it out to the Brooklands Museum in the U.K., though he’s also raced it at events like the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The Razor Blade, allegedly the fourth-oldest Aston Martin in existence, is prepped for even more vintage racing, says the firm charged with its sale, Ecurie Bertelli, but notes it does come plated and so is technically road-legal.
The car may be narrow, but you’re going to need some fat pockets to park it in your garage: the asking price is a swell £750,000, or about CDN$1.3 million.
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