Aston Martin: The Entire Story (with Russell Hayes)- PART TWO

Aston Martin: The Entire Story (with Russell Hayes)- PART TWO Horsepower Heritage · Apr 22, 2026

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Brand

Aston Martin

Aston Martin is a famous British car brand. People usually associate it with sporty, stylish cars and a lot of racing and history.

Company

Steve Waddingham

They mention Steve Waddingham as the person connected to Aston Martin’s history. That matters because it affects how the story is researched and told.

Concept

Le Mans

Le Mans is a famous endurance race where cars have to keep going for a full day. Because it’s so hard, it pushes car makers to build cars that last and stay fast for a long time.

Topic

Formula One (F1) is the top tier of open-wheel racing with strict technical rules and a focus on high-speed performance. In this segment, it’s used to explain Aston Martin’s late and somewhat mismatched attempt to compete as the sport’s design trends shifted.

Concept

mid-engined

Mid-engined cars put the engine closer to the middle of the vehicle. That usually helps the car feel more balanced and easier to control when you’re cornering hard.

Car

Aston Martin DB5

The Aston Martin DB5 is a classic Aston Martin from the early 1960s. It’s widely known because it was used in James Bond movies, and it was basically meant to be a better, improved version of an earlier model.

Car

DB4

The Aston Martin DB4 is an earlier Aston Martin model. In this discussion, they’re saying the DB5 was meant to keep the good parts of the DB4 but remove the problems.

Concept

James Bond association (brand notoriety)

They’re talking about how the James Bond movies made these Aston Martins famous worldwide. The hosts also suggest the company didn’t immediately realize just how big that movie connection would become.

Concept

Overproduction leading to unsold inventory

This is the idea of making too many cars for what buyers will actually purchase. If demand drops, the company ends up stuck with cars it can’t sell.

Concept

Credit crunch

A credit crunch means loans and financing get harder to get, and people spend less. Here, it helped explain why Aston Martin couldn’t sell all the cars they had already built.

Concept

James Bond effect on car marketing

The “James Bond effect” is when a movie makes a car famous and people suddenly want it. This segment is basically saying Aston Martin benefited a lot from being associated with Bond.

Term

air conditioning

Air conditioning is the system that cools the cabin. Back then, it was often optional, so talking about it is a clue that the car was meant to be more comfortable for long drives.

Term

three-speed automatic

A three-speed automatic transmission uses three forward gear ratios to manage acceleration and cruising. Compared with modern automatics, it typically feels less flexible and can keep the engine at higher RPM, but it was common in that era for smooth, effortless driving.

Company

Borg Warner

BorgWarner (often spelled Borg Warner in older references) is an automotive supplier known for transmissions and other drivetrain components. Here it’s mentioned as the source of a three-speed automatic used as an option on the DB5.

Term

electric windows

Electric windows let you move the window glass with a button or switch instead of turning a hand crank. It’s a comfort feature that was more common on higher-end cars.

Car

Aston Martin DB6

The Aston Martin DB6 is a famous older Aston Martin grand tourer. The hosts are talking about why it lasted so long, how it was updated later, and how its shape and size changes helped it drive better and carry more people/luggage.

Concept

cam tail

A “cam tail” refers to a specific rear body shape used on some classic Aston Martins, where the roofline and rear deck flow into a more aerodynamic tail. In this segment, it’s credited with improving high-speed stability compared with earlier DB models that lacked that shape.

Car

Aston Martin DBS

The Aston Martin DBS is another classic Aston Martin model. In this part of the story, the point is that it took a while to get into production, so the DB6 helped carry the brand in the meantime.

Concept

aerodynamic research

Aerodynamic research means engineers study how air flows around a car. In this story, that work helped shape the DB6 so it would be more stable and better behaved at speed.

Concept

two-seater market challenge

They’re talking about a business problem: it’s harder to sell a strict two-seat sports car to lots of people. As buyers get older and start families, they often want more space for passengers and luggage.

Concept

Homegrown styling vs Italian styling

“Homegrown styling” here refers to Aston Martin developing its own design direction rather than relying on external Italian design influence. The discussion contrasts that with “Italian styling,” implying a shift in who shaped the brand’s look and how that affected the car’s identity.

Concept

Four-door concept adaptable to two-door

They’re describing a clever design approach: make a car wide enough that you can later cut it down from a four-door to a two-door without it looking awkward. Wider cars at the time helped the proportions stay attractive.

Concept

Car width trend (American and British cars getting wider)

They’re saying cars were getting wider around that time, and that changes how designs look and fit. Because the cars were broader, certain styling ideas worked better visually.

Term

Quad headlamp look

“Quad headlamps” means the car has four headlights. They’re saying this style was fashionable then, especially because American cars popularized it and British cars were following the trend.

Car

Chevrolet Camaro

The Chevrolet Camaro is a sporty car made by Chevrolet, usually built as a coupe (and sometimes with different body styles). People talk about it because it’s known for performance and a recognizable look. In the podcast, it’s used as an example of a similar kind of car.

Car

Jensen Interceptor

The Jensen Interceptor is a large grand touring car, meaning it’s built to travel comfortably at higher speeds. The podcast mentions it as a similar type of car to the one they’re discussing. It’s described as more luxury-focused than a small sports car.

Part

DD on rear suspension

They’re saying the car got an important rear-suspension upgrade. That change was big enough that it helped shape the car’s setup for years.

Term

V8

A V8 is an engine with eight cylinders, and it usually means more power potential. In this story, adding the V8 is what made the car much better and more relevant.

Term

Chrysler torque flight automatic transmission

They’re talking about an automatic transmission from Chrysler that was offered as an option. The host says it was very reliable, meaning it was less likely to cause trouble.

Concept

stopgap model

A stopgap model is a temporary car made to fill the time until a better plan is ready. In this case, it existed because the intended engine wasn’t available yet.

Term

quad headlamps

Quad headlamps means the car has four headlight bulbs/units instead of two. The hosts are saying some owners felt the extra pair didn’t actually help the lights work better.

Term

facelift

A facelift is when a car gets updated after it’s been on sale—usually to refresh the look. In this case, they changed the front end for better airflow and to highlight the grille design.

Company

Bosch mechanical fuel injection

Bosch mechanical fuel injection is a fuel-delivery system that meters fuel using mechanical components rather than purely electronic control. In this segment, the hosts say it was experimented with on the V8 but proved high-maintenance, implying reliability and tuning complexity.

