MODEL HISTORY

Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford first went into business together in 1913, becoming partners in a garage that was based in Kensington and sold Calthorpe, GWK and Singer cars. In 1914, Martin competed in a Singer that had been tuned by their foreman Jack Addis, and he did so well at a venue called Aston Hill in Buckinghamshire that when Bamford & Martin Ltd started to make its own cars, they would be called Aston-Martins (the hyphen subsequently being dropped).

In the years immediately following World War One, Bamford & Martin made a name for itself in motor racing with a short run of Aston Martin competition cars that included 'Bunny' - which set numerous records at Brooklands - plus a pair of twin-overhead-camshaft Grand Prix racers that were commissioned by Count Louis Zborowski. It also built the car known as A3, which is now the oldest-surviving Aston Martin.

Not until 1923 did road-car production get under way, customers being able to choose between a 38bhp long-chassis model or a 45bhp short-chassis variant. They were fitted with a 1486cc sidevalve engine, but fewer than 60 were built before the company ran into financial difficulties and was placed into receivership in 1925.

Robert Bamford had left in 1921, and Lionel Martin did likewise four years later when he fell out with board member John Benson - later Lord Charnwood. After being put up for sale by the receiver, Aston Martin was bought by William Renwick and Augustus Bertelli, who moved the company from Kensington to Feltham and started the next chapter in its occasionally turbulent history.

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