CAR CULTURE
The Aston Martin name dates back to 1915 with co-founders Lionel Martin, Robert Bamford and early successes at the Aston Hilton hill climb. Sir David Brown took the company over shortly after World War Two and went on to produce a series of fast and luxurious grant tourers. The climax for Aston Martin was undoubtedly winning the 1959 Le Mans 24hrs - powered b a racing version of the alloy twin cam six used in the road cars.
Named for the initials of their owner, Aston Martins starting with the DB2 set the tone through the 1950s and ‘60s. The beautiful Italian styled DB4 of 1957 morphed into the legendary DB5 introduced in 1963 - powered by the brawny 4 litre twin cam straight six.
The six cylinder engine and DBS name were both retired in 1973, replaced by the Aston Martin AM-V8. In 1978 Aston Martin released a more powerful version called the Vantage. The high performance Vantage was one of the quickest cars in the world and was manufactured until 1989.
Without doubt the most famous model of all was the DB5 that first garnered fame as the James Bond car in Goldfinger (1964) and Thunderball (1965). Several other Aston Martins have featured in Bond films over the years including the new 1969 DBS in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service released the same year, and 1987’s The Living Daylights featuring a V8 Vantage.