Term

carburetors

Carburetors are an older way to mix fuel and air for the engine. In the early 1970s, some cars went back to carburetors because it was easier to get them to pass emissions rules at the time.

Concept

US emissions standards (early 1970s)

In the early 1970s, the US started requiring cars to be much cleaner. That meant automakers had to change how engines burn fuel so the cars could pass emissions tests.

Car

Aston Martin V8

Aston Martin’s V8 model was made for a very long time, from the late 1960s into the late 1980s. The idea is that it kept getting small improvements instead of being replaced immediately, and that’s part of why it became so desirable.

Concept

model run / continual improvements vs totally new model

Sometimes a company can’t afford to build a brand-new car, so it keeps the same basic design and makes smaller upgrades over time. That’s what’s being described here as Aston Martin’s approach.

Term

BBS wheels

BBS is a well-known wheel manufacturer, especially respected in performance and motorsport circles. The segment implies that fitting BBS wheels helped the Aston Martin V8 look more modern and contributed to its “modern classic” appeal.

Concept

government loans

Government loans are money the government can lend to a company to help it survive tough times. If the government says no, the company may have to cut production or shut down.

Company

British Leyland

British Leyland was a big British car company. The point is that the government had other urgent problems in the auto industry, so Aston Martin didn’t get the help it wanted.

Concept

spares and service

“Spares and service” means selling replacement parts and fixing cars. Even if a company can’t sell many new cars, it can still make money by keeping existing cars running.

Concept

receivership

Receivership is when a company gets so financially stuck that someone else takes over to handle the money and debts. When that happens, factories often shut down and workers lose their jobs while the company tries to sort things out.

Brand

Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce is another car maker that hired some of the workers who lost their jobs. The idea is that their skills were valuable to other companies too.

Concept

angel investors

Angel investors are people with money who step in to help a company when it’s running out of cash. They’re often the “lifeline” before a business can get help from banks or larger investors.

Concept

company going bust (near-bankruptcy)

“Going bust” means the company is about to run out of money and fail. For car companies, that can quickly affect everyone—dealers, suppliers, and buyers.

Company

National Semiconductor

National Semiconductor was a major electronics company. In this story, it’s mentioned because the Lagonda Wedge’s cabin electronics and futuristic control ideas relied on advanced electronic components.

Car

Lagonda Wedge

The Lagonda Wedge is a very unusual Aston Martin-era car with a sharp, wedge-like shape. It also had futuristic features for its time, including pop-up headlights and a cabin that looked more like a tech prototype than a normal car.

Term

pop-up headlights

Pop-up headlights are headlamps that retract or extend from the body to improve aerodynamics and styling. On cars like the Lagonda Wedge, they also reinforce the “futuristic” look by keeping the front profile clean when the lights are off.

Term

touch sensitive controls

Touch-sensitive controls mean you interact with the car using touch instead of turning knobs or flipping switches. The hosts are pointing out that the Lagonda Wedge’s cabin was trying to feel like a new kind of technology.

Concept

concept car → public reaction → production (trial and error)

The hosts describe a modern-ish approach to product development: show a concept car, gauge public reaction, then build a production version. They emphasize that without a manufacturing plan, it can require extensive trial-and-error to make the concept actually feasible at scale.

Car

Lagonda

Lagonda is a luxury car brand associated with Aston Martin. In the episode, the first Lagonda at a big launch event wouldn’t start, so people had to push it so it would roll for photos.

Concept

press launch / staged photo moment

The episode highlights how automotive launches are often staged for media coverage—getting the car to roll, look good, and be photographed. When a vehicle fails (like refusing to start), the team may improvise to still capture the “arrival” moment.

Term

electronics gave up

“Electronics gave up” points to a no-start failure likely caused by an electrical system problem (battery/charging, control modules, or wiring). In a launch scenario, that kind of fault is especially embarrassing because the car can’t even demonstrate basic operation.

Brand

Bentley

Bentley is referenced as part of Victor Gauntlet’s background (“Bentley boy”), which signals his social and automotive connections. While not a technical detail, it frames the kind of British luxury-car culture that influenced Aston Martin’s leadership and patronage.

Company

Zagato

Zagato is a famous Italian company that makes special, stylish versions of cars. In this episode, they’re credited with helping Aston Martin create limited cars that people wanted immediately.

Concept

limited edition cars

A limited edition car is made in small numbers on purpose. The idea is to make it feel rare and special, which can drive demand and resale interest.

Term

pre-sold

Pre-sold means people bought the cars before they were delivered or even started showing up publicly. It’s a sign the demand was already there.

Concept

pillarless effect (blacked-out pillars)

This is a styling trick where the door pillars are made less noticeable so the glass looks more continuous. It makes the car look sleeker, like the roof is floating.

Term

greenhouse

In automotive design, “greenhouse” refers to the cabin’s glass area—windshield, side glass, and rear glass—framing the occupants. The segment uses it to describe the distinctive, wraparound look created by the pillarless effect.

Company

French automotive glass manufacturer

They’re crediting a glass supplier for helping create that signature look. In other words, the “cool shape” isn’t only about body panels—it’s also about how the glass is engineered and mounted.

Company

Giuseppe Metino

Giuseppe Metino is the designer credited with the Zagato styling. In special-edition cars, the designer’s choices are a big part of what makes the car look unique.

Company

Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is the company that bought Aston Martin. That kind of ownership change can strongly influence a car brand’s future.

Company

Henry Ford II

Henry Ford II is referenced as the Ford executive who met Peter Levanos and then approved the idea to buy Aston Martin “on a lark.” In this segment, he represents the top-level decision-maker behind Ford’s entry into Aston Martin.

Company

Peter Levanos

Peter Levanos is the person who, according to the hosts, sparked the idea that led to Ford getting involved with Aston Martin. He’s portrayed as the connection between the two sides.

Company

Walter Hayes

Walter Hayes is a person they credit with helping connect Aston Martin to Ford’s leadership. The hosts say he had influence inside Ford and helped steer the relationship.

Concept

test bed

A “test bed” is basically a car used to try out new tech. If something doesn’t work perfectly, it’s not as painful because they’re not building millions of them.

Term

32-valve V8 engine

This is a V8 engine where each cylinder has four valves instead of two. More valves can help the engine breathe better, which can improve performance.

Term

emissions in all markets

They’re saying the engine was made to meet pollution rules everywhere they sold cars. That usually means tuning the engine and exhaust so it burns fuel cleaner and produces fewer harmful gases.

