Classy, debonair and definitively British, Aston Martin is forever associated with James Bond and the beautiful DB series of cars from the 1950s and 60.
But it’s long and troubled history dates way back to 1913, when Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford teamed up to sell cars made by Singer from premises in London.
Martin raced specials at Aston Hill, and the pair decided to make their own vehicles – the first Aston Martin was made by fitting a Coventry-Simplex engine to a 1908 Isotta-Fraschini chassis.
World War One interrupted their plans, and the company was reformed afterwards thanks