Aston Martinology - The History Of Aston Martinhttp://www.supacarnova.com/aston martinology history aston martin/

Where to start with Aston Martin? This iconic British brand is known around the world for itsstylish luxury sports cars and are synonymous with elegance and quintessential Englishness.And ever since the DB5 model appeared on our screens in Goldfinger in 1964, they’ve beenintrinsically linked with James Bond, easily the coolest most suave secret agent in the world.What’s not to love? Read on to find out more about the fascinating Aston Martin...

The beginning

Aston Martin was the brain child of Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford way back in 1913. Thetwo men had teamed up the previous year to sell cars together in London and hatched a plan tomake their own vehicles. Originally known as Bamford & Martin Ltd,’ the name was changedto Aston Martin’ following Martin’s success at the Aston Hill Climb in Buckinghamshire.Unfortunately this dream was realised just before the outbreak of World War One: there wasonly time for the first Aston Martin (nicknamed the "Coal Scuttle") to be built and registered withthis name (made up of the chassis of a 1908 Isotta Fraschini and a four cylinderCoventry Simplex engine) before the Kensington premises and machinery that Martin andBamford had just bought had to be sold, and the two went off to join the war effort.

The "Coal Scuttle"

Following the war, the company was revitalised though Bamford left shortly after. Competing inthe 1922 French Grand Prix gained Aston Martin recognition as two vehicles completed the raceand later went on to set endurance and world speed records at Brooklands. But quick on theheels of this success were financial problems that were to hound the company for years. In1924, Aston Martin went bankrupt, was sold, went bankrupt again, and was forced to close thefactory in 1926. It was around this time that Lionel Martin left too; both original founders gone inthe first 13 years of Aston Martin’s life.

Aston Martin 1922 "Green Pea"

The brand was taken on by another group of investors and relabelled ‘Aston Martin MotorsLtd’. It soon became known for its engineering and design prowess, and also earned points onthe racing side of things when an Aston was entered in the Le Mans 24 hour race in 1928. Butfinancial difficulties resurfaced in 1932, and the company was sold on to L. Prideaux Brune (orfinancially backed) for a year before being passed on again to Arthur Sutherland. Under hisreign, the company decided to focus purely on road cars and leave the racing out of it as theless financially gainful side of the business. This plan was only implemented for a few yearsuntil another World War put a stop to work. Interestingly, Aston Martin contributed to the wareffort and produced aircraft components during this time.

Aston Martin Series 1

The arrival of David Brown and the beginning of something beautiful

1947 saw tractor manufacturer and racing car enthusiast David Brown buy Aston Martin as wellas Lagonda in a bid to get into the road car industry. The company was suffering following theSecond World War, and after answering a newspaper advert, Brown was able to buy it for ameasly £20,500. Bargain. The two companies he’d just snagged pooled resources andworkshops - not to mention Lagonda’s 2.6 litre W.O Bentley designed engine, which would laterfeature in the DB2. This was to be the start of a long and much needed period of stability andsuccess under David Brown; it was also the beginning of one of the world’s most iconic andclassic car series - the Aston Martin DB cars. The very first Aston Martin car to be producedunder David Brown’s tenure was the ‘Two Litre Sports’; known retrospectively as the DB1. Itdebuted at the 1948 London Motor Show, but only 15 models were sold - not surprisingly atroughly £1500 a pop -around £52,950 in modern day money.

Aston Martin "Two Litre Sports" DB1

The first car to officially start the DB bloodline was the DB2; launched in 1950 at that year’sNew York Motor Show, the two seater coupe was a success. Demand was enormous, and thefactory couldn’t keep up; in total 411 models were produced, giving Aston Martin a securefinancial footing on which to continue its DB course. It also encouraged Brown’s interest inpursuing investment in track cars when it did well at both Le Mans and Sebring, which led ontothe creation of racing models DB3 and DB3S (neither of which should be confused with the DBMark III, the sports car available to the public and the first to have Aston Martin’s iconic frontgrille). While these cars did well to establish Aston Marin as a good racing car manufacturer, itwas the four seater DB4 with its classical shape and top speed of 140mph that really stood out(though the engine did have a tendency to overheat). It also paved the way for the wonder thatwas...

Aston Martin DB2

The DB5 - James Bond’s car of choice

In 1963, one of the world’s most attractive cars, and one of the world’s most attractive spieshooked up for what was to be the start of a beautiful relationship. The Silver Birch DB5 thatSean Connery’s James Bond drove in Goldfinger would become an icon in the motoring worldwith its stunning shape and beautiful bodywork. For the film the car was filled with plenty of 007gadgets including an ejector seat, an oil slick dispenser, a three way revolving number plate andpop out gun barrels behind the front indicators. In 2010, it was sold to car collector HarryYeaggy for £2.9 million.

