110 years of Aston Martin

A key model from each of Aston Martin’s incredible decades

Aston Martin was founded by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford 110 years ago this year, in 1913, first known as Bamford and Martin.

From humble beginnings modifying and selling Singers from small London workshops on Callow Street, Aston Martin has grown to become synonymous with Le Mans, Formula One and – most important of all – some of the most coveted sports cars of all time.

The cars pictured here demonstrate its incredible journey across more than a century, with the record-breaking 1923 Razor Blade racer pictured with the Valkyrie hypercar.

Along the way it has moved from London to Newport Pagnell to Gaydon and added St Athan, too.

Aston has also endured its fair share of trauma as it’s passed through numerous owners, ditched CEOs and struggled to stay afloat.

Here, in chronological order, we put the spotlight on one crucial Aston Martin from each decade to recount its remarkable story.

1914 Coal Scuttle 

Aston Martin says ‘it is believed’ that this car wore chassis number A1.

Known as the Coal Scuttle thanks to its resemblance to a container for holding, you guessed it, coal on every household’s hearthplace of the era, it was fitted with a 1389cc sidevalve four-cylinder engine, and built for Bamford and Martin by the Coventry Simplex company.

However, the outbreak of the First World War put an end to production, with both Martin and Bamford doing service. Following the end of hostilities, only one other example was produced.

1914 Coal Scuttle (cont.)

The first was finally road-registered in 1928 and – given it’s not been heard from since – would make arguably the ultimate barn-find classic car.

Honourable mention: Isotta Fraschini

The first-ever car called Aston Martin was actually a 1908 Isotta Fraschini chassis fitted with a four-cylinder Coventry Simplex engine.

The car shown here for illustration is an actual Tipo FENC Isotta, as sold by Bonhams.

1924 Bamford & Martin Side Valve Team Car 

Produced in the year Aston Martin went bankrupt and was subsequently scooped up by Lady Charnwood, this boat-tail three-seater was built on the chassis of an Aston racer following an accident.

Around 55 were made, and stand as the last models produced before the Aston Martin name was introduced.

The roadster was first owned by accomplished trials driver Archie Gripper, whose wife actually partnered Lionel Martin’s wife on the 1933 Rallye Monte-Carlo in a Hillman.

1924 Bamford & Martin Side Valve Team Car (cont.)

“Steering is perfection, and the balance of the whole car is so good that sharp bends can be taken at speeds impossible on average cars,” Gripper is reported to have said.

“Even now, after 7700 miles running, my car will do just under 70 at Brooklands.”

Honourable mention: LM1

Aston Martin first entered Le Mans in 1928 and produced 23 works cars through to 1936, identified by chronological chassis numbers LM1 to LM23.

All have a ladder-frame chassis, aluminium bodywork and dry-sump four-cylinder overhead-cam engines, the vast majority of which have a capacity of 1.5 litres.

1932 Aston Martin Le Mans

Replacing the slow-selling International and some £55 cheaper at £595, the Aston Martin Le Mans accounted for most of Aston Martin production between 1932 and 1934.

Key ingredients included a steel ladder chassis, aluminium bodywork and a 1.5-litre dry-sumped overhead-cam engine.

Buyers could choose from a wheelbase of either 102in or 130in, and both two- and (from 1933) four-seat derivatives were available. All were open-topped.

1932 Aston Martin Le Mans (cont.)

Renowned pre-war Aston Martin specialist Ecurie Bertelli reasons that being “bigger and more stable than contemporary MGs, Riley and Wolseleys, but smaller and more nimble than Alvis, Lagondas and Bentleys, [the Le Mans] perfected filled the medium sports-cars niche.”

Honourable mention: Atom concept

Brainchild of Gordon Sutherland, the Atom project started in 1939 and stands as one of the first-ever functional concept cars.

It featured a chassis with rectangular steel tubes of varying cross sections (depending on the forces they had to withstand), unstressed alloy body panels and a four-door, four-seat layout.

It was driven by journalists, and Sutherland apparently covered 90,000 miles ‘on war work’ between its completion in 1940 and 1947.

1948 Aston Martin DB1

Initially named the Two Litre Sports, latterly known as the DB1, this was the first post-war Aston Martin and the first produced under the ownership of David Brown.

The two-seat roadster was based on the chassis of the (driveable) Atom concept, and featured a frumpy, bulbous body by Lagonda designer Frank Feeley (David Brown had bought Lagonda’s assets in 1947) and a 2-litre four-cylinder engine.

1948 Aston Martin DB1 (cont.)

Hamstrung by purchase tax doubled for cars costing over £1000, the £1498 Two Litre Sports ended up costing £2331 (the Morris Minor launched the same year at £358).

