(music) 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? This is the Aston Martin Bulldog Story. (music) British Leyland wasn’t the only car
manufacturer to go bankrupt in 1975. Aston Martin was having trouble meeting US
exhaust emissions rules which stopped US sales. With a depressed market for expensive, gas
guzzling cars in the mid-70’s Aston Martin went bust, to be rescued by North American
and British investors. They pushed to update the Aston Martin line,
launching the futuristic Lagonda reskin in 1976, V8 Vantage the following year, and the
open top Volante in 1978. The change in management also saw a change
in the company’s focus. Rather than Aston Martin fanboys, new customers
would be young married, and affluent businessmen who could afford such a luxury vehicle. This meant Aston could start charging more
for its cars, so long as they could release a quality product that justified the cost. But they still had strong competition from
Italy, and they realised they needed to make a statement to keep their passenger cars selling. And so the DP K.901 project was launched. There’s a rumour the K.901 was affectionately
shortened to “K9” after Doctor Who’s robotic canine that was popular at the time. The car would get its real name after the
Scottish Aviation Bulldog, which was flown by Aston Martin’s Managing Director, Alan
Curtis. The name fit the British supercar that would
see off the Italian competition. Bulldog’s were owned by British icons such
as Winston Churchill, and the British and American owners knew a bit of British history
plays well in the States when selling expensive cars. Work began in 1977 under the helm of Chief
Engineer Mike Loasby, but he would defect just a year later to work on DeLorean’s
fateful car. With no leader the whole project was put on
hold for a few months until Project Manager Keith Martin took over. The car would be designed at Aston’s new
engineering facility at Newport Pagnell. British drivers know Newport Pagnell for one
thing – the motorway service station named after it on the M1, but it’s a charming
market town that made an ideal home for this historic car company. The brief was to build “the ultimate roadgoing
supercar”. Styling would be done by William Towns who’d
styled the straight-edged 1976 Lagonda. The car would use a tubular steel chassis
with aluminium panels covering it to save weight. Like the DeLorean and the Countach, the Bulldog
would have a pair of giant electro-hydraulic gullwing doors, based on the V8 Volante hood
mechanism. Power would come from the 5.3L V8 used in
other Aston’s at the time, but there would be two important changes. The first was turbocharging, using twin units
from Garrett. This was early days for turbos, but it was
clear that they could offer a large amount of power. Aston’s V8 was no slouch so this created
an engine with a power reputed to be between 600 and 700hp (447-521 kW). The second change was to mount the engine
in the middle of the car for better weight distribution. Aston had been making large V8, front-engined
two-door cars, think of them like the Mustang’s posh British cousin, but the Bulldog would
move Aston’s car design in a completely new direction. Rather than pop-up headlights like many cars
of the time, the Bulldog’s bonnet would actually lower to show the car’s 5 middle-mounted
headlights, done to give the headlamps more stability than on pop-up mounts. It’s surprising this middle headlight arrangement
was considered, when the Land Rover’s headlights were moved outward because lights in the middle
were being outlawed back in the 1960s. The car itself was long. Not quite Lagonda dimensions – that car
was almost 5M (194”)! But coming in at 4.7M (186”) and almost 2M (75“)
wide it was going to be hard to park, anywhere! The size was to allow the car to be low, just
a little higher than a Countach at just over 1M (43”). The wheels on the car were mammoth. 225/50’s on the front, and 345/35’s on
the rear. In case you didn’t know that number is the
width of the tyre in millimetres, which means the rear tyres were over a foot wide! But like many cars released in the 1980s,
the car only came with a space saver spare wheel! The goal had always been to produce the fastest
production car in the world. When the car was tested it got to 192mph (309
km/h), and 60 appearing in just 5 seconds thanks to its low drag of just 0.34. Aston Martin always insisted it could go higher
and suggested a speed as high as 237mph (381 km/h),
but this was never officially tested. Inside, the steering wheel was on the wrong
side, probably to help sell the car in the North American market. The dashboard used touch sensors and LEDs
