Aston Martin History

The History of Aston Martin

It all started in 1913 when two cycling buddies, over a couple pints at the end of a long day on the hill climbs (ok, I'm embellishing the back story a bit here) decided to go into business together. The two men where Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. They started out selling Singer automobiles. They were both handy mechanics and Lionel was an accomplished driver. He was often seen racing at the near by Aston Hill Hillclimb races near Aston Clinton. In 1914 the two decided to start to build there own vehicles and Aston Martin was born.

The name came from the combination of "Aston" from the hillclimb races and Lionel Martin's last name. I could never find out how or why Bamford's name was not involved, I envision a nagging wife that didn't want to have the tax collector come pocking around the household finances, but I somehow think that Martin-Bamford's would have had the legacy that Aston Martin now enjoys.

As with all great endeavors there are successes and challenges. What makes Aston Martin such a great marquee is that even though the challenges always seemed to outweigh the successes the product was always notable. As such were the early years. Soon after the first Aston Martin rolled out of the garage he first world was started and the company shuttered up for the duration. Once the war was over, and with fresh cash from Count Louis Zborowski, the company started to roll out vehicles that competed in races such as the French Grand Prix and Brooklands.

The early racing successes didn't result in a beneficial partnership for the two founders and Mr. Bamford sold his interest to Mr. Martin in 1922. Money was tight and cash flow was kept positive by infusions by the Count. Unfortunately, in 1924 the Count died in a racing accident and the future of Aston Martin became uncertain. In comes John Benson, later to be named Lord Charnwood (I'm American so I have no idea what it takes to go from just John to Lord Charnwood. However, I imagine it to be quit painful). he Lord had the cash and the desire to continue Aston's reputation in the racing world. He, however, didn't care for Mr. Martin and in 1925 Lionel hit left the company.

Lord Charnwood didn't last for long. By 1926 he had sold Aston Martin Motors to Renwick & Bertelli, a recently formed engineering company, for 4000 pounds. It was at this time the company moved to Victoria Road, Feltham. These new owners where also not to last. About a year later Renwick and Bertelli broke up and had to seek outside investors to keep the concern running. By 1936 the Bertelli's had left and the largest investors, the Sutherland family, took control. Now things were to get bad - like I said, what makes Aston Martin so great is the blood and sweat it took to build it. From the beginning, Aston Martin was destined to become the world's greatest marquee. Even at the expense of it many many owners. It indeed had a soul of it's own.

During WW II Aston Martin was assigned to making tooling and spare parts for aircraft joysticks. It was during these years that in the back corners of the works one of Aston's earliest stars, Claude Hill, continued work on a sports saloon - the Atom. It was the Atom that would spring board Aston Martin back to it's intended path.

In 1946 David Brown saw a small classified ad in the London Times offering Aston Martin for sale for only 30,000 pounds. He went over to Feltham to check the place out and drive the Atom. He fell in love with Atom and bought the company for the discounted price of on 20,500 pounds from the Sutherland family. Aston Martin now had the leader it needed to become what it was meant to be. Mr. Brown's core business was tractor parts. Specifically gears and transmissions. At first he did little with Aston Martin as his attention was devoted to finishing a new gear design. However, a friend of his convinced him to buy another automotive company, Lagonda, and merge it together with Aston Martin. After some shrud positioning he acquired Lagonda for 52,500 pounds. Aston Martin Lagonda was born. Yes, now you know why this site's domain name is AML. In 1954 the company moved to its Newport Pagnell facilities.

With David Brown came the "DB" vehicles. First there was the Aston Martin 2-litre, later called the DB1, built between 1948 and 1950. In 1950 the DB2s started to roll out of the plant followed by "DB"'s up till the DBS V8 built from 1967 to 1972. For more information on each model built please see our Gallery section. Unfortunately, the company, which had always just squeaked by, could no longer go in alone. In 1972 Mr. Brown sold the company to Company Developments Ltd. Company Developments was a second string asset stripper - remember that crazy in the 80's (see Pretty Women, Other Peoples Money, and Wallstreet, for a refresher). Things did not look good. But before they could rip the company apart two American enthusiasts, Peter Sprague and George Minden, bought the company. They focused on the product. Streamlining operations and improving quality. By 1981 things had greatly improved at Aston Martin but the American's couldn't keep it going and sold the company to CH Industrial. Who then sold it to Automotive Investments in 1983. They lasted just a year before selling the company to Peter Livanos and Victor Gauntlett. Could you imagine working at this place! You would never know how the boss was. Then in 1986 Ford bought 75% of the the company and the future of Aston Martin started to look a bit more promising.

