The car was a 2 seater with a sporting body which it is believed carried the chassis number A1. The engine was a 1389cc 4 cylinder side value and was built for Bamford and Martin by the Coventry Simplex company.
Sadly it was last registered for the road in 1928 and has not been seen since. It is thus presumed that the car has been lost forever.
This Photograph has been kindly provided by the Aston Martin Heritage Trust
The design team and design engineers worked for six months to create the new addition to the Vision Gran Turismo stable of race cars. Clearly pushing the boundaries of what an Aston Martin could be, DP-100 not only looks beautiful but also boasts a high degree of engineering integrity. It is suggested that the car is powered by a mid-engind twin-turbo V12, with up to 800 bhp, endowing it with blistering performance; this also suggests a potential future engine for road car use.
As with the 2013 CC100 Speedster Concept, many of the design cues visible in DP-100, such as the light blade rear lamps, could also feed through into future sports cars that Aston Martin will launch in the future so the importance of this project should not be underestimated.
Although only existing in the virtual world and as a finished full sized rolling model, the DP-100 would, if real, be only the second Aston Martin to be shown with this configuration, the other example being the Bulldog, built in 1980.
Images below are copyright Aston Martin & Gran Turismo
A3 is now owned by the Aston Martin Heritage Trust (AMHT) and has from 2006 undergone a full rebuild back to 1921 specification by Ecurie Bertelli. This has included the black paint which lead to it having a pet name that would not be considered suitable in this day and age. All of the Works Cars of Bamford and Martin had pet names, something started by Lionel Martin’s wife, Kate. This tradition continues to this day as many owners still give their Aston Martins a pet name.
A3 is not a particularly, powerful car with only a 1.5 litre 11 hp four cylinder side valve engine but in 1923 was able to lap Brooklands at 84.5 mph.
Pictures of unrestored A3 were taken at the joint headquarters of the AMOC/AMHT in Oxfordshire (alongside the Trusts Ulster) and also whilst A3 was on display within the showroom at Aston Martin Works Service for the 2005 Bonhams/AML auction.
By 2006 and the AMHT have had some work done on A3 which gives a better impression how the car will look when finished. The bonnet was polished aluminium and the coachwork has been painted black.
One photograph below was taken at the 2006 Classic British Welcome at a village called Saint Saturnin just North of Le Mans town. It’s a free event held each year just before the the 24 hour race with displays of classics (2006 was Astons year) food, a bar, entertainment. Highly recommended to gently introduce you to the race weekend of the year.
As a way to partly fund the restoration, the AMHT sold a model A3, as to what it would look like once compleated.
And the final pictures show A3 as it is in 2013 on the occasion of the Aston Martin Centenary as the first car on the 100 car timeline
The Shadow Edition was available in six standard colours (Onyx Black, Stratus White, Divine Red, Sabiro Blue, Xenon Grey, and Magnetic Silver) and as an option, the roof and cantrails could be specified in gloss black instead of being body coloured.
Avaiable in both Coupe and Volante coachwork, the Shadow Edition was limited to 300 examples.
The engine fitted to Razor Blade was a spare 16 valve 1.5 litre twin cam as used in the 1922 French GP cars producing around 55 bhp. The specially made chassis was somewhat unusual as it was inswept at the rear and a narrow 3ft. track so this ‘crab looking’ car was notoriously difficult to handle. The smooth and sleek aluminium coachwork was made by the De Havilland aircraft company as B&M were an engineering company not able to make car bodies.
It was the intention of Lionel Martin to make Razor Blade the first light car to exceed 100 mph in an hour but unfortunately, an AC piped Razor Blade to the post. This did not deter Martin and the car became a successful Brooklands racer. In the hands of Major Frank Halford, a De Havilland engineer, Razor Blade achieved victory in it’s first race in August 1923 at the BARC Meeting, lapping at over 98 mph. Later in the year, Razor Blade achieved records in both the standing start mile (74.12 mph driven by Kensington-Moir) and kilometer (66.54 mph driven by Frank Halford).
There is reason to believe that the BRDC badge, that was designed by S.C.H. “Sammy” Davis, features the image of Razor Blade. S.C.H. Davis was in time, one of the Bentley Boys, motorsport editor of ‘The Autocar’, works AM driver and also a little later designed the Aston Martin wings badge.
Quite appropriate that this car which has so much Brooklands history is now on permanent display at the Brooklands Museum in the Jackson shed and although it lives in a museum, Razor Blade is still occasionally used in Vintage Motorsport. Many of the photographs on this page were taken in the run up to the Aston Martin Centenary Celebrations when the car was parked up in Perks Field with the exclusive London street of Kensington Palace Gardens in the background. Although built as race car and not displaying registration plates in my photographs, Razor Blade is actually British road registered and carries the plate XO9958.
Led by Aston Martin Chief Creative Officer, Marek Reichman, the design team worked closely with the film’s director, Sam Mendes, to create the ultimate car for the world’s most famous spy. Celebrating the great British brand’s half century with Bond, which started with the iconic DB5, the DB10 gave an accurate glimpse to the future design direction for the next generation of Aston Martins.
Dr Andy Palmer, CEO of Aston Martin, said: “In the same year that we celebrate our 50-year relationship with 007, it seems doubly fitting that today we unveiled this wonderful new sports car created especially for James Bond. To be partnering once again with EON Productions is great news for this company and for everyone around the world that loves to see Bond at the wheel of an Aston Martin. I’m incredibly proud of everyone in the team at Gaydon who have brought this special project from concept to reality.”
