01 Aug Aston Martin 110 not out
Those of you who watched coverage of the British F1 Grand Prix on July 9 will probably have noticed that Aston Martin celebrated its 110th anniversary at the circuit over the weekend. The company was actually founded on 15 January 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. From 1947 the company was run by tractor magnate David Brown, thereafter becoming associated with expensive grand touring cars in the 1950s and 1960s, and with author Ian Fleming’s fictional character James Bond following his use of a DB5 model in the 1964 film Goldfinger. Aston Martin sports cars are regarded as a British cultural icon and the company has held a Royal Warrant as purveyor of motor cars to King Charles III since 1982. It has over 160 car dealerships in 53 countries, making it a global automobile brand. In 2003 it received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for outstanding contribution to international trade. The company has survived seven bankruptcies throughout its history, and currently is known as Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC.
The headquarters and main production of its sports cars and grand tourers are in a facility in Gaydon, Warwickshire, England. The old facility in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, is the present home of the Aston Martin Works classic car department, which focuses on heritage sales, service, spares and restoration operations. A factory in St Athan, Wales, features three converted ‘super-hangars’ and serves as the production site of Aston Martin’s first-ever SUV, the DBX. Aston Martin plans on building electric vehicles on both its Gaydon and St Athan factories by 2025.
Aston Martin has been involved in motorsport at various points in its history, mainly in sports car racing, and also in Formula One where this year it has become one of the front-running teams.
Two of FMM’s prized possessions are a very rare 1956 DB2/4 Touring Spyder – one of only three built and having a special high-performance engine – and a special 1961 DB4 GT, both of which are currently on display in Hall D. The Spyder was featured in the April 2022 issue of the newsletter while the definitive history of the three Touring Spyders was serialised in the June, July and August issues of the newsletter, all of which can called up using the FMM website.