Concept

Ford stewardship

They’re describing how Ford ran Aston Martin after taking control. In this case, Ford didn’t micromanage right away, and they let Aston keep working on its own.

Brand

Jackie Stewart

Jackie Stewart was a famous race driver. Mentioning him is about how the brand used a well-known racing personality to help sell the car and build reputation.

Concept

shared parts (switchgear/components)

Smaller car companies sometimes use parts from other brands to save money and time. Here, they’re talking about shared dashboard switches and other interior/electrical components because making everything from scratch would be too costly.

Brand

Jaguar

Jaguar is brought up because some Aston Martin cars used shared switchgear components. The point is that these smaller companies sometimes borrowed parts from other British brands to keep costs down.

Term

Ford engine management systems

Engine management systems are the car’s computer controls for how the engine runs. They help the engine use fuel efficiently and meet emissions rules, and the hosts say Aston Martin benefited from Ford’s ready-made technology.

Concept

emission compliant

Emission compliant means the car is tuned to meet pollution rules set by the government. That usually requires the engine to run in a controlled way so it burns fuel more cleanly.

Car

the DB7

The Aston Martin DB7 was a turning point for Aston. It was designed by Ian Callum and started as a project that could have been Jaguar, but it became an Aston Martin. Later, a V12 helped it feel like a true step up.

Concept

platform engineering

Platform engineering means using the same basic “skeleton” across related cars. It helps manufacturers build faster and cheaper, while still allowing different body styles and engines.

Concept

inline six and later a V12 engine

They planned the DB7 with different engine options: first an inline-six, and later a V12. The V12 was a big deal because it helped make the car feel more like a top-tier Aston.

Car

Aston Martin Vanquish

The Aston Martin V12 Vanquish is a 2001 Ian Callum design that shows Aston stepping up its game. It’s associated with newer manufacturing methods, like bonding body panels, to improve the car’s structure and quality.

Concept

bonded panels

Bonded panels means the car’s body parts are glued together in a structural way, not just welded. It can make the body stronger and help with long-term durability.

Car

Lotus Elise

The Lotus Elise is a small sports car designed to feel quick and easy to handle. It’s known for being light and for focusing on driving rather than comfort features. The podcast brings it up as a reference for what a similar kind of car might be like, just bigger.

Concept

bonded aluminum structure

Instead of only welding metal together, this kind of car structure uses special bonding to join aluminum parts. That can help keep the car light and make it easier to build different versions.

Concept

platform that can be lengthened, shortened, widened

They’re saying Aston Martin used a “one base, many sizes” approach. The same design can be stretched or reshaped to make different cars without starting from scratch.

Concept

glued and bonded together

Instead of only using metal joints like welding, they can join parts with strong structural glue. That can help the car be lighter, but repairs may require special procedures.

Car

DB8

They’re talking about the Aston Martin DB8 as a model idea that was considered but skipped. The reason wasn’t just engineering—it was also about how people compared Aston Martins to Jaguars.

Car

Jaguar XK8

They mention the Jaguar XK8 because Jaguar was working on it around the same time. Aston Martin worried that a DB8 would be seen as too close to what Jaguar was doing.

Car

Aston Martin DB9

They say Aston Martin decided to skip the DB8 and jump ahead to the DB9. The point is that it was treated like a bigger, newer move rather than just the next small step.

Company

ProDrive

ProDrive is the racing company that helped run Aston Martin’s return to racing. Instead of Aston Martin doing everything themselves, ProDrive handled the racing program and building the cars.

Concept

customer races

Customer races are events where regular customers can buy into a racing series and race the cars. The idea is that it funds the program and spreads the racing experience without putting the road cars in danger.

Concept

privateer teams

A privateer team is basically a racing team that isn’t the car company’s own factory team. They still race cars in the event, sometimes with help or cars from the manufacturer.

Concept

luxury add-ons

“Luxury add-ons” here refers to higher-margin features or premium branding elements that can be cut when a parent company needs to reduce costs. The hosts connect it to Ford selling off brands after losing money, implying Aston Martin’s corporate backing was reshaped by financial pressure.

Concept

Ford Premier Automotive Group

This was Ford’s plan to group several luxury car brands under one organization. The idea was to manage them together, but it didn’t work out the way Ford hoped.

Company

Jack Nasser

Jack Nasser was Ford’s top executive at the time. The hosts credit him with helping Aston Martin stay supported inside Ford, even though he was criticized in the press.

Car

Aston Martin DBX

The Aston Martin DBX is the brand’s SUV, and the hosts describe its 2015 launch event in Monterey, California. The DBX is notable because it marked Aston Martin’s move into the high-volume luxury SUV segment while keeping the brand’s performance identity.

Concept

blackout reveal event

They’re describing a staged car reveal where the car is hidden until the official moment. It’s meant to make the unveiling feel dramatic and memorable.

Car

Mercury Monterey

The Mercury Monterey is a classic American car model known for being a comfortable, full-size vehicle. The podcast talks about it in connection with an event in Monterey, California. It’s mentioned as part of the car history and the excitement of that time.

Car

Aston Martin Lagonda SUV concept

Aston Martin tried an SUV idea under the Lagonda name back in 2009. The point is that it was too early—people didn’t embrace it yet, even though it looked good.

Car

Bentley Bentayga

The Bentley Bentayga is one of the SUVs that proved luxury SUV buyers were real. The hosts mention it to explain why Aston Martin’s SUV idea made more sense later.

Car

Rolls-Royce Cullinan

The Rolls-Royce Cullinan is a super-luxury SUV. It’s brought up because it helped convince people that “ultra-luxury SUV” was a thing, not a gimmick.

Brand

Mercedes G-Class

The Mercedes G-Class is a well-known, rugged SUV platform. Aston Martin is saying they could have based the DBX on that kind of existing foundation, but they chose to do their own platform instead.

Car

Mercedes-Benz Gclass

The Mercedes-Benz G-Class is a luxury SUV built to be tough and durable. It has a strong, traditional SUV structure and a very recognizable boxy shape. The podcast mentions it because it could have been used as a base for a new luxury SUV platform.

LIVE

This is Horsepower Heritage.

I'm Maurice Merrick, back again with part two of my conversation with author Russell

Hayes talking about his new book, Aston Martin, The Entire Story.

Now in part one, we covered Aston Martin's history from its founding in 1913 up to the

end of the 1950s.

So if you haven't heard that episode yet, start there.

And this time, we'll pick up on the story from the 1960s until the present day.

