Aston Martin Works welcomed more than 100 classic Astons and Lagondas to Newport Pagnell on 11 October, as part of a major event marking 70 years since the marque established its factory and service division at the Buckinghamshire site. Owners travelled from across the UK and Europe to attend, with cars representing every key model produced there from 1955 to the early 2000s.
The Works site, famous for hand-building nearly every Aston Martin road car for half a century – you can read the full story in the new issue of Vantage – became the focal point for a day of tributes to the company’s post-war heritage. Guests were treated to talks from key figures in Aston Martin’s history, including DB7 and V12 Vanquish designer Ian Callum, engineering and racing veteran Ray Mallock, and Iain Heggie, whose father Steve Heggie ran Aston Martin in the 1960s.
DB4s and DB5s lined the forecourt of the Aston Martin Works showroom outside, while V12 Vanquish and V8 models formed separate displays alongside early DB 2/4s and Lagondas. Sunnyside – the modest mock-Tudor building that once served as Aston’s global HQ – became the impromptu stage for a gathering of DB6s, fittingly in the model’s 60th anniversary year.
Aston Martin Owners Club members supported the event with a ‘relaxed concours’, judged by AMOC’s Chief Judge Michael Reed.
Visitors also had behind-the-scenes access to the Modern and Heritage Workshops, Panel and Trim Shops, and could observe live restoration work in progress. Historic tools such as body bucks and English Wheels were on display, a nod to the traditional skills that remain central to operations at the site.
Reflecting on the occasion, Aston Martin Works President Paul Spires said: ‘We wanted the 70th anniversary event to be a memorable occasion for all concerned, but I don’t think any of us envisaged it being quite such a special affair.’
He added: ‘Some of the cars present hadn’t returned to Newport Pagnell since the day they were built, many decades ago, while others are old friends of the Works. I don’t think, even back in the ’60s, there was ever a time when quite so many DB6s were parked outside Sunnyside – it was truly a sight to behold.’