In 1993 Ford finally bought the rest of the company from Victo Gauntlett and took over complete control of the operations. Ford invested heavily into modernizing the plants and focusing on innovative designs and technologies. For a company that averaged only a few hundred examples a year started to produce hundred then thousands of autos under Ford's leadership. In 2002 the company produced 6000 DB7's. More than all of the previous "DB"s ever built.

Ford Sells Aston Martin!

On Aug 31st, 2006 Ford has announced that Aston Martin Lagonda is up for sale. Now we have been here before and sometimes we have been in much more dire straights. Since Aston Martin's humble beginnings in 1913 the company has been sold:

- 1946 Sold to David Brown
- 1972 Sold to Company Developments
- 1975 Sold to Peter Sprague and George Minden
- 1981 Sold to CH Industrial
- 1983 Sold to Automotive Investments
- 1984 Sold to Peter Livanos and Victor Gauntlett
- 1986 Ford buys 75%
- 1993 Ford buys entire company

This time it's Ford that is in dire straights. The automotive giant is struggling to navigate the new world economy with an old world pension, health care program, and union. Let alone a product line up only second to GM. It's time for Ford to streamline operations and generate some fast cash to fundamentally change their business.

The good news is that this is the first time in Aston Martin history that the company is set up to deliver consistent profits. The product line up includes the DB9, Vanquish, and the Vantage V8. Along with many specials like the upcoming DBS - which may pr may not become a production vehicle. This means that Aston Martin could be purchased and ran without the buyers taking on a company under water.

The bad news is that since Aston Martin is above water financially it may be purchased for investment reasons rather than the love of the marques. The worst case scenario in my opinion is a VW buyout, or similar company, that folds Aston Martin into it's current global supply chain. For example, is it me or is the Bentley Continental Flying Spur a VW Pheaton? (nothing against VW -my day drive is a Passat!) What we need is an owner that will fundamentally understand that Aston Martin is a brand that will only retain its status if it retains its exclusivity.

David Richards and friends buy Aston Martin for $925MM!

In early 2007 Ford sold 92% of Aston Martin to the Aston enthusiast and CEO of Prodrive, David Richards. The sale once again sees our cherished marque in British hands and being lead by true enthusiasts. Prodrive is the automotive technology and racing company behind Astons racing program. In addition to David Richards, the American John Sinders and two Kuwaiti investment firms where part of the deal -- a deal that went down just as Aston Martin started to turn a profit. The company now has 100 worldwide dealerships selling around 6500 vehicles per year. Considering that in the 1990's they were producing fewer than 50 examples per year I'd say Aston is on a roll.

1903 - two cycling buddies, Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford meet.
1913 - they go into business together s mechanics for Singer Autos
1915 - the First Aston Martin rolls out of the Garage
1915 - 1919 -World War One stops production
1922 - Mr. Lionel buys out Nr. Bamford
1924 - Mr. Lionel's cheif investor, Count Zborowski, dies
1925 - Lord Charnwood becomes a major investor
1925 - Mr. Lionel leaves the company

1926 - Lord Charnwood sells Aston Martin to Renwick and Bertelli engineering for 4000 pounds
1926ish - Company moved to Victoria Road, Feltham
1936 - Bertelli sells out the rest of his ownership to the Sutherland family
World War II - Aston Martin assigned to building aircraft parts
1946 - David Brown buys the company for 20,500 pounds
 Mr. Brown buy Lagonda
1948 - 1950 - AM 2 Litre (DB1) built
1954 - company moved to Newport Pagnell

 

 

1972 - Mr. Brown sells the company to Company Developments 1974 - the company goes into receivership and no vehicles are produced 1975 - Several financers came to the rescue - Mr. Sprague, Minden, Curtis, and Flather

1981 - the company was sold to CH Industies
1983 - company sold to Automtive Investments
1984 - company sold to Mr. Livanos and Gauntlett
1986 - Ford buys 75% of the company

1993 - Ford buys all of the company

 

Posted in: Aston Martin,History