ASTON MARTIN IS A UNIQUE AND SPECIAL BUSINESS

[Jon39]

ASTON MARTIN IS A UNIQUE AND SPECIAL BUSINESS.
It is possibly the only commercial enterprise which has survived for 106 years, even though rarely making any profit.

The remarkable longevity is due entirely to a long line of people, all of whom had a passion for sports cars and motor racing.
On every occasion that Bamford & Martin subsequently Aston Martin, ran out of money, wealthy backers came to the rescue, enabling the story to continue.

They all presumably began with the dream that, "Aston Martin has the potential to become one of the worlds pre-eminent luxury car brands". That quote being from a 21st century rescuer. Unfortunately so far, each one eventually realised that their endeavours were not working. Collectively though, they are all our heroes. Each one passed on what they had achieved and progressively ever more exciting and beautiful sports cars were created.

---

The idea of this topic is to compile an easy reference summary, of all the people who provided financial support, or who have rescued Aston Martin.

I will need your help please. Corrections, additions, anecdotes, stories and anything connected which might be of interest.
eg. That rumour I think involving David Brown, where a friend wanted to buy a new Aston Martin at cost price.

		Finance Facilitator or Provider		Period					Background Information
		Lionel Martin's family		1913 to 1920					Lionel's mother was from a wealthy family which had founded Singleton Birch, a company which is still trading today. The Martin family money came from china clay. Martin Bros was the oldest established of the three companies brought together as English China Clay, incorporated in 1919.
		Count Louis Zborowski		1920 to 1924					Count Louis Zborowski was an extremely wealthy man and an accomplished racing driver. Drove for Aston Martin in hillclimbs and races including Brooklands and the French GP. He was killed whilst racing for the Mercedes works team at Monza in 1924.
		Dorothea, Lady Charnwood		1924 to 1925
		Bill Renwick & Bert Bertelli		1926 to 1932					Dorothea, Lady Charnwood continued as an investor.
		Lance Prideaux Brune		1932 to 1933
		Sir Arthur Sutherland		1933 to 1938
		Sir David Brown		1947 to 1972					After seeing an advertisement in The Times newspaper for a High Class Motor Business £30,000, (David Brown) David Brown and Sons Ltd purchased the Company for £20,500. It became one of the most successful eras for Aston Martin, with beautiful cars and an outright win at the Le Mans 24 hours race. However in 1972, Sir David is said to have paid the debts of about £5 million, then the Company was sold for £101. It was in February 1972 with the David Brown Corporation in financial difficulties, the other members of the board forced Brown to sell the tractor division to Tenneco International and Aston Martin Lagonda to Company Developments Ltd.
		William Wilson		1972 to 1974					The purchaser was Company Developments, a consortium chaired by William Wilson
		Peter Sprague		1975 to 1981					A group of businessmen purchased the Company from the receiver for £1.05 million.
		Victor Gauntlett & Tim Hearley		1981 to 1991
		Walter Hayes		1991 to 2007					Walter Hayes joined the Ford Motor Company as the head of Ford's UK public relations department, eventually becoming Vice-Chairman of Ford of Europe. Having always been keen to use the association of motor sport for Ford publicity, he persuaded Ford to acquire a shareholding in Aston Martin in 1987. In 1991, Ford took full control by purchasing the remaining shares. Ford paid for the development of the DB7, Vanquish, DB9 and Vantage and also the construction of a new factory at Gaydon.
		David Richards		2007 to 2012					A consortium led by David Richards, bought Aston Martin Lagonda from the Ford Motor Company for £475 million. The group included John Singers and two Kuwaiti companies, Investment Dar and Adeem Investment.

By 2012 there had been a change from the more individual entrepreneurial aspect of the past. No longer was there just a small group of individuals involved, or a single corporate owner. Investment Dar and Adeem Investment continued their support, and an Italian private equity fund, Investindustrial bought 37.5% of Aston Martin, investing £150 million as a capital increase.

Funding was now being obtained by bond issues (debt).

Edited by Jon39 on Thursday 28th March 09:10

[Jon39]

ds666 said:

I never knew about CD or the one after , what is their legacy ?

I think you may enjoy reading this, ds.
The inside story written by Mr Sprague.

https://sprague.com/aston-martin/

[Jon39]

Thank you Reg. I will incorporate your comments into the table.

