A superb and rare photo of the Aston
Martin 1.5 Le Mans 1.5 litre
works racing car, photographed during the 1933
edition of the famous 24 hours of Le
Mans endurance race, which was ridden on June 17TH and 18TH, 1933. The photograph was taken on June
17TH, a few hours before the start of the race, in the paddock of the circuit.
The number
26 Aston Martin was prepared by Aston Martin Ltd., it was a factory
entrant. It was ridden by Mortimer
Morris-Goodall and Elsie
Wisdom. Unfortunately they were forced to retire on the 84 lap of the
race. The second Aston Martin Works car, the nr. 25 that is also visible on the photograph,
in front of the nr. 26 Aston Martin, was driven by Pat Driscoll and Clifton
Penn-Hughes, finished in a magnificent 5TH place. The chassis of the photographed
car was that of an Aston Martin 1 ½ Le
Mans, the engine was the magnificent Aston Martin 1.5 litre unit.
The 1933 24
Hours of Le Mans
was the 11TH Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 17 and 18, 1933.
The race was won by Raymond Sommer and Tazio Nuvolari with an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300MM. The second Aston
Martin Works car, driven by Pat Driscoll and Clifton Penn-Hughes, finished in a
magnificent 5TH place.
The Aston
Martin Le Mans was made by between 1932 and 1934. This wonderful car
was available as a two or four seat sports car. Aston Martin’s
single-overhead-cam engine with a Bore/Stroke of 69.3 mm x 99 mm, had first been
seen in the 1927 models, was highly efficient and now had an output of
70 brake horsepower (52 kW) at 4750 rpm from 1.5 litres, an
outstanding development by early 1930s standards. Twin Horizontal SU
carburettors were fitted. The aluminium body was mounted on a separate steel
chassis which had beam axles front and rear with semi-elliptic leaf springs.
4-Wheel drum brakes, mechanically operated at the rear, and by cable at the
front were used. During 1932 the Aston Martin International Le Mans had slowly
sold, but as the 1933 Aston Martin Le Mans model retailed considerably cheaper,
it quickly became a very sought after car. Aston Martin, encouraged by the
car’s reception, began to offer alternative wheelbase lengths: 102
inches/2591 mm or 120 inches/3048 mm and a choice of open two-seater
of four-seater bodywork. The cars were long, low, and immediately recognisable
by their unique radiator style and had great character making all the
appropriate mechanical noises that characterised Aston Martin. Aston Martin
made the cars exclusive, between 1932 and 1933, only 130 were produced. According
to the standards of the early 1930s, Aston Le Mans were speedy cars - compared
to the pace of the MG and Singer- with a top speed in the region of 85 mph (137 km/h) and
acceleration from 0-50 mph
(0-80 km/h)
in 16 seconds.
Aston
Martin
is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire.
The company name is derived from the name of one of the company's founders,
Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb near Aston Clinton in
Buckinghamshire. From 1994 until 2007 Aston Martin was part of the Ford Motor
Company, becoming part of the company's Premier Automotive Group in 2000. On 12 March 2007, it was
purchased for £479 million (US$848 million) by a joint venture company,
co-owned by Investment Dar and Adeem Investment of Kuwait and English
businessman John Sinders. Ford retained a US$77 million stake in Aston Martin,
valuing the company at US$925 million. Aston Martin was founded in 1913 by
Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. The two had joined forces as Bamford &
Martin the previous year to sell cars made by Singer from premises in Callow Street, London
where they also serviced GWK and Calthorpe vehicles. Martin raced specials at
Aston Hill near Aston Clinton, and the pair decided to make their own vehicles.
The first car to be named Aston Martin was created by Martin by fitting a
four-cylinder Coventry-Simplex engine to the chassis of a 1908
Isotta-Fraschini. They acquired premises at Henniker Place in Kensington and produced
their first car in March 1915. Production could not start because of the
outbreak of World War I, and Martin joined the Admiralty and Bamford the Royal
Army Service Corps. All machinery was sold to the Sopwith Aviation Company.