Aston Martin DB5

Trouble ahead

After the enormous success of the DB5, the dated looking DB6 and angular DBS paled incomparison and by the early 1970s, Aston Martin was suffering financially again. This time

‘Company Developments Ltd’ took over the firm in 1972 (the same year that the V8 enteredproduction). Only three years later, the company was resold following anotherbankruptcy. Newowners Peter Sprague and George Minden pushed the company into modernising its line andproduced the V8 Vantage, the Volante and the pretty un Aston Martin looking Lagonda saloonto mark the occasion of the re launch of Aston Martin’s sister company. Everything was going sowell that Aston Martin was even planning on buying MG in 1980; at least until economiccontraction happened and sales shrank down to three cars per week. In 1981 the company wassold again, and the rest of the decade was spent in financial uncertainty and turmoil as AstonMartin got passed around. Shares were bought, shares were sold, and the only good to reallycome out of the whole thing was that in 1987 the relationship with 007 was renewed - the V8Volante was featured in a Bond film (though it was a Timothy Dalton one so we’re not sure itcounts). This was also the year that the Ford Motor Company acquired a 75% stake in thecompany, and things finally started looking up again...

Aston Martin V8 Volante

Ford sorts things out (for a bit)

Ford got sassy with the Aston Martin brand, dumped the V8 which had been around for far toolong, and replaced it with the younger and hotter Virage. 1991 saw Ford take full control of thecompany and start working towards new and exciting things - primarily the renewal of the DBseries with the creation of the DB7.

Aston Martin DB7

The idea behind the DB7 was for it to be a ‘smaller Aston’; a more compact, cheaper car to sellalongside other models, and one that would be more accessible to a wider market meaning thecompany would be able to make more cars and more money. With a more rounded body thanthe DB6, the model had quite a few similarities to the Jaguar XJS as Ford made use of its tieswith Jaguar and shared resources. The supercharged straight 6 DB7 was unveiled at the 1993Geneva Motorshow and production started in 1994 at Aston Martin’s new Bloxham factory,where it went on to exceed the production of all other DB models, boasting over 6000 models by

2002. In 2001 the V12 Vanquish was launched and appeared in ‘Die Another Day’ alongsidePierce Brosnan. This was followed by the production of the V12 Vanquish S and the DB9 in2004 in Aston Martin’s swanky new purpose built global headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire.The early 2000s saw success and expansion for Aston Martin as they set up an engineproduction factory in Cologne, returned to the race track with the launch of the DBR9 in 2005,reached the milestone of 30,000 production cars in 2006, and featured in Daniel Craig’s Bonddebt ‘Casino Royale’ with the DBS. Ford evidently thought that their work here was done, as in2007 Aston Martin was sold again.

Aston Martin DBS

A new chapter and a new century for Aston Martin

More people took over. Honestly, this is exhausting just writing, I’ve got no idea how AstonMartin handled it all of these years. In 2008, the DBR9 took GT1 Class victory at Le Mans forthe second year in a row, and the DBS appeared alongside Bond again in ‘Quantum of Solace’.Plenty of pretty exciting new models started appearing, including the V12 Vantage, the Rapide,the design award winning hyper car One 77, and a sexy new Vanquish.

Aston Martin One 77

Despite what seems like an unending game of pass the parcel with the company, Aston Martinis now over 100 years old and still going strong with a reputation for creating some of the mostbeautiful cars in the world. To celebrate this impressive feat, the brand revealed the centenaryconcept car, CC100, and hosted a special centenary week in July where over 550 Aston Martinsgathered in Kensington Gardens, London, breaking the record for the largest such gathering.Probably the most bizarre of celebratory events was the airlifting of a Vanquish onto the helipadon top of the landmark Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai. To this day, people are still unsure as to whythis happened.

Aston Martin CC100

Quirky celebrations aside, we’re excited to see Aston Martin moving forward. In March thisyear, the DB11 made its debut at the Geneva Motor Show as the first model in Aston Martin’s‘second century’ plan. With a 5204cc twin turbo V12 engine, 0 62mph in 3.9 seconds, and a topspeed of 200mph, this beaut of a GT is a cracking start to Aston Martin’s century no. 2, and wecan’t help but hope for more of the same. Aston Martin, you make us proud to be British.Cheers.

Aston Martin DB11

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