The Aston Martin

“The Aston Martin—A Collection of Contemporary Road Tests-1921-1942”

By Adrian M. Feather. 80 pp. 11-1/4 in x 8-1/4 in. (From specialist motoring bookshops. Recommended price: £3.50).

I have criticised previously books which are simply photolitho copies of old magazine articles, and have expressed astonishment that the original publishers do not clamp down on such plagiarism. However, although this book of reprinted Aston Martin road-test reports is just that, I have to admit that it is very nicely done, and most appealing. It is the first of an intended series taking in much Aston Martin lore, right up to the present-day. This first volume is of road-test reports, from many sources, including Motor Sport . It starts with those Autocar and Motor tests of the original Bamford-and-Martin Aston, AM 270, of which I was so glad to get reprints during the war (but now here they are, available on far better paper) and goes on to include our own Aston Martin road-test coverage and even the test I did for the long-defunct Brooklands Track & Air magazine, of a 1934 Le Mans model, as a sort of motoring writer’s unpaid apprenticeship. The pictures with this have come out surprisingly well, considering that Capt. O. V. (“Titch”) Holmes was unable to find his original prints. The Motor Sport reports cover the famous 1930 International Aston Martin, LM3, a 1932 International model, a 1933 Le Mans, a 1935 Mk. II, a 1938 2-litre Speed Model and the 1942 Atom. Tests from the weeklies cover these models and the 1932 saloon, the Ulster, the 15/98, and the C-type and there are used-car test reports of a Le Mans and a Mk. II. Some contemporary advertisements are thrown in for good measure and on the whole the standard of reproduction is good. So here is an expensive but rather nice Christmas gift for Aston-Martin and post-hyphenated Aston Martin followers.—W.B.