New Bikes of Aston Martin

History
Founding

Aston Martin was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford.The two had joined forces as Bamford & Martin the previous year to sell cars made by Singer from premises in Callow Street, London where they also serviced GWK and Calthorpe vehicles. Martin raced specials at Aston Hill near Aston Clinton, and the pair decided to make their own vehicles.[9] The first car to be named Aston Martin was created by Martin by fitting a four-cylinder Coventry-Simplex engine to the chassis of a 1908 Isotta-Fraschini.

They acquired premises at Henniker Mewsin Kensington and produced their first car in March 1915. Production could not start because of the outbreak of World War I, and Martin joined the Admiralty and Bamford the Royal Army Service Corps. All machinery was sold to the Sopwith Aviation Company.

Inter war years
After the war, the company was refounded at Abingdon Road, Kensington and a new car designed to carry the Aston-Martin name. Bamford left in 1920 and the company was revitalised with funding from Count Louis Zborowski. In 1922, Bamford & Martin produced cars to compete in the French Grand Prix, which went on to set world speed and endurance records at Brooklands. Three works Team Cars with 16-valve twin cam engines were built for racing and record breaking: chassis number 1914, later developed as the Green Pea; chassis number 1915, the Razor Blade record car; and chassis number 1916, later developed as the Halford Special.

Ford era
Ford placed Aston in the Premier Automotive Group, invested in new manufacturing and ramped up production. In 1994, Ford opened a new factory at Banbury Road in Bloxham. In 1995, the company produced a record 700 vehicles. Until the Ford era, cars had been produced by hand coachbuilding craft methods, such as the English wheel. In 1998 the 2,000th DB7 was built, and in 2002 the 6,000th, exceeding production of all previous DB models. The DB7 range was boosted by the addition of V12 Vantage models in 1999, and in 2001 the company introduced the V12-engined Aston Martin Vanquish.

At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan in 2003, Aston Martin introduced the AMV8 Vantage concept car. Expected to have few changes before its introduction in 2005, the Vantage brought back the classic V8 engine to allow the company to compete in a larger market. 2003 also saw the opening of the Gaydon factory, the first purpose-built factory in Aston Martin's history. Also introduced in 2003 was the DB9 coup�, which replaced the ten-year-old DB7. A convertible version of the DB9, the DB9 Volante, was introduced at the 2004 Detroit Auto Show.

Models
Pre-war cars

• 1921–1925 Aston Martin Standard Sports
• 1927–1932 Aston Martin First Series
• 1929–1932 Aston Martin International
• 1932–1932 Aston Martin International Le Mans
• 1932–1934 Aston Martin Le Mans
• 1933–1934 Aston Martin 12/50 Standard
• 1934–1936 Aston Martin Mk II
• 1934–1936 Aston Martin Ulster
• 1936–1940 Aston Martin 2-litre Speed Models (23 built) The last 8 were fitted with C-type bodywork
• 1937–1939 Aston Martin 15/98

Other

• 1944 Aston Martin Atom (concept)
• 1961–1964 Lagonda Rapide
• 1976–1989 Aston Martin Lagonda
• 1980 Aston Martin Bulldog (concept)
• 1993 Lagonda Vignale (concept)
• 2007 Aston Martin V12 Vantage RS (concept)
• 2007–2008 Aston Martin V8 Vantage N400
• 2009 Aston Martin Lagonda SUV (concept)[42]
• 2010 Aston Martin V12 Vantage Carbon Black Edition[43]
• 2010 Aston Martin DBS Carbon Black Edition[43]
• 2013 Aston Martin Rapide Bertone Jet 2+2 (concept)

1970s—changing ownership
The Aston Martin company was often financially troubled. In 1972, the firm was sold to Company Developments, a Birmingham-based consortium chaired by William Wilson, MBE.

The company was resold in 1975 by its receiver following a further bankruptcy to North American businessmen Peter Sprague and George Minden for �1.05 million.[14] A successful turn-around strategy led to the recruitment of 360 new employees and, by 1977, a trading profit of �750,000.The new owners pushed the company into modernising its line, producing the V8 Vantage in 1977, the convertible Volante in 1978, and the one-off William Towns-styled Bulldog in 1980. Towns also styled the futuristic new Lagonda saloon, based on the V8 model.

In 1980 Aston-Martin sought to buy MG, planning to design a new model and offering their take on an updated 1981 model MGB. The acquisition never developed, as the company was badly hit by the economic contraction of the early 1980s. Worldwide sales shrank to three cars per week, prompting chairman Alan Curtis, Sprague, and Minden to consider shutting down production to concentrate on service and restoration. At this point Curtis attended the 1980 Pace sponsored Stirling Moss benefit day at Brands Hatch, and met fellow Farnham resident Victor Gauntlett.