So without further ado, let's get right to it.

Here's part two of Aston Martin, The Entire Story with author Russell Hayes.

Enjoy.

You know, Russell, I have to say that your sense of humor and irony comes through in the

book.

It's very entertaining.

Thank you.

I kind of like to write it as if it's a story.

Well, it is a story and it's not a dry history.

You know, it's, there's a lot of color in there.

The personalities come through.

It's that kind of thing.

Thank you.

I mean, the historian Aston Martin said what he wanted.

He was a big supporter, the company historian.

This is Steve Waddingham, right?

Yeah.

And he said what, what he, people would come to him who joined the company and saying,

is there a book about Aston Martin I could read to just know what company I'm joining?

And he said, this is, this is what I wanted, you know, a car, which I, I said, right, read

that.

That's, that's the company you've just joined.

I agree.

This is the book for that.

By 1959, 1960, David Brown has spent a great deal of money on racing.

He's basically feels like they've done what they could, right?

Exactly.

He's, he's set out to what he achieved and pretty soon after, after that win at Le Mans,

he's, he disbands the racing department, although, um, there's a short lived for a

Formula One, which because of the emphasis on Le Mans comes far too late.

So they produce this series of front-engined Formula One cars when everybody's going over

to mid-engined.

So that's, that's a bit of a hopeless, hopeless effort.

Yeah.

And, and so John Weier, of course, leaves, um, goes on to other things.

And then in 1963, Aston Martin debuts a new model, the DB5, which of course is the iconic

steed of one James Bond.

Of course.

Uh, it's funny how things change, change over time because at the time, the reception

to the DB5 was quite muted because it was seen as the ultimate development of the DB4.

And John Weier called it, it's just a DB4 with all the faults taken out of it.

Uh, and at the front end had already been seen on the DB4 advantage.

So the look of the front was, was not especially new.

Um, but it was just the ultimate refinement of, of, and I think the U.S.

importer, Shul Kevalay, said to John Weier, well, this is how many improvements are there

on this car?

And John said, well, it's all about 60.

And he said, well, look, you should just give it a new name.

You could call it a, call it a DB5, stop calling it DB4, mark, mark four, it's a DB5.

So that's how it came about.

The Bond connection cemented this car in history.

Yes, it did, but it, uh, at first I think Aston Martin were quite bewildered.

It took them by surprise and they, they tried to capitalize on the rocketing demand and

got themselves in a bit of a pickle, uh, with the DB6 because they, they over produced a

lot of them in the, uh, mid 1960s.

And then there was a credit crunch and they ended up with, um, car parks for the DB6s they

couldn't sell.

So it took, it took them a while to be comfortable with the James Bond association.

Yeah.

I think without the film connection, the car would not have the notoriety it does.

I mean, I suppose that's self-evident.

Yeah.

Um, but it's an interesting point to note that there was a period in the 1970s and the

1980s to some degree where the only association was James Bond was the little corgi toy that

kept getting into production because people didn't have DVDs.

They didn't have videos, you know, every now and again on TV at Christmas, you'd get a,

you'd get a James Bond film if you were lucky.

So the association with, with Aston Martin did fade, I would say during the 1970s because

Roger Moore drove anything except to Aston Martin at that, at that time.

Right.

Those were the Lotus years.

The Lotus and, uh, whoever was paying the most money after that.

Right.

Albert Broccoli was no fool.

Oh no, he knew how to do a deal.

Right.

The producer of the films.

Um, the DB5, as you say, has more creature comforts and refinement.

I mean, air conditioning is an option.

Uh, a Borg Warner three speed automatic is an option.

Electric windows and it's the largest, it has the four liter engine.

It's the largest stretch to the Tadec Marek six cylinder.

Right.

But the model is short lived 63 to 65.

Right.

Yes.

But, um, producing in very good numbers, it was, it was a big seller.

It was the car to have even before James Bond came along, all the, most of the Beatles

had one.

That's right.

Yeah.

Uh, and then comes the DB six with a cam tail, more room.

It is the most produced Aston Martin road car of any model to date with 1751 examples.

Yeah.

And originally it wasn't intended to be so long lived.

It went to, I think 1971 in the end into a mark two form, but it helped them out because

they were so slow in getting the DBS and the DBS V8 into production.

That car really did the business for quite a long time and produced and proved very popular.

Yeah.

And it's a, it's an evolution in a lot of ways.

Of course.

I mean, the front end is not unlike the, the DB five, but that cam tail, it hit sort of

a styling sweet spot of the time.

Yeah.

And it was, it was the result of genuine aerodynamic research which came from the project cars,

which latterly had a, had a cam tail.

So it did, it did provide a degree of stability, which the DB five and the DB four had lacked

in a high speed driving and a little bit of extra luggage capacity.

I think they also stretched the DB six a little bit.

Did they not, they added a like three and a half inches in the rear to give it, give

it a better, because one of the stumbling blocks for Aston Martin commercially was it's

hard to sell a two-seater car in any number.

Yeah.

Because it's, it's, it's clear until we're getting older, more wealthy and we're having

kids.

So they wanted something which could every now and again, you could put the kids in the

back or even two, two very small adults for a short distance.

And then the next model was delayed the DBS, but the DBS is a complete break from the past.

Yes, it's the first homegrown styling exercise.

It's the first break with the Italian styling.

And the designer, William Towns had come in from the roots group where he'd been working

on Hillman's not very happily and taught himself into this dream job because he was

taken on as a seat designer because he, I think it worked for Rover as well.

So Harold Beach took him on as a seat designer and he said, well, I've also done these sketches

for cars.

Can I sketch a few of you cars?

And he was there at exactly the right time and they were open minded enough to say, yeah, okay,

go ahead.

Yeah.

And originally this was intended as a four-door Lagonda, right?

Yeah.

It was a four-door with the potential to be shortened to be a two-door.

Right.

And William Towns, this was brilliant, I thought.

He knew that if the car was wide enough, you could shorten it and it would still look attractive.

Yes.

Yeah, he did.

Yeah, that was part of it.

And also cars were getting, were American cars, weren't they?

Were getting wider and British cars were getting wider at the time.

So that four quad headlamp look was very popular.

And Towns said that he also used the Chevrolet Camaro as his inspiration.

Another car very similar would be the Jensen Interceptor,

a wide grand touring car, you know, more luxury appointments, room for four.

Yeah.

It's tough things to the same market as the DBS.

