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In 1966 Chris Stewart was a racing driver and he purchased an Aston Martin DBR1/2 at a cost of £1,500 and he was lucky enough to travel with it and race it in America, Australia and Asia.

Nine years later, it became uncompetitive compared to the modern cars. So due to this and a bad back he decided to sell the Aston in 1975 and was staggered to get £25,000 for it, all he retained was a box of spares from his Aston racer because he didn’t want to hurt his back further lifting them. Fast-forward thirty-eight years to earlier this year he had an even greater shock when his old racer came up for auction and changed hands for £17m !

He was "thrilled" to sell it for £25,000 nine years later when it was surpassed by faster and more powerful racing cars – but was equally shocked to see it go at auction for millions of pounds earlier this year.
When he sold the vehicle in 1975, all he retained was a box of spare engine parts – because the back problems he suffered early in his career prevented him at the time from lifting them and giving them to the buyer.

Now the canny 74-year-old, of East Grinstead, has dusted off the spares, which had been stored in his garage for more than three decades, and has had them mounted to sell as collectors' items. He is set to make a healthy return.

Reminiscing of his time with the Aston, which triumphed in the 1959 Le Mans 24-hour race, he said: "I have some wonderful memories of the DBR1/2, including driving the Brands Hatch grand prix circuit in the support race for the British Grand Prix. I loved it. Loved the racing, loved the car. It was very special.You could just sit and look at it, it was so beautiful. And, of course, the noise with these two damn pipes right at your ear. My right ear would be ringing for two days after a race.”

"I was very happy to sell it for £25,000, because I only paid £1,500 and had it for nine years. It was a shock to see it go for that much, but it's not unusual because this year a Ferrari, a Mercedes and others have sold for £20 million.”