The first car: ‘Coal Scuttle’

Every January, we celebrate the anniversary of our marque’s creation – 15 January 1913 being the day that the company which would become Aston Martin Lagonda was founded as Bamford & Martin Ltd. It seems like an appropriate time to talk about our very first car which, if it had survived, would have turned 110 this year.

All the way back in 1914 our two founders, Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford, laid down plans to build a motorcar of their own design. A propriety four cylinder, side valve engine was purchased but, instantly we took it apart and improved the design, making it unique to us. More engine work continued and, unbelievably, a second engine was designed before our first car was even completed. The car, nicknamed, ‘Coal Scuttle’ would become the first motorcar to be registered as an Aston Martin in March 1915. There are no detailed records of our day-to-day corporate life from that very early period, but it is highly probable Coal Scuttle was built in the middle of 1914 and was being developed through to the following Spring.

One this is for sure; our first car certainly earned its keep. Dozens of photos were taken of Coal Scuttle during its time with the company and, by studying them, we can roughly work out the dates. The photos show the car fitted with a variety of different lamps and even horns. Things we simply take for granted on modern cars – usually by virtue of legislative requirements – were often supplied as accessories in the early period of motoring. Car horns were of the ‘bulb’ type initially, becoming more mechanical with time. Incredibly, lights were either oil- or gas-powered initially, until electric lights appeared, along with on-board batteries and associated charging systems.

From entries in logbooks and the photos we have found, we know that Coal Scuttle clocked up many miles, a lot of them travelling between London and Scotland. Indeed, its first ever competitive event was the 1919 London to Edinburgh Trial, where the car won a gold medal – our very first award. The car would also take its place on the ‘grid’ at Brooklands as part of the small team of Aston Martin cars competing in the company’s first motor races. Both Lionel Martin and his wife, Kate, were seen driving and racing Coal Scuttle, with Kate making a real statement by showing the male-dominated motoring world of the time that women could not only drive cars but race them.

The exact fate of Coal Scuttle, though, is unknown. All we know for sure is that after ten years of hard work, the car was sold off for just £50. It may well have been in a sorry state at that time, but the romantic car enthusiast in me likes to think that even if was eventually scrapped, a component or two may have been saved as a ‘trophy’ of sorts. Maybe the car’s old radiator and grille are hanging on a wall somewhere?

by Steve Waddingham