Now, you say that it was an in-house design, it's distinctive because it's got sharp edges.

It's got those quad headlamps that were in such fashion in the late 1960s and the fastback styling.

It also has a DD on rear suspension, which is a pretty important upgrade.

Yeah, that was a big investment for Aston Martin.

And that did on suspension would take them right through the 1970s.

Yeah.

And as I said, true room for four.

The V8 finally did come on as an option.

They finally, you know, got it into production.

And they also had an optional Chrysler torque flight automatic transmission, which is bulletproof.

The DBS is really kind of a stopgap model though, isn't it?

It's a stopgap model in as much as the engine it was intended for was not ready.

So they have this peculiar situation at the end of the 1960s where they've got

two cars with exactly the same engine and more or less the same configuration.

The DB6 goes into the Mark II and the DBS with the same engine carries on,

although it's kind of underpowered because it's a larger, heavier car and doesn't suffer

well in comparison to the DB6.

So that V8 is really the thing that in 1969 gives it a complete new lease of life.

And then after that, the six cylinder DBS doesn't last very much longer.

Hey guys, I want to take a quick break to say if you enjoy horsepower heritage,

there are a few ways you can support the show.

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Then in 1972, they revised the front end styling on the car and they do away with

the quad headlamps and they kind of soften those sharp edges.

And this is a proper British muscle car when the V8 finally comes out.

Yeah.

William Towns before he left set in plans for a facelift,

because the quad headlamps weren't terribly popular,

because a lot of owners reckoned that they didn't give as good illumination

from the second pair of lamps.

And also it maybe lacked a bit of character.

So the facelift was both for aerodynamic reasons and to

bring back the Aston Martin grill shape to be a bit more prominent.

Definitely.

Now they also experimented with Bosch mechanical fuel injection on the V8,

but it was problematic, wasn't it?

It was quite high maintenance.

It needed a lot of specialist tuning and at the time it was unusual.

So a lot of people didn't really know how to deal with it.

And in the end, I think Bosch supplanted it with a different type of injection and

weren't keen to supply it to Martin with a tiny number of systems that they wanted.

And also it was found that they could pass the US emissions test better

by just going back to carburetors.

Yeah, that period in the early 70s, everyone was struggling with

meeting the US emission standards.

And as you say once again, Aston Martin is ordering in small numbers.

It's a problem that plagues them their whole history.

Yeah, they don't have any buying power.

Right, but the Aston Martin V8 enjoys the longest model run yet from 1969 to 1989.

Yes, that shape has such a long life right up to the post James Bond period.

Of course, they might not have intended it to last that long, but needs must.

They couldn't afford a totally new model.

And they subtly update it over time.

It has continual improvements.

And I think by the late 1980s, its time has come right back round again.

And it looks great, slightly wide and dark.

Just BBS wheels, it becomes a modern classic.

And it becomes very desirable right at the end of its production life.

Yes, but now why isn't it called the DB7?

Well, it's because David Brown finally let Aston Martin go in 1972.

Yeah, in the end, the tractor division was making such a loss due to a change in the market

that he had to get rid of Aston Martin.

I think it was quite a shock.

I think it was losing about a million pounds a year at that point and he couldn't indulge it

to people from the Midlands.

Right, and this was a very tenuous period.

By 1974, they were bleeding cash.

They were turned down for government loans, right?

Yeah.

And once again, the government was like, well, we have more things to worry about,

like for example, British Leyland.

Exactly, exactly.

And there was there was a lot of talk of just stopping production completely

and just having spares and service because spares and service was the only part of it

that actually kept consistently making money.

At one point, didn't they in fact kind of send all the factory workers home?

They did.

The light officially went to receivership at the end of 1974 and the production line

stopped and the lights went out and they were all sent home.

Newport Pagnell must have been a very unhappy town in this period.

I mean, so many people depended on Aston Martin.

It was devastating.

A lot of them left and were recruited by Rolls-Royce who did need specialized body makers

and they never came back because they found better jobs somewhere else.

Is crew nearby to Newport Pagnell?

No, but they would have relocated.

I see.

Okay, good to know.

Sort of an infamous character pops up here.

I thought this was another interesting bit of trivia.

One of the gentlemen who boasts that he will give Aston Martin alone is Robert Maxwell.

Later to be a newspaper magnate, but tying it to current events, he is the father of

Ghislaine Maxwell who was Jeffrey Epstein's girlfriend.

This is the one and only time I will ever mention Jeffrey Epstein on this podcast,

but I just thought it was an interesting piece of trivia.

He was the prospective MP for Buckinghamshire at the time.

There was a general election going when Aston Martin was going down the pan.

He offered to put lots of money in.

He actually bought himself an Aston Martin and made sure that he was photographed with it

to be back in the company.

But of course, never actually came up with the money and didn't get elected.

However, in 1975, they get these angel investors, a consortium of businessmen,

including a gentleman called Peter Sprague who I think he was the CEO of National Semiconductor.

He's an American and George Minden who is a Toronto Hotelier, right?

Yes. So they didn't know each other at the beginning, but they both come out from specific

angles. Peter Sprague owns an old Aston Martin. He has a DB4 and is alerted to the fact that

Aston Martin is in severe trouble by a friend of his who was a distributor for Aston Martin in the

States. I called Morris Halliwell and he decides that he can't let this car company die.

So he intervenes and then he realizes he needs another partner and at the same time George Minden

actually has a franchise for Aston Martin in Toronto and he has just ordered a load of V8s

which he now can't sell because the company is just about to go bust and nobody would want to

buy them. So I think Minden gave a press conference. Peter Sprague heard of him through the press

conference and the two eventually get together and try to find some other partners to come in as a

consortium. So interesting. Just like 50 years earlier when the Charnwoods bought the company,

these guys are enthusiasts. Yeah. They're young entrepreneurs and they just don't want to see it

die. And Peter Sprague is very accomplished by this time. He's only 35 years old in 1975 but

already he had even just right after graduating from I think Yale University, he was doing business

in Iran and he established the largest cold storage facilities in Iran and then became the chief

executive officer of National Semiconductor in the middle 60s I think and National Semiconductor

will figure into this much more importantly a little bit later in the story. But the next

landmark car in Aston Martin history is the Lagonda Wedge, right? Yes. And that was just madness. It

looked like it had dropped from outer space and that was part of the genius of the management

at that time, Sprague and Minden. They were just open to anything. And William Towns had these

designs for a wedge shaped Aston Martin because there had been a dealer who'd been landed with

loads of vets he couldn't sell and had asked Towns to rebody them. That never happened but Towns

produced these designs for these wedgy shapes which he was very well into and that was very

fashionable at the time. And Sprague and Minden and Alan Curtis took a look at these designs and said,

okay, so that he produced clay models which could have been both an Aston Martin and a Lagonda,

two-door Aston Martin, Ford or Lagonda and they went with reviving the Lagonda badge.

