History boys
I’ve commented before that restoring an old car is a bit like archaeology. The rebuilding is the excavation and interpretation, but there is still a lot of desk research as well.
The Aston Martin factory in Newport Pagnell kindly sent me the original build sheets for ROJ - showing that it was ordered in October 1973 with the initials WHC embosed in the leather of the ashtrays. This suggests it was a special order for a client.
The DVLA have just sent me, for the princely sum of £5, copies of all the registration records for the car - It was first registered in February 1974, but no mention of WHC. So who was this mysterious person? Did he cancel his order? was it bought by the first owner as a gift for WHC? Some more detective work required.