Lagonda

That year he also bought the Lagonda Company, a natural stablemate. Though thoroughly British, the name reflected founder Wilbur Gunn's early life at Lagonda, Ohio.

Lagonda had started life in 1898, when Gunn produced a small engine to power his bicycle. Motor cycles followed and in 1904, tricars appeared. Like Aston Martin, it had rapidly established a name in early motorsport. In 1921, a single-seater competition car set five records and covered 79.17 miles in one hour.

The records were all lost to Aston Martin one week later. A Lagonda won the 1935 Le Mans 24 hours race and in 1938 a V12 saloon covered 101.5 miles in one hour, including a stop to change a tyre. The combined resources of Aston Martin and Lagonda under David Brown bought new dynamism - and great achievement on and off the track.