How James Bond made Aston Martin an icon

It was 1959, the era of the MG and the Austin-Healey, when Ian Fleming decided that his secret agent should drive something more distinctive. His book, the seventh to feature 007, had Bond issued with one of the new DB Mark III models by MI6. When the story was filmed five years later, he was upgraded to a DB5, and the marque’s place in motoring history was assured.

These seldom-seen pictures from the archive trace the Aston-Martin story not only in the movies but also on the racetrack, where the cars first won their spurs.

The badge dates back to 1913, when the businessman Lionel Martin and engineer Robert Bamford fitted a four-cylinder Coventry-Simplex engine to the chassis of a 1908 Isotta Fraschini. But it was a commercially fragile operation and it was not until 1947, when it was bought out by a tractor manufacturer from Huddersfield named David Brown, that it entered its golden era. Brown also bought the Lagonda brand, and with their combined resources the DB series was born.

Yet although the motoring public never fell out of love with the Aston Martin – or at least with the dream of owning one – its relations with the City were more turbulent. In 1972, Brown – by then Sir David – sold the company for just £101 to a consortium of investors. Three years later, it was in receivership. Its subsequent owners included Ford and since 2013 it has been in partnership with Daimler.

But despite the appeal of present-day Vantage models, it is with the cars of the Bond era that the marque remains most associated. Three years ago, a 1956 DBR1 car once raced by Stirling Moss fetched $22.5m in California, making it the most expensive British car ever..

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