Aston Martin Bulldog

The Aston Martin Bulldog is a sports car of the British car manufacturer Aston Martin, which was designed by William Towns and developed by some of Aston Martin engineers to Mike Loasby and Keith Martin. The initiative for this car is due to 1976 and went from an Arab customers from which, however, before completion of the ( relatively lengthy ) withdrew development work. Aston Martin decided after some consideration for finalizing the car as a sort of publicity material at their own expense. The code - name for the project was initially DP K9, for a role in the film Doctor Who. The ultimately chosen name " Bulldog" was due to the small inhospitable corner in Aston Martins factory that built the car in which his team Keith Martin and and was internally referred to as " kennel ".

The Bulldog was - unlike any previous Aston Martin models - designed as a mid-engine vehicle. He rested on a central tube frame. The front suspension consisted of double wishbones with coil springs and stabilizer bar, rear a De Dion axle were fitted with coil springs, trailing arms and a Watt's link. Depending on the source - - 440 kW ( 598 hp ) or even 515 kW made ​​(700 PS) as the drive of the house 5.3 -liter eight- cylinder engine, the possessed, however, two exhaust turbochargers from Garrett AiResearch and thus served. A second copy of this engine was used in 1980 in a single piece of Aston Martin Lagonda.

William Towns designed for the Bulldogs with a 1092 mm very low, smooth-surfaced body with broad, far- reaching into the vehicle underbody doors. Towns renounced almost every curve; even the temporarily mounted mirrors were modeled shape. A special feature of the front end was a battery of five lights, hid behind a retractable flap in front of the front wheels. in the interior of the already known from the Lagonda concept digital instrumentation was pursued. After his presentation, the car received a monitor in the center console, which should improve rearward visibility.

The first test ride was a great success. The car reached a confirmed top speed of 307 km / h, but remained behind the works notice (322 km / h) significantly. The theoretical maximum speed is 381 km / h He was officially presented at the Bell Hotel in Aston Clinton ( Buckinghamshire ) on 27 March 1980.

After completion of the development program Aston Martin sold the only copy of the Bulldogs during the year 1982 to the highest bidder, a customer in the Middle East. The total cost for design and construction of the Bulldog to be £ 130,000 (about 192,000, - € ) estimated.

The Bulldog spent some time in the U.S., but was for sale with new green livery to Britain returned (the original paint was silver and light gray). The interior was also changed, from the original dark brown to a light reddish brown to a green contrasting cream.