Aston Martin History

Aston Martin was founded by Robert Bamford and Lionel Martin in 1913, a year after they had created their Bamford & Martin partnership to sell Singer cars in London. The pair wanted to build their own vehicles. Martin had raced at Aston Hill, which inspired the naming of the first Aston Martin car, created by fitting a 1908 Isotta Fraschini chassis with a four cylinder Coventry Simplex engine.

Bamford and Martin created their first car in 1915, but production was stopped by the First World War. The company was restarted at the end of the war, and a new Aston Martin car was designed, but Bamford left the company in 1920. After receiving funding from Count Louis Zborowski, the company produced a number of successful race cars, which competed in the French Grand Prix and which set speed and endurance world records at Brooklands. Chassis number 1914 was later developed as the Green Pea, chassis 1915 was the Razor Blade, and chassis 1916 became the Halford Special. The company manufactured about 55 cars for sale, but was bankrupted in 1924. Lady Charnwood rescued the company, but it failed again in 1925. The factory was closed in 1926, and Martin left his company.

A group of investors, including Lady Charnwood, Augustus Bertelli and Bill Renwick, took over the company, renamed Aston Martin Motors. Bertelli and Renwick had previously created the Buzzbox car from their own engine design. Bertelli became the main designer of Aston Martin cars, including the T Type, International, Le Mans, MKII, Ulster, 15/98 and Speed Model. The main focus was on creating sporty two seater cars. Bertelli was one of the few owners and designers to actually race his own cars.

In 1932, the company fell into financial difficulties again. It was rescued by L. Prideaux Brune, who sold it on the Sir Arthur Sutherland. The company began to focus on road car production in 1936, but was stopped by the Second World War. Aston Martin was bought by David Brown Limited in 1947. Brown also purchased Lagonda. Cars manufactured during this period bore the initials DB. The Aston Martin DB4 and DB5 were particularly successful.

The company was sold and resold in 1972 and 1975. By 1977, the company was thriving and producing modern vehicles such as the V8 Vantage, Volante and Bulldog. Plans for the purchase of MG in 1980 came to nothing, and during the company again began to struggle financially as the economy struggled. New investors, including Victor Gauntlett, helped to keep the company going, notably increasing sales of the Lagonda in Qatar, Kuwait and Oman. The Tickford subsidiary was created to develop products for other automobile companies. This resulted in models such as the Tickford Ford Capri and the Tickford Austin Metro.

Aston Martin's image received a boost in 1986, when the James Bond films featured Gauntlett's own Vantage. However, the company still required more money. Ford became a shareholder of Aston Martin in 1987. In 1988, the economy was showing signs of recovery, and Aston Martin had benefited from good sales of the Volante Zagato and a limited edition of the Vantage. The old V8 was retired and the new Virage, the first new design in twenty years, was added to the range. Ford took full control of Aston Martin in 1991. The Vantage version was announced in 1992, and in 1993, the DB7 was created.

Ford invested a great deal in Aston Martin, and increased production significantly, using new methods, to a record 700 cars in 1995. The 2000th DB7 was manufactured in 1998, with the 6000th produced in 2002. The new V12 Vantage was introduced in 1999, and the V12 engine Vanquish in 2001. The AMV8 Vantage, with a V8 engine, was announced in 2003, the same year that the DB9 replaced the DB7. The DB9 Volante convertible arrived in 2004. A new division, Aston Martin Racing, was created for the company's return to racing, creating the DBR9.

A consortium headed by David Richards bought Aston Martin from Ford in 2007. A successful publicity stunt took place in the same year, to bring the brand to the attention of the Chinese market. A V8 Vantage was driven over 7500 miles, from Tokyo, Japan to Istanbul, Turkey in order to show off the car's durability. More information on the history of other car makers is available at TheOnceProject.com.