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| Aston Martin S-Type
(1927)
(First Series 1½ litre, sports 2 and 3 seaters) |
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Despite Bamford and Martin Ltd being in dire financial straits, their efforts
with their early Aston Martins were not ignored. In 1926, a new company, Aston-Martin
Motors Ltd. was formed; an association between the Charnwood family who had supported Lionel
Martin and Renwick and Bertelli Ltd. (owned by William Renwick and Augustus
Cesare Bertelli). Renwick and Bertelli had only just designed their own car
(called the Buzzbox) in order to test and perfect a 1½ 4 cylinder engine they planned
to make and sell to other motor manufacturers. By buying into Aston Martin, the marque had acquired a new high quality, powerful engine.
At this stage, I must mention that in engineering terms, there was no connection
between the Bamford and Martin cars and the Bertelli cars. Aston Martin moved to a factory
in Victoria Road in Feltham, Middlesex in late 1926 and by the 1927 Motor Show
at Olympia, a new range of cars was first shown. An adjacent bodyshop in
Victoria Road was also opened by
A.C. Bertelli's brother, Enrico (Harry) (known as E. Bertelli Ltd)
and this is where a vast majority of Aston Martins received their coachbuilt
bodies for the next ten years.
At the 1927 show, Aston Martin unveiled three completely new models, the most sporty of which was a pretty 3 seater sports model (S-type) on a shorter, lower chassis. The cars sold very slowly and Aston Martin was close to being bankrupt until a new car, the International, was shown at the 1929 Motor Show and sales began to take off. |
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This is an example of a 1929 sports model with 2 seater bodywork. The 1495cc engine in its earliest form was able to deliver about 56 bhp, sufficient to power the sports model to about 80 mph. I photographed this car at the official opening of the new AMOC/AMHT headquarters, known as 'the barn' at Drayton St Leonard, Oxfordshire. The 1.5 litre Bertelli cars have been classified by the AMOC in three separate series to aid understanding of their development. The first series cars are distinguished from later cars by their separate gearbox and worm drive rear axle. |
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