No wonder just 15 of these super-rare Astons found homes over a two-year production run.

Honourable mention: Lagonda

Lagonda enters the Aston Martin story during the 1940s, bought by David Brown for its 2.6-litre straight-six engine – an engine designed by one WO Bentley.

1958 Aston Martin DB4

The DB4 might not have been the first Aston or even the first DB, but it set the template for the prototypical classic Aston Martin we know and love today.

Work began on ‘Project 114’ in 1952, with the chassis and front suspension the work of Harold Beach.

When Frank Feeley’s design was rejected, Aston turned to Touring of Milan, who’d previously impressed with a two-seat prototype in 1956.

1958 Aston Martin DB4 (cont.)

The result was Superleggera construction, the tubular frame doing the heavy lifting beneath lightweight aluminium bodywork styled by Federico Formenti. There was also a new 3670cc straight-six designed by Tadek Marek.

The DB4GT followed, with its wheelbase shortened by 5in to save 187lb and increase agility – it was driven to victory on its race debut in 1959 by Stirling Moss. For ultimate rarity, nothing beats a DB4GT Zagato.

Honourable mention: DBR1

Aston Martin enjoyed significant racing success throughout the 1950s, with its DB3 being the marque's first racing car to claim victory in an international sports-car race, when it won the first Goodwood Nine Hours.

But nothing could top Roy Salvadori and Carroll Shelby winning Le Mans in 1959 in the DBR1.

1963 Aston Martin DB5

If DB4 set the template, DB5 is the classic Aston, thanks to an ejector seat, rotating numberplates, and a certain secret agent in a film called Goldfinger.

The production model had somewhat fewer surprises, of course, looking virtually identical to the series five DB4 and continuing with the by-now tried-and-tested Superleggera construction method.

1963 Aston Martin DB5 (cont.)

This was also Aston’s first roadgoing model to adopt the 4-litre version of Tadek Marek’s brilliant twin-cam straight-six, and with triple SU carbs, it was good for a claimed 282bhp.

The DB5 Vantage swapped SUs for Webers and tweaked the cam profiles to get to 325bhp.

Honourable mention: DBS

The DBS continued to be based on the DB6’s steel chassis, but it was a much more Americanised design intended to take Aston into the 1970s.

A new V8 engine was supposed to match the DBS’s US-flavoured styling, but wasn’t ready in time, so the DB6’s 4-litre ‘six’ had to substitute until a DBSV8 made its debut a little later.

1972 Aston Martin AMV8

If the DBS was something of a false start because its new V8 wasn’t ready, the AMV8 was a chance to start afresh – or at least give the concept a thorough facelift.

The telltales were single headlamps and a new grille, and while the 5.3-litre V8 initially got Bosch injection, it switched to four Webers in late 1973 and got the bonnet bulge to clear them.

Spot the ultimate Oscar India versions by their blanked-off bonnet bulges and sculpted rear spoiler.

1972 Aston Martin AMV8 (cont.)

A tumultuous time for Aston Martin, it changed hands twice during this period.

First there was a sale to ‘Company Developments’ in January 1972, then another change of ownership for 1975, this time to an assorted group of international businessmen.

Honourable mention: Lagonda Series 2

The radical Williams Towns wedge showed Aston was looking to the future.

Its 5.3-litre V8 engine was familiar fare, not so the radical digital instruments inspired by Aston director Peter Sprague’s role with the National Semiconductor company in California. Only 16 were built.

1989 Aston Martin Virage

Meaning ‘corner’ or ‘bend’ in French, the Virage made its debut at the 1988 NEC motor show as the car to take Aston Martin into the 1990s.

It was also the first new car from the brand introduced under Ford ownership, though Victor Gauntlett remained at the helm until 1991.

British designers John Heffernan and Ken Greenley won a competition to pen the design, though the original notchback body and pop-up lights didn’t get beyond an initial quarter-scale model.

1989 Aston Martin Virage (cont.)

Under the rather brutish all-aluminium exterior, the Virage was based on Lagonda underpinnings and powered by the familiar 5.3-litre V8 – though Aston offered an upgrade to 6.3 litres from 1992.

Honourable mention: Vantage Zagato

Aston Martin’s long-standing, if on-off, relationship with Zagato was rekindled for the Vantage Zagato in 1986.

It took the standard Vantage, shortened the wheelbase, removed the rear seats and featured a radical glasshouse.

The bonnet bulge was functional, to clear the V8’s carb airbox – just 50 were created.