After the war the company was refunded at Abingdon Road, Kensington and a new car
designed to carry the Aston-Martin name. Bamford left in 1920 and the company
was revitalised with funding from Count Louis Zborowski. In 1922, Bamford &
Martin produced cars to compete in the French Grand Prix, and the cars set
world speed and endurance records at Brooklands. Three works Team Cars with 16
valve twin cam engines were built for racing and record breaking: chassis
number 1914, later developed as the Green Pea; chassis number 1915, the Razor
Blade record car; and chassis number 1916, later developed as the Halford
Special. Approximately 55 cars were built for sale in two configurations, long
chassis and short chassis. The company went bankrupt in 1924 and was bought by
Lady Charnwood, who put her son John Benson on the board. The company failed
again in 1925 and the factory closed in 1926, with Lionel Martin leaving. Later
that year, Bill Renwick, Augustus (Bert) Bertelli and a number of rich
investors, including Lady Charnwood, took control of the company and renamed it
Aston Martin Motors, and moved it to the former Whitehead Aircraft Limited
works in Feltham. Renwick and Bertelli had been in partnership some years and
had developed an overhead cam 4 cylinder engine, using Renwick's patented
combustion chamber design, and had tested it in an Enfield Allday chassis. It
was the only 'Renwick and Bertelli' motor car made. It was known as 'Buzzbox'
and survives to this day. They had planned to sell this engine to motor
manufacturers, but having heard that the Aston Martin car was no longer in
production they realised that they could capitalise on the reputation of the
Aston Martin name (what we would now call the brand) to give themselves a head
start in the production of a completely new car. Between the years 1926 and
1937 Bertelli was the technical director of Aston Martin, and the designer of
all subsequent Aston Martin cars during this period, these being known as the
'Bertelli cars'. They included the 1 1/2 litre 'T-type', the 'International,
the 'Le Mans,
the 'MKII' its racing derivative the 'Ulster, and the 2 litre 15/98 and its
racing derivative the 'Speed Model'. Mostly open two seater sports cars and
mostly bodied by Bert Bertelli's brother Enrico (Harry)a small number of long
chassis four seater tourers, dropheads and saloons were also produced. Bertelli
was very keen to race his cars and he was a very competent driver. One of the
very few motor manufacturers to actually sit in and race the cars he designed
and built, the competition no doubt 'improved the breed' and the 'LM' team cars
were very successful in national and international motor racing including at Le Mans and the Mille
Miglia. Financial problems reappeared in 1932 and the company was rescued by L.
Prideaux Brune who funded it for the following year before passing the company
on to Sir Arthur Sutherland. In 1936, the company decided to concentrate on road
cars. Car production had always been on a small scale and until the advent of
World War II halted work only about 700 had been made. During the war years
aircraft components were made. In 1947, David Brown Limited bought the company
under the leadership of managing director Sir David Brown—its "post-war
saviour". David Brown also acquired Lagonda that year, and both companies
shared resources and workshops. In 1955, David Brown bought the Tickford
coachbuilding company and its site at Tickford
Street in Newport Pagnell, and that was the
beginning of the classic series of cars bearing the initials "DB". In
1950, the company announced the DB2, followed by the racing DB3 in 1957 and the
Italian-styled 3.7 L DB4 in 1958. All the cars established a good racing pedigree
for the firm, but the DB4 was the key to establishing the company's reputation,
which was cemented by the famous DB5 in 1963. The company continued developing
the "grand touring" style with the DB6 (1965–70), the DBS, and the
DBS V8 (1967–72). Despite the cars' appreciation in value, the company was
often financially troubled. In 1972, it was sold to a company called Company
Developments Ltd., backed by a Birmingham-based consortium, and chaired by Chartered
Accountant and company director William Willson, (MBE). The company was resold
in 1975 to North American businessmen Peter Sprague and George Minden. The new
owners pushed the company into modernising its line, producing the V8 Vantage
in 1977, the convertible Volante in 1978, and the one-off William Towns-styled
Bulldog in 1980. Towns also styled the futuristic new Lagonda saloon, based on
the V8 model. In 1980 Aston-Martin had plans, which did not materialize, to buy
MG, which they would have utilized as a sister marque, probably building smaller
sports cars. Ideas were plotted to design a new model and they revealed to the
press their approach to an 'updated' '1981' model MGB.
