The Aston Martin Bulldog, styled by

William Towns William Towns (1936–1993) also known as Bill Towns was a British car designer. Design career Towns began his training as a designer at Rootes in 1954, where he was mainly involved in the styling of seats and door handles. Later he was also ...

, is a British, one-off

concept vehicle A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or m ...

produced by

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with ...

in 1979. The code name for the project was DP K901. Initially, a production run of 15–25 cars was planned, but the project was deemed too costly and only one was built.

History

The Bulldog - named after a

Scottish Aviation Bulldog The Scottish Aviation Bulldog is a British two-seat side-by-side (with optional third seat) training aircraft designed by Beagle Aircraft as the B.125 Bulldog. The prototype Bulldog flew on 19 May 1969 at Shoreham Airport. The first order for ...

aeroplane flown by Aston Martin's then managing director, Alan Curtis, but nicknamed "K9", after the robotic dog from the ''Doctor Who'' TV series - was designed to show off the capabilities of Aston Martin's new engineering facility in

Newport Pagnell Newport Pagnell is a town and civil parish in the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The Office for National Statistics records Newport Pagnell as part of the Milton Keynes urban area. It is separated from the rest of the urban ...

, as well as to chase after the title of fastest production car in the world. The car was officially launched on 27 March 1980 at the Bell Hotel at

Aston Clinton Aston Clinton is a historic village and civil parish in the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. The village lies at the foot of the Chiltern Hills, between the Wendover and Aylesbury arms of the Grand Union Canal. Surrounding towns in ...

. Although the car was built in the UK, it is left-hand-drive. The Bulldog's sharp wedge shape was designed by

. The car has five centre-mounted,

hidden headlamps Hidden headlamps, also commonly known as pop-up headlamps, pop-up headlights, flip-eye headlamps, or hideaway headlights, are a form of automotive lighting and an automotive styling feature that conceals an automobile's headlamps when they are not ...

and

gull-wing doors In the automotive industry, a gull-wing door, also known as a falcon-wing door or an up-door, is a car door that is hinged at the roof rather than the side, as pioneered by Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, first as a race car in 1952 ( W194), and then a ...

. The interior is upholstered in leather with walnut trim and uses multiple LED buttons like the

Lagonda Lagonda is a British luxury car brand established in 1906, which has been owned by Aston Martin since 1947. The trade-name has not had a continuous commercial existence, being dormant several times, most recently from 1995 to 2008 and 2010 to 2 ...

. Aston Martin planned to build 15-25 Bulldogs, but in 1981

Victor Gauntlett Malcolm Victor Gauntlett (20 May 1942 – 31 March 2003) was an English petrochemical entrepreneur and car enthusiast, best known for forming the largest independent petrol retail business in the United Kingdom, and for reviving Aston Martin. B ...

became chairman of the company and decided the project would be too costly, so the Bulldog project was shelved. In 1984 Aston Martin sold the Bulldog to a middle eastern collector for £130,000. The owner added both rear view mirrors and cameras. The Bulldog later was sold to an American collector and spent some time in the United States; it was later in storage in different places. It was shown at the

Goodwood Festival of Speed The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual motorsports festival featuring modern and historic motor racing vehicles taking part in a hillclimbing, hill climb and other events, held in the grounds of Goodwood House, West Sussex, England, in l ...

in 2009, and at Aston Martin's 100th anniversary celebration at

Kensington Park Gardens Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensington Gar ...

in July 2013. Aston Martin Bulldog Kensington Palace 21-07-13

It was found in storage in the Far East, and offered for sale in Britain. It was now green, compared to original exterior colours of silver and light grey. The interior had also been changed from the original dark brown and black to light tan. In 2020 the car was purchased by an American owner, and a full restoration project managed by Victor Gauntlett's son Richard was set up. Under its new ownership, plans were unveiled in early 2021 fo
Classic Motor Cars Ltd (Bridgnorth)
to perform a nut and bolt restoration with the aim of reaching 200mph. In November 2021 the car's rebuild had been completed and the car achieved a speed of 162mph on its initial shakedown on the main runway at RNAS Yeovilton.

Performance

The Bulldog is powered by a 5.3L V8 engine with twin Garrett turbochargers that produces 600 bhp (447 kW; 608 PS)—the engine was capable of 700 bhp (522 kW; 710 PS) on the test bed—and maximum torque. When it came out, Aston Martin claimed the car was capable of 237 mph (381 km/h), but the fastest speed the car was recorded doing 191 mph (307 km/h) during a test run at the

Motor Industry Research Association An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

track in late 1979. The wedge-shaped design gave the Bulldog a

drag coefficient In fluid dynamics, the drag coefficient (commonly denoted as: c_\mathrm, c_x or c_) is a dimensionless quantity that is used to quantify the drag or resistance of an object in a fluid environment, such as air or water. It is used in the drag equ ...

of 0.34.

References

External links

Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd.
– Official Company Site

Video of Bulldog with William Towns on Wheels TV programme
{{Aston Martin Cars introduced in 1979 Automobiles with gull-wing doors

Bulldog The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.