Production was strictly limited to 10 of the bespoke sports cars, 8 for use in the film and two fully engineered cars for promotional purposes. As you might expect for Bond film, quite a few of the 8 ended up sadly smashed or modified beyond recognition.
This example is nothing more than a rolling shell and was seen at the 2016 Aston Martin Owners Club Concours and in the factory in 2017. Another example is on public exhibition at the Bond in Motion Exhibition, Covent Garden, London.
Below are photos of a very interesting DB10, the partial car is identified as ‘Stunt 3’. It is currently on display at ‘Bond in Motion‘, an exhibition of many 007 vehicles in Covent Garden, London.
This DB10 is a fully driving stunt vehicle and was photographed at the 2016 Aston Martin Festival at Burleigh House in Lincolnshire.
There were two remaining cars not actually used in the film but retained for promotional work. This example and the final car sold by Christies at a special auction for £2.4 million in February 2016. The car was photographed before the auction in the window of Harrods in Kensington, January 2016.
No technical details were initially given for the DB10 but it is strongly believed that the car is based on the 4.7 litre V8 Vantage with unique carbon-fibre coachwork. Interestingly, the styling of there DB10 showcased the look of the new AM6 Vantage, launched late in 2017.
Spectre was released on 6 November 2015 and has become one of the most successful films of the Bond franchise so far.
The film is reported to have destroyed £25m worth of cars during shooting although it is believed that all ten DB10 cars survived.
Dr Palmer had already referred to plans during his presentation at the Walter Hayes Lecture in January 2015 to offer a broader range of Aston Martins to appeal to discerning customers other than affluent, successful middle aged men. The DBX Conceot represents such a car to attract more female owners as well as younger drivers. The idea behind concept began on only the fourth day of Dr Palmers time as CEO and was completed within only 5 months.
“Aston Martin must be less dependent on a narrow portfolio and one type of customer,” Mr Palmer said at the 2015 Geneva press conference.
Created to defy conventional thinking about the luxury GT segment, the DBX Concept has the potential to widen the appeal of the iconic British marque and reaches out to a more diverse global audience than ever before. In fact the design team had a very clear focus on creating a car to a particular woman customer, mid 30’s, style conscious, successful and wealthy, living in Silicon Valley and called ‘Charlotte’.
Unveiling the concept, Aston Martin CEO Dr Andy Palmer said: “The DBX Concept is a challenge to the existing status quo in the high luxury GT segment. It envisages a world, perhaps a world not too far away, when luxury GT travel is not only stylish and luxurious but also more practical, more family-friendly and more environmentally responsible.”
Clearly signalling an extension to the brand’s existing model lines in the future, the all-wheel drive DBX Concept seamlessly combines traditional Aston Martin beauty with elegant new engineering that gracefully aligns form and function.
Capable of accommodating four adults in comfort, the DBX Concept also majors on day-to-day practicality. It offers generous luggage capacity by virtue of the fact that its rear trunk and forward load bay can both accept passengers’ belongings.
Embracing the very latest engineering techniques and theories, the DBX Concept needs no engine compartment thanks to its use of electric, inboard-of-wheel, motors powered by lithium sulphur cells mounted low down along the spine of the chassis. It even features an array of solar panels on the rear parcel shelf to capture the suns energy to help keep the batteries topped up.
Drive-by-wire electric steering, toughened glass with an auto-dimming ‘smart glass’ inter-layer, and bespoke driver and passenger head-up displays are further examples of its cutting edge technology.
Active LED exterior lights, carbon ceramic brakes with a kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) and rear view cameras in place of conventional mirrors also underline the mould-breaking nature of this luxury GT concept.
The production DBX was not anticipated to closely follow this concept and indeed when it is seen in 2019, it was nothing like it. It had a petrol engine and it also had four doors. But the new car was called the DBX it had 4 wheel drive and it was built in Wales. Below are pictures of the repainted DBX Concept, some at the St Athan AMOC Spring Concours in 2017 shortly after the vast facility was taken over by AML. As you can see by the Hercules transport plane, the St Athan hangers are seriously big.
These early cars all had the same four cylinder 1486 cc side valve engine with what at the time would have been a heady power output of 38 bhp allowing for a top speed in the region of 77 mph.
For many years, chassis 1926 has been fitted with more sporty 2-seater coachwork and it continued to be entered in competitive events.
More recently chassis 1926 has been painstakingly restored back to the same specification as it was built back in 1923 with the attractive 3 seat layout. The first event that the car was seen was the 2013 Spring Concours at Greenwich where the car won the pre-war class. It then went on to appear as the 4th car in the 101 car timeline during the Aston Martin Centenary Celebration at Kensington Palace in July 2013. It has been recently found that ‘Cloverleaf’ is perhaps the 5th oldest Aston Martin in existence yet as all the early cars were prototypes or race cars, it is the 2nd oldest road going production Aston Martin. Price when new was only £695 plus £11 purchase tax, around £40,000 in todays money. Lionel Martin himself had a similar Cloverleaf bodied car, AM270, although it was believed scrapped in the 1930’s.
During 2014, the Cloverleaf gained even more exposure when Matt Baker took the car up Aston Hill in Buckinghamshire on the BBC TV programme, Countryfile. Interestingly this occurred exactly 90 years, almost to the day, that Cloverleaf came 2nd in the speed trial at Aston Clinton Hill.
