Gaze a war hero and hard driver

EVERYONE'S a great Australian these days, but Tony Gaze was someone who earned the tag.

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EVERYONE'S a great Australian these days. You only have to appear on a reality TV show, help win a footy game or give away some tax deductible money to see your name in the paper.

Of course the real great Australians hardly get a look-in. People in the defence forces, police, SES, fire brigade and ambulance get noticed only when they die or nearly die. Teachers, nurses and doctors get talked about only because they dare to complain about their pay.

Australian Frederick Anthony Owen Gaze, died last month. Tony flew 485 missions in World War II. He was shot down over France, the resistance helped him escape and he got back to England so he could fly some more. His 19-year-old brother was shot down and killed early in the war. Tony won three distinguished flying crosses and became a double air ace. He told the ABC: "It was only scary if you had three enemy planes behind you."

After the war he began racing in hill climbs. In those days, motor racing was a gentleman's sport, not a business. In 1952 Tony became the first Australian to compete in what is now F1. Three years later he started Australia's first international motor racing team, the Kangaroo Stable, which included a young Jack Brabham. In 1960 he represented Australia in the world gliding championships in Germany.

Tony married Lex Davison's widow Diana and became stepfather to now great racers Alex and Will Davison. In 2006 the Australian government awarded Tony the Medal of the Order of Australia in recognition of his outstanding achievements and service to the commonwealth. If you want to know more about Tony Gaze, and you should, buy Stewart Wilson's great biography Almost Unknown.

One thing Tony Gaze spent his motor racing career doing was trying to beat Ferraris. His attitude wasn't helped by a Fezza driver pulling out on him during a race, putting his car into a tree where it broke in two and caught fire. Luckily Tony says he wasn't wearing a seat belt and was thrown out before he was killed or ignited.

Well, after writing so much about the skyrocketing value of the monsters from Maranello let's focus today on every bank executives' favourite car, the Commonwealth's own brand Aston Martin.

Owning a luxury car brand is like owning a cheetah. They are great to look at but have a habit of eventually biting you.

Between its founding in 1913 and being bought by tractor maker David Brown in 1947, Aston Martin had gone belly up and changed owners about seven times. David had a great run for 25 years until financial troubles hit again and Bill Wilson bought it for £100. He sold it three years later for £1 million.

At one stage a Kuwaiti investment company owned a big chunk but it fell foul of the car curse and now Andrea Bonomi's Investindustrial shares the board seats. This is a good thing. Bonomi bought a struggling Ducati, tripled profits and sold it to Audi.

Rather than spend $250,000 on a new Aston, why not invest about the same in a 551 Aston Martin DB Mk III? Theodore Bruce Auctions' Jim Nicholls is selling the same model James Bond drove in Goldfinger. This beautifully restored racing green DB is priced at the top end but at around this money it's a good buy.