Yeah, it is a wild car. That front end is the grille surface area is so compressed and

you know, it's got pop-up headlights and the electronics inside. This is where National

Semiconductor comes into play, right? Because the interior design is totally futuristic.

There are touch sensitive controls rather than conventional knobs or switches.

Yeah, it's like nothing has anybody ever seen before. They had to have the Old Scott Motor Show

in 1976. They had a separate cockpit where people could just play with the displays to see what they

were there because they were so extraordinary. They built 645 of the wedges from 1976 to 1990,

unbelievable that it lasted that long. Yeah, it took a long time to get into production. They

in retrospect, they did something which became commonplace for much larger manufacturers.

They put a concept car out there, saw what the public reaction was and then built it, but they

had no plan for manufacturing it. So it took a lot of trial and error to get it into production.

You tell an interesting story in the book about sort of a marketing scheme with the first car

delivered. Yes, Peter Sprague was very friendly with an English aristocrat, the Marcus of Tavistock

and would stay with them in Bedfordshire when he came over to the UK to take part in Aston Martin

meetings and things. They were great supporters of his because he'd been to university with the Marcus.

And they agreed to host the launch of the Lagonda at Woban Abbey, which was their state,

which still is their daily home. And all the press were there outside, beautiful,

beautiful spring day. And the car arrived and then refused to start. All of the electronics gave up

and it had to be pushed into shock by anybody who could help just to see it would roll down,

it would just roll down the slope in front of the journalists. And of course, they got pictures

for that. And the Duchess of Tavistock was meant to be paying for it with her AmEx card.

That was a tie with the AmEx card. I love the headline on one of the newspapers was,

it's lovely, darling, but it doesn't start. Yeah, that was a great take. And it's so typical of

the British press, right? Just kind of get that jab in there. Yeah, yeah. Well, in 1980,

another very colorful character comes into the picture, and that's Victor Gauntlet.

And he really carries Aston Martin a great distance. Yeah, he's a great figurehead,

because he's this very British. He would always be a Bentley boy, reincarnated,

and he has vintage Bentley's. So he's the epitome of a British bulldog kind of character,

and always willing to give interviews to the press. And it has a lot of money behind him,

because he made his money in petrol. He comes already owning a petroleum company,

and that gives Aston Martin the next cash injection.

Yes. And there's another money man, Peter Livanos, right? And he's from a Greek shipping dynasty.

Yes. And he also brings in a shipping family called the Papua Nicolos Brothers, as well.

And he's a young entrepreneur, loves his cars, is persuaded to go from a Ferrari to an Aston

Martin in the States, and then decides this is something he wants to buy into. And I think

he's only in his 20s at that point. But the Livanos family are another savior for Aston Martin

into the 1980s. Right. Of course, the Aston Martin V8 production continues. But in 1985,

there's another collaboration with Zagato. And I think this is a fantastic looking car,

and it's so of the era. Yeah, that was a very canny move by Victor Gauntlet,

who kind of established the idea of limited edition cars, which were only produced in very

small numbers. And the market in mid-1980s was feverish for lots of money washing around,

for anything that was exclusive, anything that was collectible. So the collaboration with Zagato

was a real money spinner, and those cars sold out. They were virtually pre-sold before they'd hit

the road. Underneath the skin, of course, it's more or less a standard Aston Martin V8, right?

They do some tuning. It's a little bit higher performance. It's with Aston Martin V8 without

the back seats. It's a short Aston Martin V8, essentially. Right. And it's got this distinctive

greenhouse, right? It has a pillarless effect, because all the pillars are sort of blacked out.

So you've got a body color roof, but it's like it's floating there.

Yeah, it was a new design by a French automotive glass manufacturer to wrap the

glass around the door pillars. Right. And the designer at Zagato is Giuseppe Metino.

Yes. The car really does make a splash. I have to say it's the quintessential 80s aesthetic.

Yes. You couldn't say it's not an actually beautiful car, but it's brutal, and it has a

lot of presence. It's a polarizing design, I'm sure. A lot of people probably don't care for it,

and probably a lot of Aston Martin traditionalists hated the car.

I think they were willing to give it a try, but they only had one press demonstrator,

and they let it out very, very selectively. So they were very good at giving favors to

the journalists who would be kind to it. Well, this brings us to 1987 and the purchase of Aston

Martin by Ford Motor Company. Yeah. That just came out of nowhere. There was no warning of that,

because Aston Martin wasn't struggling at that point, oddly enough. It was doing okay.

Yeah. It was kind of on a lark, right? I think Henry Ford II was at some event. He had met

Peter Levanos, right? Yes. I think at a classic car event.

Yeah. And they just got to talking, and Levanos kind of just put the idea in Henry Ford's head,

and he bought it on a lark. And I think also the guy called Walter Hayes,

he had a big part in it, because he had the ear of Henry Ford.

But Ford also saw that Aston could be a great development and test bed for Ford's ideas.

Yeah. Use something low volume to test out new technologies, where it doesn't particularly

matter if a couple of them fail because the owners are quite indulgent, and you're not

producing it in millions, you're producing it in hundreds. That's an ideal test bed.

Yeah. Pretty smart business strategy. And of course, by this time, Ford had already purchased

Jaguar. Yes. They were on a spending spree. They had very deep pockets at the time, and they wanted

to buy themselves prestige names. Yeah. I think you mentioned in the book by this time in the

mid-80s, Ford is posting profits of like $3 billion annually or something like that.

Yeah. They're having a very good time. There's a new 32-valve V8 engine,

and it goes into the newest model called the Verage.

