1970 ASTON MARTIN DBS

Like many sports car manufacturers, Robert Bamford and Lionel Martin manufactured a racing car on an Isotta Fraschini chassis to go racing in 1908. They took up “Aston” from the Aston Clinton Hillclimb race, and “Martin” from Lionel’s name, to set up Aston Martin in 1913. While building racing cars on different chassis, they experienced financial difficulties, like many other companies. Lionel Martin resigned and began to manufacture bicycles. In 1926, Cesare Bertelli and his partners acquired the company and changed the name to Aston Martin Motors. In 1947, the industrialist David Brown purchased the company after seeing a “Profitable business for sale” notice, and then purchased Lagonda, to bring the company to its current state.

Introduced in 1958, the DB4 was launched with its “Superleggera” (English mean “Super Light”) aluminum body panels, in a body manufactured by the Italian Carrozzeria Touring. After this date all Aston Martin models had DB (David Brown) descriptions.

Aston Martins were all hand-built. The first DBS two-seater, with left-hand drive and touring body, was displayed at the London Motor Show in 1966. With only two cars manufactured, this car was succeeded by the renowned British designer William Towns’ 2+2 model in 1967. Built on the DB6 chassis, but 4.48 inch wider and with a 1.18 inch longer wheelbase, and with the same 6-cylinder engine, the Aston Martin featured a De Dion axle for the rear suspension. The disc-type rear brakes were mounted close to the differential to reduce the suspension’s unsprung weight from 286 lbs to 176 lbs. Overall, however, the car was 293 lbs heavier than the DB6. 830 DBS cars were built, 405 of which carried a V8 engine.