Aston Martin Celebrates 100 Years

Today marks the centenary of famous British car manufacturer Aston Martin. The iconic brand is perhaps most widely associated with James Bond, who drove a DB5 packed with gadgets, such as tyre slashers and an ejector seat. In the pages of Collectors Gazette and online, we've often mentioned the super spy's super car and you can read about the some of best DB5 collectables here. So, this time we thought we would look at some of the more traditional Aston Martin vehicles, in the form of Dinky sports cars. Below you can see a selection of different cars and liveries (thanks to Vectis for supplying the images).

But first, a little history about the company. 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. And now, onto the models:

Dinky No.110 Aston Martin DB3 Sports Car - grey body, blue interior and ridged hubs, figure driver, racing No.20

Dinky No.110 Aston Martin DB3 Sports Car - mid green, red interior, ridged hubs, white driver, racing No.22

Dinky No.104 Aston Martin DBS - pink, red interior, ridged hubs, grey driver

Dinky No.104 Aston Martin DB3 S in touring finish - light blue, with dark blue interior and mid blue ridged hubs, driver figure, rear lamps picked out in red

French Dinky No.506 Aston Martin DB3 Sport - green, racing No.17, white driver, concave steel hubs, black tyres

French Dinky No.506 Aston Martin DB3 Sports Car - green, racing number 14, white driver steering wheel, concave steel hubs

French Dinky No.506 Aston Martin DB3 Sport - mid green, with bare metal concave hubs, includes white driver and racing number 15