What happened to Aston's 70s Supercar? The Aston Martin Bulldog Story.
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 มิ.ย. 2024
- The Bulldog was a science-fiction supercar not penned by Bertone or indeed any Italian design house. And it didn’t come from an Italian car manufacturer. This was Britain’s, and specifically Aston Martin’s answer to Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini’s increasingly wild 1970s supercars. And it had supercar speed, with a reputed top speed over 200mph (321km/h) from a 600hp (447kW) engine. So what happened to this amazing car, and when can we expect a new supercar from Aston?
The Bulldog is being restored - check it out! www.classic-motor-cars.co.uk/...
Many thanks to astonmartins.com for the Bulldog photos. Check it out here: astonmartins.com/car/bulldog/
Intro music: "Lands Unknown" from the TH-cam library.
Contents:
0:00 Intro
0:56 Development
6:17 Launch
7:16 The Bulldog today
8:09 Other Aston Martin Supercars
10:16 Adrian Newey story
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The Bulldog has since been restored. Here's it up close and in action: th-cam.com/video/T6e9rqJ8lLQ/w-d-xo.html
Elon Musk “remember that old Aston from the 70s? Yeah add about 24 inches on top and call it a truck. They’ll love it I promise” 😂
It probably really happened that way
He looked at this and the DeLorian and got the idea to make something much more ugly. The result was the Cybertruck
the bulldog? yep, not far wrong.
Thinking the same thing Tesla truck Aston Martin on steroids!
@@Oystein87 I wouldn´t call the DeLorian ugly, just poorly built.
Cyber truck doesn’t look so futuristic now
BillyNoMates1974 cyber truck’s a piece of sh!t :)
Cyber Truck is basically a Brubaker Box with Aston Martin Bulldog wedge design
The bulldog looks nicer than the cybertruck
That car is too ugly to keep watching this video.
I think the Cybertruck is something that will age horribly, and everyone that buys one will lose a ton of money in depreciation. It has a whiff of the Sinclair C5 about it, the press shows huge interest, but eventually the manufacturer has to give enormous discounts to shift the remaining stock.
In fact, as soon as all the major car makers get up to speed and make better cheaper electric vehicles, Tesla will be put out of business.
8 year old boys have been drawing cars that looked like this for decades. Myself included when I was that age.
True
Yes same here! I was into engineering technical drawing, had my own drawing board, with the sliding straight edge, had the 90, 60 and 30 degree set squares, so all my car designs in the mid 1970s that I used to draw, looked liked this, wedged, all straight edges, the only curves were the wheels and arches drawn with a compass. I guess my early inspiration were the super cars of the day, such as the Lamborghini Countach.
I was drawing things like the Tesla Cyber Truck way back then, also space ships that would carry passengers, again my inspiration were sci fi TV shows of that era like Space 1999, buck rogers of the 25th century, blake 7, battlestar galactica etc etc Happy days!! 😁😎👍⚠️😯
Needs a separate bubble dome for the children.
@@pdtech4524 i had my own drawing board with a sliding T square and 90 60 45 30 set squares.
I also had one, but with the rocket upgrades 😂🤣
The chap who owned it the 1980s and early 90s lives in my village. I got to look around his collection. He bought it from the Saudi prince. When I saw the Bulldog, the interior had been changed as well as the paintwork. I had to crawl in under the doors. The pop down front revealing the lights was cool. His mechanics stripped it down and rebuilt it cleaning everything. It was taken out to Germany and tested there. It got up to 220 mph. A car magazine did an interview with him about two years before he sold it. It looks better in real life than in photos. He also has Dan Guerney's 1960s Le Mans GT40. Also the last Ferrari 512BBi and 2 Countach.
The Aston Martin Bulldog. A Lotus Esprit penned by a five year old... and the spiritual grandfather of the Cyber truck from everyone's favourite con man.
Silly name for a sports car......good name for an off-roader.
Speaking of silly names, Cayenne, Cayman, Mustang, Kuga, Galaxy to name a few... name is a name and Bulldog is just as good lol.
@@OverlandTT I would beg to differ. Some names (at least) try to show power and capability. The Mustang and Cayenne are exactly that. But Bulldog? As if a bulldog was any of that. It was a futuristic car with a sleek angular, boxy design. Not reminiscent of a bulldog if you ask me. And to elaborate more on my claim, bulldogs are not the most elegant breed, albeit it is a classy dog with lots of wealthy owners including royalties. It’s just not fit for a car like this Aston Martin.
@@OverlandTT a Mustang is a breed of horse, horses are associated with speed. Bulldogs are generally associated with toughness and thus are much better suited as a name for a brand of off-roaders
@@OverlandTT Cayenne - same as pepper, not looker but fast/hot
Cayman - named after lizard but we know who live on Cayman Island (cheaper Porsche but still associate with being posh)
Mustang - horse, what we use for mesure power , HORSE POWER
Galaxy - just big
No its not
Never even heard of this car before, love these stories, keep them coming!
