Aston Martin: The Entire Story

Sometimes a book deserves this slot just because it does exactly what it says on the tin - or, more accurately, the cover. That's the case with Aston Martin - The Entire Story, which is a straightforward account of one of the UK's most, er, storied car manufacturers.

- RUSSELL HAYES

There are no great revelations to be found here, just a well-written and comprehensive history that covers all the bases.

That said, the particular value of this retreading of familiar ground lies with the second of the two slipcased volumes, which spans the 1980s to the present day. The 21st Century has seen Aston Martin develop a remarkably complex model range, with new cars seemingly appearing every few months. The author does a fine job of profiling them all, including some almost-forgotten concepts.

Which of us now, for example, remembers the Lagonda SUV concept of 2009? It appeared six years before the Bentley Bentayga and nine years before the Rolls-Royce Cullinan so was well ahead of its time, but came to nothing. Ironically, later the same year Aston Martin unveiled the diametrically opposed Toyota iQ-based Cygnet, a car panned by critics then but that now has a strong collector following. Both are given their dues here. Thankfully, while the 'Bond Astons' are of course profiled, they have been relegated to an appendix at the end of this volume, where there's also a second appendix for the various Continuation models of the DB4 and DB5.

Volume One is just as in-depth and there are interesting digressions of which many Aston fans may not be aware. One such is the pre-war Aston Le Mans team car, LM6, which at the end of the 1931 racing season was experimentally fitted with a supercharger by Birkin & Couper - the only blown Aston sanctioned by the works. Then-apprentice Inman Hunter recalled that when 'Bert' Bertelli gunned it off the line, it left troubles seemed endless, and after several rear axles had had their innards torn out, not to mention the firm's bank balance, the blower was removed and left to rust in a corner of the stores'. Aston wouldn't bother with supercharging again until the DB7 of 1997.