Yes. That's the last Aston Martin developed engine without Ford's help, and it's the last

version of the Tadic-Maric V8. Although by the time it's finished, it's the same capacity,

but it was virtually only identical for a couple of parts. But that 32-valve engine was the first

Aston Martin engine, which was compliant with all emissions in all markets,

which was a big breakthrough for them. Yeah. That was a challenge. Now, Ford is

relatively hands-off early on in their stewardship. Yes. They were quite smart with it. They left it

alone. They left the Verage to develop. They didn't interfere too much. They tried to

leave the Verage to find its footing, and they put in place a guy from Walter Hayes who had been

PR with Ford in America and had a PR at Ford of Britain, and had also seen Ford of Britain's

racing effort through the 1960s, so a very trusted pair of hands. He was nearing retirement,

but they put him in charge of the Newport Paginal cars to provide that British link,

because he was very aware of the heritage, and he would fight for Newport Paginal survival,

producing these very now very, very, very expensive, very low-billed

gentleman's carriages. And it was important. The optics of having a Brit kind of leading

things was very important. Yeah. Yeah. That was important. Yeah. And they had people like

Jackie Stewart was a celebrity test driver at the time as well. So they had all those associations.

Now, the motoring press has, I would guess, sort of a lukewarm response to the Verage.

They're not particularly enthused. No, they're not. I don't think it's any faster than the model

that succeeds. The styling is a bit divisive, and it had a particular problem with its rear

suspension. It was just squat under hard acceleration, and I think the tires would

rub against the wheel arches. So it had a hard start. And also, it arrived just at the time

the Britain was tipping into recession. So a lot of people tried to speculate on them,

bought them at this fast and freighted fries, and then lost a lot of money immediately. So you

ended up with a lot of Verages, which their owners just wanted to get rid of, or they even wanted to

buy their way out of the contracts for the cars they'd already ordered.

And that caused a lot of difficulty. So it had a bad start.

Yeah. And another factor here is that a lot of Ford off-the-shelf components started making

their way into Aston Martins. Yeah. There was a bit of a game of how many Ford and Jaguar switches

can you spot on the dashboard. But that was always the way with any low-volume British car,

right the way through back to the 1960s, because people shared parts. It's very expensive to

develop your own switchgear. So it's quite understandable to buy in somebody's switchgear

where they've already done the development. But also, under the bonnet was quite important,

like Ford engine management systems. That was a big breakthrough, enabling them to be

emission compliant and quite efficiently run engines. That was a big deal.

Ford brings back the DB moniker in 1993 with the approval of David Brown.

Yes. And that was, I think again, Walter Hayes, who approached Sir David Brown, who was

very old by then, showed him the car. And I think David Brown himself said, well,

you can call it a DB if you like. Yeah. So I think that was a great gift. Yeah.

Yeah, definitely. There is some platform engineering in this period. The next car,

the DB7, is designed by Ian Callum and it was originally a Jaguar proposal. But I think it's

Hayes who goes to Callum and says, this would make a lovely Aston Martin.

Yeah. And both Callum and Hayes can see that Jaguar is kind of losing interest in the project

themselves. So it's not really progressing. And Walter Hayes sees an opportunity to scoop up that

car and make it into an Aston Martin. Yeah, because it's an independent project, right?

Tom Walkinshaw is involved, Tom Walkinshaw racing. It's a design proposal, but it's not an in-house

thing. So the project goes to Aston. There's some platform engineering here. They have a choice of

inline six and later a V12 engine. Again, still some Ford parts been sharing going on.

But the cars are still largely hand-built, which is important.

Yes. Yeah. The body panels are pressed elsewhere and brought in. There's quadrilateral sub-assemblies

which are brought in. I would say that the V12 engine, it was a significant investment by Ford

when Ford committed to us, sort of recommitted itself to Aston Martin.

He said, all right, we will develop your V12 engine just for you.

And that did such good business and transformed the DB7 into another league.

Right. This is really, as you say in the book, where Aston Martin gets into the big leagues,

right? Because the DB7 has the highest model production numbers in the company's history.

They built 2,473 six cylinders and 4,150 V12s. Again, tiny numbers, but relative to Aston's

past production, it's a huge win. Yes. That's truly moving to a new era.

In 2001, Ian Callum designs the V12 Vanquish. There's a lot of advanced manufacturing techniques

going into the cars now, sort of bonded panels and just a lot of advancements.

Yeah. It's been described as a very big Lotus Elise.

And a lot of ex-Lotus engineers worked on the development of the Vanquish structure,

but that bonded aluminum structure set the foundations for modern Aston's today,

a really versatile platform that can be lengthened, shortened, widened and is still lightweight

and doesn't require lots of pressings and could also be glued and bonded together.

It kind of makes me think a little bit of Morgan. You know, Morgan had to modernize,

but yet it's still a Morgan, right? Yes. On the outside, it's still a Aston Martin,

but it enables manufacturing to continue on a sustainable basis.

By the way, why did they skip the DB8?

There was a discussion about whether there should be a DB8,

but Jaguar was working on the XK8 at that time. So it was just considered too close

and people, they were very sensitive about that time, the people making comparisons

between Jaguars and Aston Martins. So they decided to skip it.

Right. I think Ulrich Bez, he was chairman by this time?

Yes, but I can't remember the exact start date from the early 2000s.

I think Ulrich Bez, the chairman at the time said, well, let's just skip it and like, what's

the big deal? We'll go to DB9 and that's exactly what they did.

And that showed that this was something truly new as well, skipping a generation.

Right. In 2005, Aston Martin returns to racing and it's not totally in-house, right? It's a

program managed by ProDrive, David Richards. Yeah, that was a very smart move. David Richards

went to Aston Martins. I know you want to get back into racing, but you can't afford to do it on

your own. And he came into a deal with them where he would run the racing team, build the cars.

Aston Martin would supply the name and they would make money from the marketing opportunities.

And also ProDrive would build a series of customer races, which he would sell and fund

the program and supply the profit. But it didn't endanger the road cars, which was the important

thing. Very smart move and Aston Martin has done quite well in racing in the last two decades.

I thought that chapter was important because it was consistently successful.

And it was a constant presence at Le Mans from 2006, I think, and still is with the

privateer teams. So again, you're talking about still a very small manufacturer,

which sticks with endurance racing and Le Mans, where other manufacturers, much bigger

manufacturers have kind of flip flopped. They've come in and out. Had Aston Martin has always been

there and has notched up quite a lot of class wins. Russell, why did Ford make the decision

to sell Aston in 2007? Well, they were losing money. Simple as that. The big parent company

was losing money big time. And so the luxury add-ons had to go. So Volvo was sold off,

Jaguar was sold off, and then eventually, Andromeda was sold off. Aston Martin always had

its cars marked. All of those marks were under the banner of the Ford Premier Automotive Group,

kind of a grand experiment. I remember that time, it seemed very chaotic in the industry when

Ford decided to sell all those brands. Yes, and it all happened within quite a short

space of time. So it was the time of a lot of biddling war and speculation going on.