I’d love to see a story about the Citroën BX and since you’ve already covered its big brothers, the CX and the XM it would be fitting to cover the car that saved Citroën
I'm sure I'll cover that at some point.
I love the fact you're still doing videos on weird and obscure cars. Another great video!
I want to do videos about stories I don't know. So videos on the Mini or 2CV aren't so interesting.
@@BigCar2 The Panther solo or Panther 6 story would be good.
Man, I love Wedge cars.
This channel is putting out some really quality content ♥️
My sentiment exactly...👍
Glad you enjoy it Partha!
I can almost accept it until I saw the headlights like PHHHHT LOL
Yes then it becomes a monster.
This looks like the sedan version of the cybertruck🤔
No it does not... The Cybertruck looks like they took this car and the DeLorian and beat them together in a larger chassis. In other words: Cybertruck looks like old outdated crap.
@@Oystein87 there is a market for old outdated crap too :)
Looks like something my dad made with a pair of tin snips out in the garage.
That’s a huge complement for your dad.
Or a huge diss on the bulldog
I remember seeing that in the press in the late seventies. Even then it looked like something out of a Gerry Anderson TV series. Probably just as well they didn't try to actually produce them, the Lagonda nearly caused Aston to disappear, the Bulldog would most certainly have succeeded in that respect.
Excellent video as always. Thanks for the memories.
Apparently the current owner is having the car restored with an aim to do 200 MPH it.
You've picked a very interesting subject. Great video and well done.
I loved that car so much when I first saw it in the early 80's. Thank you.
This is one of my ultimate cars, they looked to me like the future (at least for 1979), its only pipped to being my favourite car by the even odder Panther six.
A great video. Really interesting and professionally presented. I hadn't heard of this car before so I've learned something today!!! Thank you
Glad you enjoyed it!
Another car I didn’t know about, but wish it’s design had been carried out. I wonder how many times we’ve lost what could be important vehicles to the cronies upstairs??? Another Big Car hit. Thank you so much
Thanks Bob
I instantly fell in love with your channel. Amazing content! :)
That story at the end with the concert made me laugh a bit. Thanks for that interesting anecdote!
When I research these things, sometimes I find interesting stories, so I'm going to start including them at the end.
Brave pronunciation of countach, there. Great video as always.
your channel and narrative is amazing and calming man, am addicted to ur videos recently
Glad you like them. Some people have told me they fall asleep to my videos. I'm not offended!
I love this minimalist car design.
The piece of Art from William Towns.
An Avant-Garde Project.
Another brilliant video from one of the best channels on TH-cam. Always look forward to them.
Glad you're enjoying them Karl! I hope you're doing well.
"Tacky premier footballer gold bits", and that's a fact! 😂
I always think "british green" "gold accents" and "V10+" is footballer combo
This brings back some memories of my youth! My brother and I used to cut out all the good pics from our car and motorcycle mags and cover our bedroom walls with them. This was one of his favorite cars back then and he would buy mags just for pics of it to cut out. I was in love with the 512BBI & 288GTO from that era.
It looks like a squished Cybertruck, but with more shapes.
Ever seen the Citroen Karin concept?
Always great information, wonderful video for my lunch break
Enjoy!
I remember seeing this in a series of cards I got free with a comic when I was a kid in the 80s/early 90s. It was the most unusual card in the set.
I hope this channel blows up! I loved the content
fascinating link there with the head designer walking to DeLorean. Was unaware of the existence of this machine until reading the BBC article today about it's rediscovery and the current restoration underway!
"the steering wheel was on the wrong side" Ha ha ha
Thanks, I was looking for a comment like this :D
I think he meant it's on the correct side.
The right side is the right side right.
Clarkson says that often to make himself feel better.
Actually the british does everything wrong so it was on the correct side
1:25 I've always loved the old vantage, its practically a British Mustang. And that makes a lot of sense since there were US investors backing the making of it
Nice video. Just one point of correction. It left the factory in the hands of a Saudi Prince on 27th January, 1982 (not 1984). This car was an amazing device and easily driveable on the road. The rear vision wasn’t bad with just the interior mirror - the original fuel injection didn’t obstruct it. We changed it to left hand drive because at one time the Sultan of Oman was interested in buying it. A great car built by a great team. Keith Martin Project Manager DP K9 1979-1982.
Thanks for chiming in Keith. It's a wonderful car!
Great video! I believe Adrian was also a contemporary of two other mischievous students by the names of Jeremy Clarkson and Andy Wilman at Repton
Great video 👍🇬🇧. I have pictures I took at the motor show when Bulldog was there up on the man made embankment.