straight out of the Lagonda to make it “state of the art”, as people of the time would
probably have put it. The upmarket car would get leather seats and
air conditioning. The car would be officially launched in March
1980. The company was keen to tell reporters they
had plans to do a limited run of up to 25 cars, and they hoped it would help promote
their existing car line. Aston Martin’s management were trying different
things like the Bulldog to make the company more profitable, and around this time there
was speculation that they would take over the MG marque from British Leyland. But the recession and US exchange rates impacted
Aston’s sales around 1980, which meant there wasn’t spare cash to build the Bulldog. Aston Martin was sold in 1981, and the new management weren’t keen to produce this expensive car. They focused on improving its existing saloon
cars to pay the bills and make the company profitable. Looking to do something with the one-off Bulldog
prototype, in 1984 Aston sold the car to a Middle Eastern Prince for the princely sum
of £130,000 ($163k USD, €146k, $236k AUD). Over the years the Bulldog has been shown
at various events, including the Aston Martin Centenary Celebration in 2013. It’s clear the car has been customised a
little throughout its life. It’s now a two-tone metallic green and has
received a light tan interior with tacky “Premier footballer” gold bits throughout. It lost its fuel injection system, going back
to four presumably inferior Weber carburettors. On a more practical level, the car now actually
has door mirrors, and a screen on the dashboard for the rear-view camera, aiding the limited
visibility out of the back window. The Bulldog was sold on to an American
collector who eventually put it up for sale in case you’re interested in buying it! But since it’s been undrivable since at
least 2013, this would be a bit of a project car! Aston Martin has investigated making supercars
in the intervening years. In 2000 the mid-engined V8 AM305 was mooted,
but incoming CEO Dr. Ulrich Bez wasn’t really keen on making it. He felt British cars should never be mid-engined. The car morphed into the front-engined 2005
V8 Vantage. After he retired in 2013, Aston launched the
DP-100. It looks stunning, but other than the one
rolling prototype this car only ever existed in Grand Turismo on the Playstation, which
is why it was originally designed. DP stands for “Design Prototype” and was
developed purely to help promote Aston Martin, and never as a serious road-going car. Which is a shame, as it’s beautiful! In 2016 Aston Martin proudly announced its
next production supercar, the AM-RB 001. “RB” here stood for Red Bull, the energy
drink cum Formula 1 team that by then had a deep collaboration with Aston Martin. The car would be partially developed by Adrian
Newey, the CART and Formula 1 designer who’s cars had won many championships. The team decided the car would use a 6.5L
V12 engine producing over 1,000 hp (746 kW), with a hybrid battery system to harvest brake
energy to give up to 160 extra horses (119 kW). The car has a supposed insane 0-60 time of
just 2.6s. The track car is expected to have a top speed
of 250mph (402 km/h). Formula 1 downforce knowledge has been used
to create a car with a massive 1,800 kg (4,000 lb) of downforce. In 2017 the car was officially named as the
Aston Martin Valkyrie with an expected 2020 debut. One of the 150 produced could be yours for
just £2.5M ($3.2M USD, €2.86M, $4.64M AUD), or one of the 25 Pro versions for “only”
£7.2M ($9.15M USD, €8.2M, $13.2M AUD). One thing I found out while making this video
was that Adrian Newey was expelled from his secondary school at the age of 16. The school had allowed the sixth formers to
organise a pop concert at the end of term. Newey went to the historic Repton school in
Derbyshire, and the concert was held in an 11th century hall. When the sound mixer went on a break, Adrian
cranked the volume up to the max, damaging the priceless stained-glass windows just as
the headmaster walked in! A big thank you to all my Patrons for supporting
me as always! To get early advert free access to new videos,
or to appear in the credits, please consider supporting me using the Patreon link below
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video!
The Cybertruck before the Cybertruck was cool.
I think I drew one of those by accident when I was 6
Look at Aston Martin copying Tesla. Sad
Space age design in the 70ies or how to go bankrupt multiple times. Cybertruck looks very old all of a sudden.
This car really puts the Lagonda in perspective.