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Until the 1987 arrival of the Ford Motor Company, Aston Martin had mostly been owned by people and companies with little previous experience of the motor industry. Even David Brown was only familiar with tractors before he guided the company through its longest one-owner period. And none of them could ever be said to have emerged financially richer for the experience.

First away was Lionel Martin, who, with Robert Bamford had competed with a Singer in speed hill-climbs just before the First World War. Although Bamford had served an engineering apprenticeship, Martin was just a sporting motorist whose family was involved in mining; but, together they ran a garage business in London 's Chelsea , a general repair garage with an agency for Singers. Rather than continue to compete with modified Singers, Martin decided that they should build their own car. It was Martin's name that was coupled to the name of one of those hill-climbs Aston Hill to produce Aston Martin.

Many parts were being made for the new car during 1914 but the engine was available before the rest of the car was completed. Basically a modified 1389cc Coventry Simplex engine with side valves, this was installed in a 1908 Isotta Fraschini to serve as a mobile test bed. However, the rest of the parts eventually arrived and the car was completed in early 1915, running a considerable mileage over the next four years as the first prototype. It was known as the Coal Scuttle, apparently due to its body shape, but it was an attractive two-seater which was to become a familiar sight on the post-war competition scene. However, the continuation of the First World War hampered any further progress on its successors until a year after hostilities had ceased. The second prototype was completed at the end of 1920 by which time Robert Bamford had lost interest in car production, and the Martins, husband and wife, took over and moved to fresh Kensington premises. The production story starts here.

WHILE the first car to be labelled as an Aston Martin had been registered for the road in 1915, it was the second car that was the true forerunner of the production cars that were to follow. Like most cars of the period it had a simple twin-channel chassis with semi-elliptic leaf springs all round, and brakes were fitted to the rear wheels only. A four-speed gearbox was used. The 1389cc engine was fitted initially but by mid-1921 this had been redesigned by the former Coventry Simplex engine designer H.V Robb, who had gone to work with the Martins. It was still a side-valve unit but the crankcase had three bearings instead of two, a gear-type oil pump replaced the previous plunger and the camshaft was driven by gears instead of by chain. Because Lionel Martin firmly believed that racing improved the breed, the engine capacity was increased to 1487cc by increasing the stroke with the new crankshaft. In this form the car achieved 72mph (116km/h) when Motor and Autocar tested it in 1921.

This should have been enough to justify the start of production but Martin's thoughts were still on competition. Robb designed a single ohc, 16-valve, 1.5-litre engine for this and it was raced in 1921with Count Zborowski driving; he failed to beat a side-valve Aston Martin in the 1921JCC 200-mile race. Zborowski brought in a twin-cam design from a Peugeot engineer but that fared little better in 1922. Although these racing specials failed to justify their expense, the side-valve engine was light and reliable; using one of these in a single seater, Aston Martin took a number of world records including 16 hours at 76mph (122km/h) in 1922.

Sanity began to prevail in 1923 when production effectively started, with the cars being built to the specification of that second prototype with the addition of front-wheel-brakes. At last the acquired expertise was to be used to earn the company some money to pay for the racing. Priced at £700-£750 according to the body design, they were very expensive for the time; as would be the continuing story for the next 70 years, quality came first, the price was a secondary consideration.

By 1924, though, Martin's resources were diminishing and he sold the assets to the Charnwood family, but it was too late and the company went into receivership for the first time in late 1925. Too much had been spent on racing and not enough on production preparation. The 50 cars sold over the period did not generate enough income to keep the company afloat. They did, however, establish the Aston Martin name as synonymous with fine sporting automobiles as much at home on the road as in competition.

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