On the subject of luxury, yes not quite correct, but it was me being rather cheeky using an AML entrepreneurs quotation. Overall, it seemed to be an appropriate quote for everyone on the list, and it just happened to include the word luxury. Do you know whose quote I used?

As you say, the luxury aspect probably not applicable to the earlier years, although expensive does seem to have been a theme from the very beginning.

What is the meaning of your final few words?

[Jon39]

Thank you Dean. A brilliant contribution.

Presumably the importance of Count Zborowski's financial support to Bamford & Martin, can be seen by the first of the Company failures, which followed soon after the Count's death.

The photograph (competition number 30) is of Count Zborowski driving one of the pair of 1922 Grand Prix Aston Martins, at the Shelsley Walsh hillclimb (top corner) on 29th July 1922. 3rd in the Light Car class. Note the touch of right hand steering lock. It is a left hand corner!

I think the car still exists, but (based on registration marks) I could only find a modern photo of the other car. There is a rumour though, about number plates being swapped around by B&M.

Edited by Jon39 on Thursday 5th March 10:16

[Jon39]

ds666 said:

Jon , being extremely pedantic ... that is " Bottom Ess" the second to last corner at Shelsley Walsh .

Thank you ds.
I am familiar with the course, but not the corner names.

[Jon39]

RL17 said:

Whose the Luxury quote, said that Jon?

" We believe that the Company has the brand, product, engineering excellence and potential, to become one of the worlds pre-eminent luxury car brands in the years ahead."
Lawrence Stroll, Future Executive Chairman of Aston Martin Lagonda. 5th March 2020.



Cheeky of me, but as he was saying that, I just wondered if some of the heroes on our list, might have used similar words on their first day.

I am sure we all wish every success to Mr Stroll with his new responsibility.

[Jon39]

Toffee88-V12VS said:

This is the Stroll quote from the Autosport article.

If you have not seen the speech, Toffee, which he made (with that quote) yesterday, here is the link.

https://youtu.be/JSUmJXjXLSc

Edited by Jon39 on Thursday 5th March 16:58

[Jon39]

RobDown said:

Jon - you might like this video (unfortunately not the best quality, Ebay/Amazon may have one of the original DVDs)

Its Alain de Cadenet's 'Victory by Design: Aston Martin" and what makes it special (for me) is that, not only does he go through all of the AM history up to the Group C racing car, but that he drives each of the cars (in anger). Lovely stuff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T6iib9mx0E

As you say ref quality, YouTube have thwarted me on this occasion, so have ordered a DVD.

Thank you Rob.

[Jon39]

Sinkygolf said:

I was listening to this today, quite ironically while out for my daily walk.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4qtqWkBPhUwDBiVHB...

Thank you.
An interesting listen. Perhaps it is 'sad' to have spotted a few factual errors.

If you dislike having to register, here is another link.

https://play.acast.com/s/drivenation-podcast/Buzzs...

[Jon39]

The table on page 1 of this topic, includes the name William Wilson (1972 to 1974).

I have just come across an interesting Wikipedia page.
Who would believe that Robert Maxwell had a 'walk on part', in the history of Aston Martin.
I won't be adding his name to our list of saviours though!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Willson_(b...

Edited by Jon39 on Thursday 25th June 12:32

[Jon39]

DickyC said:

Interview is too strong a word but my wife and I went to meet Gordon Sunderland and his wife at their home in Berwick for me to talk to him about his time at AM. My article for the Aston Martin Review was called Crossing the Tees and was meant to illustrate Aston Martin's endless quest for perfection with stories of I dotting and T crossing. Gordon Sunderland told me, "But we didn't, you see. We were trying to run a business, make some money." I pressed ahead with the article anyway, not least because I'd already taken a sequence of pictures of a DB2 on the Transporter Bridge crossing the Tees at Middlesbrough.

Ah, well. The best laid schemes of mice and amateur motoring journalists.

I am sure many of us would enjoy reading your article Richard. Would it possible for you to post here ?

My research into AM history has given me the understanding, that the Sutherland era was one of the more successful periods.
Popular models, improved production and good sales. After the war though, I believe the Sutherland family decided not to invest more money, which would have then been necessary to revive the business.