A British icon designed by Aston Martin in the late 1970, to show off the capabilities of its new engineering facility is to be restored by Classic Motor Cars (CMC) in Bridgnorth.
The Aston Martin Bulldog, styled by William Towns, was a concept car created to prove that Aston Martin’s engineering prowess was world-class.
The company hoped that the car would be capable of over 200mph, making it the fastest production car of its time.
However, testing and development were curtailed when Victor Gauntlett became chairman in 1981, with the car tantalisingly close to its design performance, having achieved 191mph in testing at MIRA.
Now CMC (
www.classic-motor-cars.co.uk) is to carry out an 18-month ‘nut and bolt’ restoration of the famous car, after which the owner plans to run the car at over 200mph and then take it on a World tour.
CMC’s managing director, Nigel Woodward, said: “We may include modern components and technology to improve the car’s reliability, but overall we want to keep its original engineering architecture and appearance.
“At the moment, we are assuming that nothing on the car works, and I am sure that we will find all sorts of challenges as we take it apart.
“We have a huge history file on the car, and we are working with the engineers who originally built it, but there is much more we would like to know — for example, who changed the colour of the car from white and grey to green, when it was given its carburettors etc.
“If anybody has any information or period photographs of the car, we would love to hear from them.”