Aston Martin searching for its first car from 1914

The hunt is on! The search is on for a priceless piece of British luxury car brand Aston Martin’s earliest history.

A1 was the very first car to be built by Bamford & Martin Ltd, the company that would quickly become Aston Martin. Nicknamed ‘Coal Scuttle’ because of its simple styling that was, to many, redolent of the ubiquitous fuel container that almost every home in the nation would have possessed.

However, Aston Martin sold its earliest model for the princely sum of £50 in 1924 and, not long after that, the car disappeared entirely. Now, 110 years after its manufacture and 100 years after its sale, the Aston Martin Heritage Trust (AMHT) is launching a global hunt for this priceless missing piece of the brand’s history.

The AMHT is asking car enthusiasts around the world to check their garages, outhouses, barns and stores for any potential traces of the missing car. Trust Treasurer, Garry Taylor, said: “We are very fortunate here at the AMHT to have the oldest known Aston Martin in existence, now known as A3, but, to date, ‘Coal Scuttle’ has eluded us.”

Built in 1914, by a small team of engineers led by marque founders Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford,  this first car was aspiring to be a high-quality sporting car rivalling the likes of Bugatti. The First World War interrupted its development, although Lionel Martin was still able to formally register the car as an ‘Aston-Martin’ on March 16, 1915.

Bamford had fought in France during the war and, having survived both the conflict and the Spanish Flu pandemic, he opted to leave the business to concentrate on a quieter life, passing on his shareholding to Kate Martin, wife of his former business partner Lionel.

As Bamford & Martin Ltd regrouped in 1919 it entered its lone car, ‘Coal Scuttle’, in the first available UK sporting event, the London to Edinburgh Trial. This was a true test of machinery, driving all the way on rough roads and tracks with all manner of pitfalls possible. Thankfully the car completed the event in good time, earning a Gold Medal in the process.

Anyone who does feel they can shed more light on the whereabouts, or fate, of ‘Coal Scuttle’ is asked to contact that AMHT via its website: https://amht.org.uk/contact/