3 kwietnia 2025 | Piotr R. Frankowski

Tadek Marek: Working for Aston Martin [Part 5]

Supplying starving refugees from European countries with food and essential goods in occupied Germany was a difficult task. However, Tadeusz Marek dreamed of returning to engineering work. He knew that even with a small team lacking significant financial resources, he could achieve remarkable things. He vividly remembered preparing his cars for the Monte Carlo Rally and participating in it—an experience that resonates with the grand MCT expedition planned for this year, retracing his journey in an Opel Olympia.

It seems that after returning to the UK, Tadeusz Marek found work in the design office of Austin (or rather Morris, which was soon merged into Austin’s department). He is said to have played a decisive role in the creation of the inline six-cylinder C-series engine for the Austin A90 Westminster. This same engine later powered many other British cars, including the Austin-Healey. Allegedly, Marek also worked in the same office on an experimental V-8 engine using components from the Austin A40 engine, though this project was ultimately abandoned. Some sources claim that he later returned to tank design for a time, but I have found no evidence of this. It is likely that someone mistakenly confused the period of designing the Centurion tank with its introduction into service, and online publications have since repeated the error uncritically.

Stubborn as a Pole

It is certain that in 1953, Tadeusz Marek responded to an advertisement published by Aston Martin – this was after the return of Eberan von Eberhorst, the company’s former chief engineer, who had previously been an elegant, Nazi-era technical director for the Auto Union racing team. David Brown, the owner of Aston Martin and a producer of gears, transmissions, and tractors, had become extremely wealthy during the war (like many British industrialists, thanks to American financial support in the form of Lend-Lease). Brown also purchased the failing Lagonda brand, whose core value was a six-cylinder, inline engine designed by none other than W.O. Bentley himself.

Marek had an interview at the Aston factory, and he was told that the position was his. Overjoyed, he went on vacation to Sicily with his wife, but upon his return, he found a formal letter from Aston informing him that the position was no longer available. Furious that he had missed his dream job, he jumped into his car and raced to David Brown’s company headquarters in Huddersfield. The history books don’t record whether he argued directly with the owner, but one thing is certain: the rejection letter had been a bureaucratic mistake, and Tadeusz Marek became a designer at Aston Martin Lagonda. The stubbornness of the Pole paid off – and not just for him.

Archaic junk

Mark’s first task was to modernize the outdated design of W.O. Bentley’s engine. The six-cylinder engine suffered from many design flaws, primarily the steel cylinder liners sinking into the cast-iron block, causing head gasket failures and further engine damage. Various solutions were tried, such as supporting the liners with copper rings and replacing the asbestos-copper gasket with a multi-layer copper one, but it was Mark’s modifications that finally solved the issue. The Lagonda engine had a radiator fan driven by the timing mechanism (!) and even a minor collision often resulted in engine damage. Moreover, this drive absurdly put excessive strain on the entire timing system. Furthermore, although it was supposedly a modern six-cylinder engine with twin camshafts in the cylinder head, the crankshaft was only supported at four points. In contrast, the contemporary Jaguar XK engine had no cylinder liners, and its crankshaft was supported at seven points—this is why Jaguars won races, while Lagonda engines used in Astons often had cracked blocks. But that’s not all—the block itself lacked stiffness, the timing chain was poorly designed, as was the rear crankshaft seal, and the block machining tolerances were astronomically large. An archaic mess. A disaster.

Project 114

So, what did our hero do? Calmly, he redesigned the LBS engine into the DBA version, effectively drawing an entirely new block, giving it the necessary stiffness it had lacked. He kept the wet cylinder liners but mounted them differently: they were now supported at the top by a precisely machined flange and sealed at the bottom with O-rings. This significantly reduced the machining tolerances of the block, and combined with the new liner solution, it meant the end of the persistent problem with blowing head gaskets. Tadeusz Marek also designed from scratch the timing chain with tensioners, the oil pump, and the radiator fan drive. The engine became reliable, and the next step was to focus on increasing its power. The improved engine was used in the Aston Martin DB Mark III. However, this was only a temporary solution: the company needed a completely new engine and car, internally known as Project 114.

The beginnings of the Aston Martin DB4

The owner planned to move the factory from Feltham to Newport Pagnell, which came with a few challenges. Frank Feeley, who had been designing the bodies for Aston Martins until then, stated that he had no intention of moving to some place in Buckinghamshire and left the company to join the aviation industry (his body design was deemed unsuitable – meaning, simply, ugly). Therefore, someone else had to create the new car.

