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| The Stirling Moss-Peter Collins Aston Martin DB3S in second position, at the start of the 1956 Le Mans 24-hour race. |
James Bond’s favourite carmaker was founded in a small London workshop in 1913 by the engineer Robert Bamford and the car enthusiast Lionel Martin. The name Aston Martin came a year later after their prototype successfully made it around the Aston Hill Climb track in Buckinghamshire.
Aston Martin took its place on the international motor racing stage by competing in the 1922 French Grand Prix but the business ran into financial trouble over the next few years and was rescued in 1926 by a group of investors. It developed a competitive range of sports cars with an increasing reputation for engineering and design, entering the Le Mans 24 Hours for the first time in 1928.
The Stirling Moss-Peter Collins Aston Martin DB3S in second position, at the start of the 1956 Le Mans 24-hour race.Photograph: Photographic/Rex/Shutterstock
Production of its road cars was stepped up in the 1930s, with 140 cars built in 1937 – the highest prewar figure.
The English industrialist David Brown bought the business in 1947, expanding operations and relocating production from Kensington to Feltham. Production was again moved in 1955 to Newport Pagnell.
In 1963 the Aston Martin DB5 entered production and the famous relationship with James Bond was born a year later when it was made the car of choice for 007 in the film Goldfinger, starring Sean Connery. The character of James Bond has driven an Aston Martin intermittently on film since then, featuring in several films such as GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies and Skyfall.
The luxury carmaker changed hands a number of times during the 1970s and 80s and in 1987 the Ford Motor Company took a 75% stake. The DB moniker – David Brown’s initials – was resurrected with the introduction of the DB7 in 1993, the year that Ford took full ownership of the company.
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Aston Martin opened a new headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire, in 2003, which was the first purpose-built factory in the company’s history. It returned to the racetrack in 2005 with the DBR9, a race car based on the DB9 road car.
In 2007, Aston Martin was sold again, this time to a consortium of two Kuwaiti investment houses, Investment Dar and Adeem Investment, for nearly £1bn.
Now one of the world’s biggest sports car brands, the current chief executive, Andy Palmer, has overhauled the business by revamping the product lineup and returned the business to profit after years of losses.
Aston Martin is planning to make its stock market debut in London later this year, in an initial public offering that is expected to value the company at £5bn.