I like the new alternate units/currency on subtitles, makes videos more enjoyable, thanks
Thanks! Glad they're working.
I never knew about this and only came accross it because you mentioned it in a video I saw earlier, so clicked the included link
I saw this car when the owner of it in my village allowed me to see part of his collection. His mechanics took it 220 mph on the Autobahns in the 1980s. Kneeling down to see inside was the first time I had seen inside a gull-winged door car. Stunning interior.
If you can verify these claims it would add such provenance to the story of this car
@@thomashyam3692 The chap still lives in my village. He allowed some car journalists to visit his collection but mainly to write about the Bulldog. I still have the publication somewhere. I saw it in 1987 if I remember because a worker of his also did some part time work for us.
6:16 I like this: no kilometre of door sill to climb over, you just put your foot out and you're of the car
It looks lovely a variation on the Aston Martin Lagonda.
Never knew of this car. or maybe its gone from my memory banks, but its a nice car and an even better story. This is why channels like this are growing in popularity all the time. Information that wouldn't get on to the TV is available here. Thanks
I remember seeing this car in a copy of Motor Trend when I was a kid, and lusting after it, as well as the Lancia Medusa that was featured in the same issue.
Didn't even know about this ! It seem to always be the case in in British motor history that amazing projects are stopped due to lack of money and imagination on the part of management. Great video thank you.
Glad you liked it Darren
Nice to hear that it’s back in the UK undergoing a full restoration.
Did Aston buy it back?
I remember having a French version of a top trump card with this on it with only 1 pic of the front and I was fascinated with that car as an 8 year old. Still fascinated now buy it as a 26 year old. Thank you very much for your videos. I hope the both of you have a good day.
I was thinking of Top Trumps only yesterday in another context (to do with the P38 Lightning that beat all other cards), and how it could relate to a video I was researching. Have a good day Alex!
5:37 - Minissima on the right. Another contemporary Towns design. (And a proposed Mini replacement).
Again a great video!
When can we expect one of another European supercar: the DAF Variomatic? 😀😀
That would make a fun "Little Car" video. Technical stuff isn't my forté. But this could work well, especially as it's used so much on small motorbikes.
@@BigCar2 Variomatic car too good they make separate racing series for IT
2:40 No wonder it looks like a Delorean. It also looks like the car version of the Cybertruck. Don’t think I’ve ever seen this car before and it’s right up my alley...
Fascinating. Would love to see you do a video of either AC or the one off specials by Paul Jameson.
I first learnt of this car back in the early 80s when Noel Edmonds on BBCs Top Gear did a section on it
The Bulldog, just as controversial as the AM Lagonda in design. Straight lines, cars designed with only a ruler, seventies design. Elon musk must have been inspired by this era when he designed the new Tesla Pick up.
G'day,
Think of it as Faceted Aerofoils.
USAF's F-117, for example.
Backtrack moi to the
"The SunFoil Project..." Playlist,
And check out the videos about the,
"Solar Thermal Ramjet..."
Have fun (!).
Such is Life.
;-p
Ciao !
My brother and I had sports car playing cards back when we were kids and this was one of the cars featured on one of them.
Great story and insight about a car nobody really knows about. I really like the look of the Bulldog as it reminds me of the Cars in my favourite childhood game Hard Drivn! 👍👍👍
Not enough GPU power to do anything more than straight lines, so the Bulldog would have been a perfect car!
I saw it on the back of a low loader going south on the A3 some time after it was meant to have been sold abroad in the 80's.
BigCar just gets better & better. I found this episode very entertaining and informative.
Thanks Andy!
@@BigCar2 You really are very good at what you do.... Quite simply, you keep giving your viewers just what they like...bitesized nuggets of enjoyment. You make what is a very difficult & time consuming task appear easily done . This is a mark of a true artist...😊
Great finale btw.... Smooth as silk! 😉
Thanks! 😁
Had a big poster with this beast, when I grew up😉👍 Still love its “automotive brutalism”....😉🇬🇧
Very interesting and well presented thanks from Orlando
Glad you enjoyed it!
Remember seeing this at the back of the AM stand at 1980 Motor Show NEC. My memory suggests it was far better looking.
4:21 Never have I ever compared the Vantage to the Mustang. And that comparison opened my eyes to some level. They are brothers from another mother!
Kinda gives a new perspective on Ford's theft of Aston's design(er) with the Mondeo/Fusion
Aston might as well dig it up and release this as the CyberCar XD
Looks very DeLorian=like.
Hadnt thought about that
hello YOU 🤪🤪👍
Love your videos dude 😉
ayy Larry
The original AM project manager for the Bulldog was poached by DeLorean - as they said [was it on this or the video I saw just before this one].
Damn, this beast looks futuristic even today. What a beauty!
