Jokes about James Bond on a tractor have spread around the world after the Indian company Mahindra and Mahindra, which produces agricultural equipment, emerged as a potential investor in Aston Martin, whose mythical sports cars are favored by agent 007.
However, the marriage of extreme opposites in the automotive world is not unknown, and tractors have already played a crucial role in a part of Aston Martin’s history, as well as that of other brands of automotive racers.
During the 1950s, German farmers cultivated the land with tractors powered by Porsche engines, and in Italy, the name of Ferruccio Lamborghini still proudly shines on thousands of tractors, half a century after he turned the wealth created from agricultural equipment into a passion for fast cars. If Aston Martin Lagonda merges with Mahindra, the world’s largest tractor manufacturer, the wheel of history will turn back more than half a century, when the owner of Aston Martin was tractor magnate from Yorkshire, David Brown.
This was one of the most famous periods in the soon-to-be centennial history of these British sports cars, as they snatched the throne from Ferrari in the world championship and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans races, and the fast and elegant DB5 model was wholeheartedly embraced by Sean Connery in the early Bond films. This model of a thoroughbred sports car – DB are the initials of David Brown – is still, as they say at Aston Martin itself, the classic model that is the heart of the Aston Martin lineup.
