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Buy Sir Stirling Moss's '54 Aston Martin DB3S for just $10m

Bonhams estimates this rare 1954 Aston Martin DB3S will fetch as much as $10 million when it hits the auction block late next month. The fifth of 31 examples (and only 11 works racers) built, this particular DB3S was originally built for the private use of the company's owner David Brown. But after three other examples were destroyed at Le Mans in 1954, Brown handed his car over to the racing department, which replaced the fiberglass bodywork with aluminum and put it to work. Drivers like Sir Stirling Moss, Peter Collins, and Roy Salvadori drove it at Spa, the Nurburgring, and the Mille Miglia. As if that provenance weren't enough, the roadster then went on to appear in the '60s comedy School for Scoundrels alongside Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas, and Janette Scott – plus an Austin-Healey 100-Six and a 1928 Bentley 4 1/2 -Litre Open Tourer dubbed the "Swiftmobile." Bonhams has chassis number DBS3S/5 consigned for its upcoming sale at the old Aston Martin Works factory in Newport Pagnell. With all that history, the auction house anticipates it will sell for GBP6,000,000-7,000,000 – equivalent to $8.5-10 million at current exchange rates. That would, according to the records at Sports Car Market, make it one of the most valuable Astons ever sold at auction, besting the DB3S that Gooding & Company sold in 2014 for $5.5 million. Related Video: THE 1954 ASTON MARTIN DB3S: CAR OF THE SILVER SCREEN RACED BY THE GREAT STIRLING MOSS, NOW OFFERED AT BONHAMS A rare Aston Martin Works team car – chassis number DB3S/5 – which was campaigned in period by such legendary racing drivers as Sir Stirling Moss, Peter Collins and Roy Salvadori, and latterly went on to co-star with Terry-Thomas in 1960s movie classic 'School for Scoundrels', will be offered at Bonhams Aston Martin Works Sale on 21 May 2016. It is estimated at GBP6,000,000-7,000,000. This historic Aston Martin began life as the personal road car of David Brown, the multi-millionaire industrialist owner of the Aston Martin marque. Under Brown's reign the legendary post-World War 2 'DB' series of Aston Martin cars were built, including the Atom, the DB2, DB3, DB4, DB5, DB6, DB7, DB9 and the DBS, all named using Brown's initials. Aston Martin also built a number of DB3S models for the Works racing team.

Aston Martin considers manufacturing cars in America

Aston Martin is getting closer to determining where it will built its new assembly plant. An initial shortlist included 19 possible locations, and now the company has reportedly narrowed it down to just four – two in the UK, one in the Middle East, and one here in the United States. The decision, however, may be dictated as much by outside factors as it is by the automaker's own preferences. The new plant is earmarked to handle production of the forthcoming new DBX. If Aston decides to build the crossover based on Mercedes underpinnings, it could opt to locate its assembly plant in the Southern United States to be close to the Alabama plant where Benz builds the GLE- and GLS-Class models. If Aston elects to build the DBX on its own chassis, it could open up a number of other options. According to Reuters, that could include two potential sites in the United Kingdom and another in the Middle East. The British automaker was previously reported to be closely considering a former Royal Air Force base in Wales to build its plant with considerable government incentives. Jaguar's former Browns Lane plant in Coventry was also said to be in contention. But Reuters reports that an 80-acre plot just to the north of Coventry in the Sutton Coldfield area is also on the table. Few details are known as to the potential Middle Eastern site, however the company is part owned by several Gulf-region shareholders. Although the largest portion of 39 percent is held by Italian holding company Investindustrial and 5 percent by Daimler, much of the remaining 56 percent is held by Kuwaiti investment companies. We don't doubt, then, that the oil-rich Persian Gulf state is in contention as well.

Red Bull and Aston Martin are working together on a supercar

Ever since Adrian Newey stepped back from the day-to-day at Red Bull Racing last year, we've been wondering what he would do next. And here we very well may have the answer. According to Autocar, the legendary F1 engineer is working on a hardcore, track-focused supercar for Aston Martin. Details are few and far between, but it is believed that the project could make use of a Mercedes engine and take aim at the likes of the Ferrari FXX K and McLaren P1 GTR. That's more or less the same territory Aston is already going after with the Vulcan (pictured), but just how closely aligned the two vehicles would be remains unclear. Newey is said to be keen on making the vehicle road-legal, however – something which the FXX K, P1 GTR, and Vulcan are not. The news comes hot on the heels of an earlier report that indicated Aston Martin and Red Bull were in discussions over a potential partnership in F1 (together with Mercedes). Both developments appear to be stemming from the same rapprochement between the two outfits, but are said to be independent of one another in that one could go ahead without the other. It is just one of several projects, however, that Newey is said to be evaluating in his capacity as head of Red Bull Technologies. It would not be the first time we would see a high-end automaker team up with an F1 team to create a supercar, after all. McLaren built the SLR for Mercedes before going it alone, and Jaguar more recently collaborated closely with Williams Advanced Engineering on the C-X75 concept, an experimental supercar project that was unfortunately aborted prior to reaching production. We'll be watching and hoping to see how the Aston Martin/Red Bull partnership pans out.