The steel chassis with suspension, unfortunately lacking the desired De Dion axle, was designed by Harold Beach, while the new six-cylinder engine, initially with a displacement of 3.7 liters (the final developmental versions reached 4.7 liters), was created by Tadek Marek. The bodywork was designed by Federico Formenti from the Carrozzeria Touring in Milan, following the Superleggera method, in which a skeleton of steel tubing was covered with an outer skin of aluminum.

When the prototype body was mated with the chassis, the first tests began. The company was small, with few people, and there were only two prototypes. A specific crash was inevitable, and it was carefully documented by Marek in his private photo album. The car was later shown publicly, it was well received by customers, and the company’s good fortune began. Production bodies were built by specialists in Newport Pagnell, using the molds and auxiliary frames prepared in Milan.

Exceptionally unprofitable

Marek continuously improved the engine, which initially had a displacement of 3670 cm³ and produced 240 horsepower at 5500 rpm. It featured two camshafts in the cylinder head and two SU carburetors. As an experiment, he also built a 4-cylinder version of the same engine, theoretically for a cheaper car than the DB4. However, with the scale of production that Aston was dealing with at the time, a car with this engine would cost the same as the DB4, so the idea was eventually abandoned.

The engine, continuously improved by the Polish engineer, was also used in the 4-door Lagonda Rapide, which was somewhat of a private obsession for David Brown. The car turned out to be completely unprofitable, and its production was so labor-intensive that it negatively impacted the production of the more profitable 2-door models. However, this car performed excellently, as evidenced by two remarkable photographs in the engineer’s album: the Lagonda during secret tests, heavily smoking from the rear tires, and the same car participating in the 1964 Brighton Speed Trials on Madeira Drive (where it won its class, driven by R. Wills).

The engineer’s private car

Outside of the company, Tadeusz Marek didn’t seek the spotlight; he was modest and focused on his work, feeling most at ease in the prototype workshop or at the drafting table. He avoided public appearances and is said to have only been persuaded once to give a lecture for members of the Aston Martin Owners Club. The mechanics adored him, and he drew satisfaction from working in a small team. I had the opportunity to see his signed drawings—precise and elegant.

What did he drive? Initially, he had a DB2, but the creaking bodywork constantly annoyed him. The car was equipped with an engine he had personally modified and a 5-speed Maserati gearbox. Later, he acquired another car, a DB4 bought cheaply on the Continent, converted to a right-hand drive version, and thoroughly upgraded.

Legendary V8

Changes in the global sports car market meant that Aston Martin needed a new, more powerful engine. Mark was tasked with designing a V8 engine, and of course, he approached it with his usual enthusiasm. However, the company was still short on funds for development and prototype series, so the engine was developed slowly – tested in a specially modified DB5. The engineer’s album is a testament to the trial and error process, such as when attempting to build an effective intake system.

To be clear: the lack of funds was due to the owner, David Brown, who had made a colossal fortune from manufacturing gearboxes for military vehicles during World War II (fully funded by American Lend-Lease credit). In reality, he wasn’t a master at managing a business in a free-market environment and, on top of that, he exhibited a level of stinginess akin to Ebenezer Scrooge.

The unwelcome debut at Le Mans

When the idea arose to sell the untested V8 engine to John Surtees for his racing Lola T70 Mark 3 cars, which were being prepared for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Tadeusz Marek opposed it, stating that the engine was definitely not ready for such an effort. He was right—it wasn’t. The 1967 Le Mans race ended very early for both cars due to engine failures, after which a mutual blame game ensued (one of the likely causes of the engine failures was the use of inappropriate spark plugs by the Surtees team, as their manufacturer had sponsored the race entry).

Marek could then return to gradually improving the prototypes, which led to better lubrication under load and increased rigidity of the crankcase. The company’s management no longer insisted on using the unfinished engines in motorsport.

Italian retirement

The lack of funds and personnel didn’t stop Marek from refining the engine to the point that, after its debut in the DBS model, it was produced in various forms until the late 1990s! Initially 5 liters with four camshafts, it grew to 5.3 liters, received heads designed by Callaway, and in the Vantage V600 with a supercharger, it produced 600 horsepower. It was also installed in the experimental turbocharged Lagonda nicknamed Turbolag, and in the still-existing, recently restored Bulldog prototype, it was rated on paper at 700 horsepower.

Marek only retired when he was certain that the engine would no longer bring him shame and when it had been replaced by his protégé, Mike Loasby (the same one who later had something to do with the DeLorean brand). He passed away in his beloved Italy in 1986, leaving behind a magnificent technical legacy known only to a select few enthusiasts of British cars.

Read the remaining parts of the biography of engineer Tadeusz Marek.

Author: Piotr R. Frankowski