As worldwide sales of Aston Martin shrank to three per
week, chairman Alan Curtis together with fellow shareholders American Peter
Sprague and Canadian George Minden,
had almost chosen to shut down the production side of the business and
concentrate on service and restoration. Curtis attended the 1980 Pace sponsored
Stirling Moss benefit day at Brands Hatch, and met fellow Farnham resident
Victor Gauntlett. Gauntlett bought a 10% stake in Aston Martin for £500,000 via
Pace Petroleum in 1980, with Tim Hearley of CH Industrials taking a similar
share. Pace and CHI took over as joint 50/50 owners at the beginning of 1981,
with Gauntlett as executive chairman. Gauntlett also led the sales team, and
after some development and a lot of publicity when it became the world’s
fastest 4-seater production car, was able to sell with success the Aston Martin
Lagonda into Persian Gulf states, particularly
Oman,
Kuwait
and Qatar.
Understanding it would take some time to develop new Aston Martin products,
they bought Tickford to develop automotive products for other companies.
Products included a Tickford Austin Metro, a Tickford Ford Capri and even
Tickford train interiors, particularly on the Jaguar XJS. Pace continued
sponsoring racing events, and now sponsored all Aston Martin Owners Club
events, taking a Tickford engined Nimrod Group C car owned by AMOC President
Viscount Downe, which came third in the Manufacturers Championship in both 1982
and 1983. It also finished seventh in the 1982 24 Hours of Le Mans race. However, sales of production
cars were now at an all time low of 30 cars produced in 1982. As trading became
tighter in the petroleum market, and Aston Martin was requiring more time and
money, Gauntlett agreed to sell Hays/Pace to the Kuwait Investment Office in
September 1983. As Aston Martin required greater investment, he also agreed to
sell his share holding to American importer and Greek shipping tycoon Peter
Livanos, who invested via his joint venture company with Nick and John
Papanicalou, ALL Inc. Gauntlett remained chairman of the AML company 55% owned
by ALL, with Tickford a 50/50 venture between ALL and CHI. The uneasy relationship
was ended when ALL exercised options to buy a larger share in AML; CHI's
residual shares were exchanged for CHI's complete ownership of Tickford, which
retained development of existing Aston Martin projects. In 1984, Titan the main
shipping company of the Papanicolaou’s was in trouble, so Livanos's father
George bought out the Papanicolaou's shares in ALL, while Gauntlett again
became a shareholder with a 25% holding in AML. The deal valued Aston
Martin/AML at £2 million, the year it built its 10,000th car. Although as a
result Aston Martin had to make 60 members of the workforce redundant,
Gauntlett bought a stake in Italian styling house Zagato, and resurrected its
collaboration with Aston Martin. In 1986, Gauntlett negotiated the return of
fictional British secret agent James Bond to Aston Martin. Cubby Broccoli had
chosen to recast the character using actor Timothy Dalton, in an attempt to
re-root the Bond-brand back to a more Sean Connery-like feel. Gauntlett
supplied his personal pre-production Vantage for use in the filming of
"The Living Daylights," and sold a Volante to Broccoli for use at his
home in America.
Gauntlett turned down the role of a KGB colonel in the film, however: "I
would have loved to have done it but really could not afford the time."
Although the company was doing well, Gauntlett knew it needed extra funds to
survive in the long term. In May 1987, Gauntlett and Prince Michael of Kent were
staying at the home of Contessa Maggi, the wife of the founder of the original
Mille Miglia, while watching the revival event. Another house guest was Walter
Hayes, vice-President of Ford of Europe. Despite problems over the previous
acquisition of AC Cars, Hayes saw the potential of the brand and the discussion
resulted in Ford taking a share holding in September 1987. In 1988, having
produced some 5,000 cars in 20 years, a revived economy and successful sales of
limited edition Vantage, and 52 Volante Zagato coupes at £86,000 each; the
company finally retired the ancient V8 and introduced the Virage range - the
first new Aston launched in 20 years. Although Gauntlett was contractually to
stay as chairman for two years, his racing interests took Aston back into
sports car racing in 1989 with limited European success. However, with engine rule
changes for the 1990 season and the launch of the new Aston Martin Volante
model, Ford provided the limited supply of Cosworth engines to the Jaguar cars
racing team. As the "small Aston" DB7 would require a large
engineering input, Ford agreed to take full control of Aston Martin, and
Gauntlett handed over the company chairmanship to Hayes in 1991. In 1992, the Vantage
version was announced, and the following year the company renewed the DB range
by announcing the DB7.
This is a very nice and very rare non period photo
that reflects a wonderful era of Aston Martin automotive history in a wonderful
way. This is your rare chance to
own this photo, therefore it is printed in a nice large format of ca.
8" x 12" (ca. 20 x 30
cm). It makes it
perfectly suitable for framing.