1994 Aston Martin DB7

Developed under Ford’s new ownership and championed by Walter Hayes, the DB7 promised to bring Aston Martin to a wider audience – with a little help from new stablemates Jaguar.

The DB7 was born from the bones of an ill-fated F-type project, based on XJS underpinnings and designed by Ian Callum and Keith Helfet.

The ‘DB’ initials referenced the 1950s and ’60s glory days, with the design clearly intending to evoke the DB4/5/6.

1994 Aston Martin DB7 (cont.)

The DB7 also took Aston back to a straight-six for the first time since the Tadek Marek motor that bowed out in the late 1960s with the DBS.

This time it was a Jaguar-based engine, although the 3.4-litre twin-cam unit was supercharged for Aston service.

A V12 followed later and more than 7000 DB7s were built at Bloxham.

Honourable mention: V8 Vantage Le Mans

Launched to celebrate 40 years since the DBR1 won Le Mans, the Le Mans built on the standard V8 Vantage (itself an uprated Virage) as a brutish flagship and the last of Aston’s more Americanised designs.

Both standard 550bhp and ‘Works Prepared’ 600bhp versions were offered, with production limited to just 40 units.

2006 Aston Martin V8 Vantage

Aston’s answer to the Porsche 911, the two-seat V8 Vantage was developed under (former Porsche man) Ulrich Bez.

Like the V12 Vanquish and DB9, it featured a bonded-aluminium structure but took its 4.3-litre V8 (later 4.7 litres) from Ford stablemate Jaguar, if with bespoke revisions including a dry sump.

On-point handling was assured by a front/mid-mounted engine layout and transaxle for 49:51 front/rear weight distribution, and the V8 Vantage went on to become the best-selling model in the marque’s history, with more than 20,000 coupés and roadsters sold during a 12-year production run.

2006 Aston Martin V8 Vantage (cont.)

It’s shown here as the V12 Vantage, with its distinctive louvred bonnet necessary to keep that 5.9-litre engine as cool as possible.

It is still a sensationally attractive design, whatever’s under the bonnet.

Honourable mention: V12 Vanquish

The V12 Vanquish was Aston’s spectacular flagship of the era.

Built on a carbonfibre and aluminium platform developed in collaboration with Lotus, it featured a 5.9-litre V12 engine shared with the DB7 Vantage, as well as an Ian Callum design that fused the muscle of the Virage with the classical lines of the 1960s.

2016 Aston Martin DB11

By the time the DB11 came along, Aston Martin had sliced and diced its DB9 formula so many different ways we’d all lost track.

The DB11 told us this really was a clean break, not yet another re-hash (besides, Bond had starred in the one-off DB10).

New boss Andy Palmer had taken the controls from Ulrich Bez, chief engineer Matt Becker jumped ship from Lotus (if late in development), and the DB11 launched with a familiar if new bonded-aluminium chassis and gorgeous Marek Reichman design. There was also a new 5.2-litre twin-turbocharged V12.

2016 Aston Martin DB11 (cont.)

The DB11 soon morphed into a V8, a Volante soft-top and a sharper AMR, before recently moving aside to let the DB12 step into the limelight.

Honourable mention: Cygnet

Probably the strangest Aston Martin of all time, the 2011 Cygnet project began when then-Aston CEO Ulrich Bez and Toyota boss Akio Toyoda met during the Nürburgring 24-hour race.

It takes the Toyota iQ city car as it basis, then adds a posh makeover to make it perfect for nipping about Monaco. An oddity, yes, but a future classic, no doubt.

2020 Aston Martin DBX

It might have been controversial when Porsche took the leap off road, but an Aston Martin SUV was inevitable by the time the marque got round to it in 2020.

Pretty much everything was new, not just the clean-sheet aluminium monocoque, but even the production facility, which was created for the DBX in St Athan, Wales.

Technical highlights include triple-chamber air suspension with active anti-roll control, fully variable all-wheel drive that can send up to 100% of torque to the rear axle, plus a Mercedes-sourced twin-turbo V8 good for 542bhp as standard.

2020 Aston Martin DBX (cont.)

In 2022, the DBX accounted for around half of Aston Martin’s 6214 sales, with around half of those being the most potent DBX 707 version – featuring 697bhp from a suitably upgraded twin-turbo V8.

Honourable mention: Valkyrie

Designed by Formula One genius during the Red Bull/Aston Martin F1 years, the Valkyrie had a tricky gestation, but what did we expect from a hypercar so wild.

Notably, it boasts a full carbonfibre monocoque, up to 1800kg of downforce, and a naturally aspirated and hybridised 6.5-litre V12 good for… 1140bhp.