March 27, 1980
A concept car built by British manufacturer Aston Martin was formally introduced to the public at the Bell Hotel in southeastern England’s village and civil parish of Aston Clinton. (Concept cars are automobiles created to exhibit new styling or innovative technologies; these vehicles are often displayed at motor shows.) The concept car making its debut on that Thursday at the Bell Hotel was the Aston Martin Bulldog.
This automobile owed its name to the Scottish Aviation Bulldog, a British two-seat plane flown on a regular basis by Aston Martin’s managing director Alan Curtis. The Aston Martin Bulldog also became widely known as K-9, which was the name of a few robotic dogs featured over the years in the popular British science fiction TV series Doctor Who.
Aston Martin designer William Towns was the person responsible for the sharp-wedge shape of the Bulldog and other unique features such as the automobile’s gull-wing doors. The rollout and promotion of this vehicle elicited positive as well as head-scratching assessments worldwide. An example of both these reactions appeared in a piece written by journalist Frank Page in April 1980 for his “Motoring” column in the London-based Observer.
Page stated, “My first instinct is to dismiss the whole exercise as a publicity gimmick, designed to show that the Aston Marin company is looking for business as a prototype builder, perhaps because it cannot build and sell enough of its anachronistic and expensive sports saloons. But then the counter-arguments begin to insinuate. The Bulldog is, in its arrogant extreme, a refreshing contrast to the lock-step discipline of anonymous and characterless cars produced to meet the inexorable demands of the marketing men.”
In this column, Page also addressed a common theme when appraising whether the Bulldog would remain a one-off or instead prove to be a generally viable means of transportation for drivers across the globe. Page noted, “I wonder how many car nuts there are in the world who would be able to buy such a hugely expensive machine as the Bulldog and not want to travel anywhere with luggage.” He then remarked, “The mid-engined combination and stubby front end mean the car would be practical only for two people who would be happy to travel with just a toothbrush apiece.”
The following month, an article in the Los Angeles Times combined a small measure of concern with plenty of praise when it came to the Bulldog. “The turbocharged Bulldog will undoubtedly be very much in demand but may play hard to get because of limited production,” reported the article. “The new gull-wing two-seater sports car features dramatic bodywork and is only 43 inches [109.2 centimeters] from ground to roof. A double overhead camshaft with Bosch fuel injection mounted behind the driver is an outstanding Bulldog characteristic.”
This article also stated, “As for comfort, no expense has been spared. The finest stereo radio and tape deck are featured along with air conditioning, an interior upholstered in Connolly leather and Wilton carpeting.”
There were initial plans to build anywhere from 15 to 25 more Bulldogs. After Victor Gauntlett became executive chairman of Aston Martin in 1981, however, he deemed those plans to be too costly for the company and that manufacturing project was consequently shelved altogether. In 1984, Aston Martin sold what turned out to be the one and only Bulldog to a collector in the Middle East.
This automobile was ultimately purchased in 2020 by American businessman and car collector Phillip Sarofim. What subsequently transpired was an effort managed by Victor Gauntlett’s son Richard to restore the Bulldog to its former glory. This major undertaking was completed by November 2021, when the fully rebuilt automobile achieved a speed of 162 miles (261 kilometers) per hour during a test drive on the main runway at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton in southwestern England’s ceremonial county of Somerset.
Another one of the more recent milestones for the Bulldog occurred in 2024, when it won first place in the “Wedge-Shaped Concept Cars and Prototypes (Late)” class at the prestigious California-based annual automotive event known as the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. The accompanying photo of this automobile was taken in 2023 at the British Motor Museum in the village and civil parish of Gaydon in central England.
Photo Credit: andreboeni (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en)
For more information on the Aston Martin Bulldog, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aston_Martin_Bulldog
Transportation History 
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