If my memory serves, I think also that the Ford CEO at the time was Jack Nasser,

and he was pilloried in the press. Yes, but he was a huge ally of Aston Martin. He fought

for Aston Martin to get what it wanted, parts-wise. And he was a big ally within the larger Ford

Group to ensure that Aston Martin survived under Ford. The sale price was £479 million,

or $923 million. Those are big figures for Aston Martin. I think the first time Aston was sold

in the 20s, it was for £50,000 or something like that. Yeah, I think David Bryan paid about

$20,000 for it. There you go. Even allowing for inflation and all that, it's wildly different

figures. But I was at the launch in 2015 of the DBX, the Aston SUV. And it was very exciting.

This happened in Monterey, California, and of course, it was totally blacked out. We had

to turn our cell phones in before we went into the auditorium, and then the car was revealed,

and they did the presentation, and it was very impressive.

Yeah, and that was a landmark car for Aston Martin. It had to come, and there'd been a pioneer in a

way because they'd bought out the Lagonda SUV concept in 2009. That was quite a good-looking car,

but it was way ahead of its time, and people didn't accept it. But then the Bentley Bentayga

comes out, and the Rolls Royce Cullinan comes out, and that changes everybody's perception of

luxury SUVs, hyperluxury SUVs, and the time was right for the DBX. And they were quite astute in

building their own platform for it. They could have built it on top of the Mercedes G-Class,

because they had links with the Mercedes then, but they forged ahead and built their own platform,

which gave it a unique stance and its unique looks. Yeah, I love it. Of all of the luxury SUVs,

it's still my favorite. And of course, we have to give a little bit of credit to the Porsche Cayenne

as well for breaking the seal on the luxury SUV market. In 2016, Andy Palmer has a very exciting

idea, which is that Aston Martin has never really built a mid-engine car.

Yeah, he sees that Aston Martin needs to compete in the mid-engine arena. And it's something that

had been resisted before, because it had always been thought that Aston Martin meant front-engine

rear-drive. But he forges ahead, and then he established that liquid Red Bull, and you end

up with the prototype, I think RB1, which becomes the Valkyrie eventually. So yeah, he was quite

right to identify that as a market segment. For people unfamiliar, tell us a little bit about

Andy Palmer. He was chief executive of Nissan. A British guy, I'm sure somebody who created me

for him, ended up heading, going to Japan and heading up Nissan and had a huge amount of industrial

expertise. So a very astute piece of recruitment, somebody who had huge credibility within the

motor industry, the wider motor industry at the start, and had moved from mass manufacturing

to this small industry, but able to have vision to expand it. Andy Palmer is an interesting guy

because he's an enthusiast, but he also knows how to make money, how to sell cars, how to do model

placement in the marketplace. Yeah, how to end up with a range of models which gives you a spread

in different markets. And at that time as well, Aston Martin is well used to building special

models, these one-off limited editions of 100 special-bodied cars or 50 special-bodied cars,

which really helps profit margins, which prop up the road cars.

And the Valkyrie is really a Formula One car for the road, right? I mean,

Adrian Newey, the most successful Formula One designer in history is involved,

Christian Horner is involved, and I think it's fantastic.

Yeah, it took a long time to get going and went through a number of iterations, but

it was a complete no compromise start. It was meant to be the flagship of the

Aston Martin mid-engine era, and I think it's done that job. It's credibility as a manufacturer

who can produce an incredible mid-engine car. Aston Martin-Cosworth collaboration on the V12,

and of course, it's petrol-electric hybrid, so there is an electric motor in there as well.

That kind of brings us to the current day, and Aston Martin's financial troubles remain, right?

Oh, it's constant fodder for the press. I mean, like I said, but it's their perpetual,

it's their way of being. That's the way of being, and they are small enough to be flexible,

to adjust their sights. At one time, they said we'd make 10,000 cars a year, and now it's 5,000.

But it's quite simple, make fewer cars, but charge more for them, and make them more exclusive.

Each car carries much more profit, so you don't need to build so many of them.

Given all of your deep research and knowledge and writing on Aston Martin,

do you care to make any predictions about the future?

No, I don't actually. I don't, but that's what the excitement is. But what I will say is that

they managed to capitalise on the name very, very well. I mean, Aston Martin is applied to

a lot more things than cars. They've had this investment in real estate design for a number of

years. They produce these Aston Martin residences in Miami, which have interiors designed by Aston

Martin, and they're just about to launch one in Brazil, and they have types with whiskeys and

watches and at one point even prams. So they're used to leveraging the name,

and I think they've just licensed the name. They've just sold the name to the Formula One team

for quite a lot of money. So they make sure that the Formula One team carries the name,

but doesn't, again, affect the fortunes of the road cars.

You're a smart man not to make any predictions.

Well, Aston Martin has seemed to come back from the dead so many times. I hope it always will.

Yeah, I mean, I think if I had to make a prediction, it would be that they're

going to have money troubles. Their production will be small, but there will always be

enthusiastic customers. Yeah, they just have to keep coming up with the right

degree of exclusivity, the right models, and eventually they'll go all electric,

but they've been able to put that moment off. Right, as so many have.

Listen, Russell, I hope you have enjoyed our conversation because I certainly have,

and I learned a great deal. Like I said before, I didn't know a whole lot about Aston Martin,

and now I have just a much greater appreciation for the brand.

Good. Good. Thank you. It's a very complicated story.

It is a complicated story. In two volumes, the book is called Aston Martin, The Entire Story

by Russell Hayes from Evro Publishing in the UK. That's E-V-R-O Publishing.com,

and it's also distributed in the United States by Quarto.

That website is QuartoKnows.com. Of course, as always, links in the show notes.

If you want to pick up a copy, I highly encourage it. Russell, thank you so much.

And thank you, Morris, for having me on. It's been great to talk

Aston Martin in such depth with you.

That's all for this episode of Horsepower Heritage.

Support the show by becoming a patron. Go to buymeacoffee.com forward slash hpheritage,

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And if you enjoy the podcast, leave a five-star rating and a review wherever you're listening.

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Thanks for listening.

0:00

46:51

Homegrown styling vs Italian styling

Car width trend (American and British cars getting wider)

DD on rear suspension

model run / continual improvements vs totally new model

French automotive glass manufacturer

Giuseppe Metino

DB8

Jaguar XK8

luxury add-ons

About this episode

Original notes