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    Aston Martin
    Aston Martin
    Aston Martin
    Ebook89 pages41 minutes

    Aston Martin

    By Richard Loveys

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    About this ebook

    Aston Martin is now more than a century old – and what a century it has been. Since its birth in London on the eve of the First World War, the company has experienced the highs of racing triumph – most famously in the 1959 Le Mans 24-hour race – and the lows of bankruptcy, yet throughout it all has been in the first rank of British marques. Published in association with the Aston Martin Heritage Trust and written by enthusiast Richard Loveys, Aston Martin is a fully illustrated history of the company that has created some of the the world's best loved and most widely respected cars, including James Bond's iconic DB5. It covers the cars themselves, the personalities and talents who have shaped Aston Martin from owners to engineers, the drivers who have shared with the company in racing glory, and the centenary celebrations of 2013.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateApr 10, 2015
    ISBN9781784420734
    Aston Martin
    Author

    Richard Loveys

    Richard Loveys has been a Member of the Aston Martin Owners Club for over forty years and has owned two Aston Martins. He was active in helping run his local AMOC Area for some ten years, and became a Trustee of the Aston Martin Heritage Trust in 2008. The first fifteen years of his career were spent in car manufacturing and distribution.

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      Book preview

      Aston Martin - Richard Loveys

      GLOSSARY

      Cars like these, exhibited at the 1935 Olympia Motor Show, were among the last ones that Aston Martin produced with its 1½ litre engine.

      IN THE BEGINNING: 1913–47

      IN 1912 L IONEL M ARTIN and Robert Bamford formed a business partnership and began selling Singer cars from premises in Henniker Place, South Kensington. Their aim was to produce a car ‘for the discerning owner driver, with fast touring in mind’.

      On 15 January 1913 Bamford and Martin Ltd (B&M) was established as ‘dealers in, manufacturers and repairers of Motor cars’; this was the company that grew into Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd. The company’s history includes tecÚnical innovation, outstanding cars, international racing success as well as financial difficulties, and, according to Simon de Burton, writing in The Aston Martin Yearbook of 2013, it has survived owing to four reasons: ‘a knack for making fabulous cars, a deal of luck, lots of respect and, above all, that thoroughbred Britishness that simply doesn’t recognise defeat’.

      Lionel Martin believed that competition improved the products and helped sales; accordingly much effort was devoted to events such as trials and hill climbs. He himself drove in most of these. The cars which left the Singer factory able to achieve some 40 mph were lapping Brooklands at 70 mph after Bamford and Martin’s improvements. Particular success was achieved with the Singers at the Aston Hill climb, in Buckinghamshire. It is now a public road, and B&M’s involvement is marked by a cairn erected in 1997. Many customers asked for their Singers to be similarly modified and as a result B&M decided to manufacture their own cars. A prototype to the company’s specification was tested in 1914 using an Isotta Fraschini chassis and a Coventry Simplex engine. In 1914 the cars were named Aston-Martins (with the hyphen) to commemorate the competition successes, and to put them high in alphabetical lists.

      Lionel Martin, one of the founders of the company.

      Bamford and Martin’s certificate of incorporation, 15 January 1913.

      The first Aston-Martin was registered in 1915; known as Coal Scuttle, it was the second car built by the company and used a revised Coventry Simplex engine. The car was employed extensively for development and competition. By this time the company was engaged in work related to the First World War.

      Coal Scuttle on the Nailsworth Ladder hill climb in the Cotswolds, driven by Lionel Martin.

      In 1919 B&M was again active in competitions using Coal Scuttle as well as continuing to sell Singers. Producing its own cars required larger premises and in early 1920 the company moved to Abingdon Road, off Kensington High Street. The second Aston-Martin was registered at the end of 1920. At about this time Robert Bamford resigned from the company; his place was taken by Mrs Kate Martin.

      The car badge used by Bamford and Martin.

      Five cars were built in 1920 and 1921, using a variety of engines and bodies, and were for development rather than for sale to customers, with only rear wheel brakes, and Sankey wheels. One of these, chassis A3, is the oldest surviving Aston Martin and now belongs to the Aston Martin Heritage Trust. In 1923 A3 became the first B&M car sold to a private owner. Another of this batch was known as Bunny and had a successful competition career including hill climbs, Brooklands races, world records and sixth place in the GP des Voiturettes at Le Mans in 1921. These five cars originally used their own 1½-litre side-valve engines. B&M followed the accepted practice of the time in swapping engines, registration numbers and bodies between cars when required. B&M continued development, testing

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