IN 1913, TWO FRIENDS IN ENGLAND—LIONEL MARTIN, A RACE CAR
FANATIC AND ROBERT BAMFORD, A MECHANICAL GENIUS—BELIEVED
THEY COULD BUILD A BETTER CAR THAN ANYTHING THAT WAS OUT
THERE AND FORMED THE AUTO COMPANY BAMFORD & MARTIN. THEIR
FIRST CAR ROLLED OFF THE LINE IN MARCH OF 1915. FOR A 100 YEARS
NOW, ASTON MARTIN HAS BEEN MAKING POLISHED CARS FIT FOR
ROYALTY, RACECAR STUDS AND BESPOKE MOVIE STARS. TREATS! LIFTS
THE SLEEK HOOD OF THE “COOLEST BRAND IN THE WORLD” AND FINDS
THAT A COMPANY KNOWN FOR ITS BEAUTY ALSO HAS A HEART OF STEEL.
BY ROB HILL
POWER. BEAUTY. SOUL.
The Aston Martin Design Studio in the bucolic hamlet of Gaydon,
Warwickshire, UK, is exactly the kind of sleek automobile
laboratory you’d expect from the most stylish and technology
sophisticated car manufacturer on Earth. At first glance, however,
its rush of glass, hallowed lighting, clean, sharp edges, honeyed
woods, reflective pools and Italian-imported polished marble,
seem almost alien here, as if Steve Jobs and James Bond had left
their own private planets a century ago, partnered up, and decided
to plant their aesthetic flag in London…but missed their mark by
90 miles northwest and landed in a sedate British country parish.
The quaint village of less than 500 residents—with two pubs—
isn’t exactly where you would expect to find a