A stunning 1950s Aston Martin DB3S is one of the spectacular highlights in Gooding & Company's forthcoming Pebble Beach auction, to be held on August 16-17 in California.

The DB3S replaced the slow and heavy DB3, seeing a successful racing career

The vehicle will be showcased as part of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, one of the world's premier collector car events. Estimated at $5m-7m, it is one of several expected to see top bids.

Another Aston Martin DB3S won the Gran Turismo Trophy at the 2013 Pebble Beach event, awarded for the best balance between beauty and performance.

The DB3 was Aston Martin's sports racing car, though it was heavy and failed to bring the company any accolades. It was then replaced with the DB3S after designer Eberan Eberhorst's assistant, William Watson, came up with a better design and presented it to Aston Martin's competition manager.

The DB3S was a success and brought Aston Martin a string of victories in British races. 11 works cars were produced, with a further 20 customer cars also created.

This example, Chassis 111, was displayed at the 1955 Earls Court Motor Show and was used as a test car for Autosport and The Autocar magazines.

It was later owned by the Forshaw family, owners of Aston Service Dorset, who also own the spare parts manufacturing rights for all pre-1960 Aston Martin models.

While reconstructing Chassis 111, the Forshaws realised they had enough spare parts to build a new DB3S, a well-known car on the collecting scene that has been dubbed Chassis 121.

The DBS3 has shown a great price increase over the past few years, with one selling for $1.9m in 2009, followed by another at $3.6m in 2012. With the classic car market booming, investors will certainly be looking for a strong opportunity such as this.

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