The first time I saw a picture of the Bulldog was in the '81 Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest car in the world. I remember the pop down headlights were exposed and information about the car was impossible to find for an 8 year old boy.
Love how the door sills opened with the doors. Easy ingress and egress
I saw the Bulldog at the 1980 Motor Show in Birmingham's NEC. I was 19 at the time and my dad got me two free tickets from Fodens truckmakers. I took a girl called Julie Wayling who I fancied like mad but who wasn't the slightest bit interested in me. But her father owned a black Pontiac Firebird so I didn't care! There was a massive queue to see this car, and if my memory serves me right I think the Lagonda was there at the same time. I think the Mini Metro was there too.
I think it looks pretty cool. The doors seem unnecessarily long though, which increases their weight.
At first quick glance I thought you were covering the Bricklin SV-1! (Canadian attempt at a sports car in the 70's)
I've always loved that Lagonda
I loved this when it first appeared in the 70s. People who criticize it's looks now don't realize that was the fashion at the time.
those Italian beauties still look fantastic. The Bulldog looks about as realistic as the Lego models on your shelf. At the time I thought it was brilliant but it hasn't aged well. Aston Martin made a smart decision to ditch it. Welcome back BTW (I didn't know you had a new channel - you can thank the TH-cam recommender!)
there was a fighter biplane in the RAF in the thirties named bulldog too, looked a lot like one xd
Great video as ever :)
Glad you enjoyed it!
Love that Pirelli P6 tyre tread pattern!
Great video 👍
Would love to see a story on the Ford Focus CC
An Aston?
Amazed it started
Oh my god it's beautiful! This car for sure would have changed automotive history had it entered production, just with its looks alone.
A great looking car from the past not to everyone's taste but I like cars like this and the gt90 🤪
This video is very cool!You will have a like from me!
This reminded me a concept car Mercedes made in the 90's.Can't remember what it was named now.
Probably the C112... Mid engined, 90s Mercedes supercar concept, but not as wacky as the Italian supercars, but more restrained and elegant... in a typical German way XD
The late 60s and early 70s C111 was a lot wackier and had bold engine ideas... A rotary, a turbo diesel and a supercharged V8. The latter achieving a top speed of 403kmh.
@@Megadriver
The British made even wackier cars, as this channel has already proven. :)
German (and other) companies like Mercedes, BMW and VW often employed or hired Italian designers, like Bruno Sacco (Mercedes), Giorgetto Giugiaro (i.e. VW Golf/Scirocco, BMW M1, Lotus) or Giovanni Michellotti (i.e. Triumph, BMW 1500).
Imagine it parked next to a Lagonda 😀😍
Great. Thanks!
How about the Talbot Alpine next as a contrast?
I just google it, look like child of Escort and Passat
that was great. I never knew the history.
As a kid playing "top trumps" card games in the 80s, the Bulldog was top trump on speed, i loved holding that card and looking at those odd head lights.
Nice video.
0:35 - I can't help but giggle at the body roll. Was it on stilts?!
I distinctly remember a Playboy article on the car when it came out. I remember thinking, "This is what happens when you ask a bunch of half-drunk British blokes to design an Italian supercar, using nothing but a compass, a protractor, and a ruler." :)
The Bulldog must have inspired Wiegert a lot when he designed the Vector.
I actually saw one back in the seventies when I were a lad, late seventies South Croydon
Blue peter. Tomorrows world. The bulldog was shown on both,thankyou so much big car you have settled my lifetime confusion thinking it was a delorean, a 12 yr old who's memory got stretched .
Watch all your uploads , love it love it,
Thanks again
I must have been on holiday when it was on TV, because it passed me by! Glad you're liking the videos.
Aston have made many cars that are stunningly beautiful.
They've had lots of gorgeous concept cars.
The Bulldog wasn't one of them.
The Valkyrie is a fucking awesome name for a car though. Worth 2 million notes for the name alone. IMO second only to the "Interceptor" as a name.
Thanks, great video Amazing car. It may not be stylish by current standards but remember what we thought clothes and hair should look like back then. Car has aged much better.
The Bulldog looks exactly like the Gadget Mobile when it converts to sports car mode! Go, Gadget, go!
Nice documentary. I found the Aston Martin Lagonda stunning at the time.
If I recollect correctly it had Lucas electronics which were.... dreadful.
Thank you for presenting a unique product.
I guess you already 'done' the
Jaguar XJ 220 from the 90's.
This Bulldog somehow made me think about the XJ 220 which was due to the Asia crisis at the time too good to be true. 😔
Lucas electrics, not electronics. The electronic dashboard was made by Javelina in TX. They still exist to this day and have assisted with my Lagondas
I'd love it if you would consider to do a proper video of the history of TVR,S.
I'm sure I'll look into TVR at some point.
Definitely need more subs!
1:53 i Thought there are Rims on that House but this are Basement Windows.