About
The Aston Martin Heritage Trust Museum, based in the Oxfordshire village of Drayton St Leonard, is the custodian of the official archive and a representative collection of vehicles charting the history of Aston Martin, one of Britain's most celebrated luxury sports car manufacturers since its founding in 1913. Unlike a factory visitor centre attached to current production facilities, the Heritage Trust operates as an independent charitable body dedicated specifically to preserving Aston Martin's history — its engineering drawings, company records, photographs, and historically significant cars — for the benefit of owners, enthusiasts, researchers, and the wider public.
The Trust's collection traces Aston Martin's evolution from its earliest prewar sporting cars, through the ownership changes and periods of financial difficulty that have marked much of the company's long history, to its emergence as a global byword for British automotive luxury and performance, closely associated in the popular imagination with the James Bond film franchise since the DB5 first appeared in Goldfinger in 1964. The archive holds engineering drawings, factory records, and photographic material covering the full span of the marque's history, making it an essential research resource for owners restoring historic cars, historians studying the British motor industry, and anyone seeking to authenticate or research a specific vehicle's history.
The museum displays a changing selection of vehicles from the Trust's own holdings and from loans by private owners, illustrating key models and moments across Aston Martin's history — from early Bamford & Martin-era cars of the 1920s, through the postwar DB series that established the marque's classic sporting silhouette, to more recent production models. Because the collection and its focus are curatorial and archival in character rather than built around mass visitor throughput, opening tends to be more limited than a conventional transport museum, often centred on specific open days, member events, and pre-arranged group visits, with researchers able to access the archive itself by separate appointment.
For Aston Martin owners and enthusiasts specifically, the Trust also plays a practical role beyond public display, supporting authentication and history research for individual cars — a function that gives the museum a working relationship with the wider community of owners and restorers that few purely historical museums can claim.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
📅 Best Times to Visit
Quietest: Wednesday, Thursday
Busiest: Advertised open days
💡 Advertised open days or club events, when the widest selection of vehicles is on display and knowledgeable Trust staff and volunteers are available.
💡 Visitor Tips
- Book ahead where possible, as this is a specialist archive and heritage collection with limited standard opening days rather than a daily-access museum.
- Time your visit for an advertised open day or Aston Martin Owners Club event for the widest selection of vehicles on display and the most knowledgeable staff availability.
- If researching a specific car's history, contact the Trust well in advance to arrange a dedicated archive research appointment separate from a general visit.
- A car is effectively essential to reach this rural Oxfordshire site, as public transport connections are minimal.
- The Trust's frank treatment of Aston Martin's turbulent corporate history is a highlight for visitors interested in British industrial history, not just car design.
- Combine with a visit to Oxford's city centre museums for a fuller day out in the area.
- Ask about the DB5's James Bond connection during your visit — it remains one of the most requested topics among general visitors.
- Photography is welcomed in the display hall, but check current restrictions on flash and tripod use before your visit.
Highlights
The Official Aston Martin Archive
The Trust holds the official archive of Aston Martin company records, engineering drawings, and photographs spanning the marque's history since 1913, functioning as the definitive research resource for owners, restorers, and historians seeking to authenticate or trace the individual history of specific cars.
This archival function distinguishes the Trust fundamentally from a conventional car museum, giving it a genuine working relationship with Aston Martin owners worldwide beyond its role as a public visitor attraction.
Bamford & Martin Era Cars
The collection includes examples and material relating to Aston Martin's earliest cars, produced under the Bamford & Martin name in the years following the company's 1913 founding by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. These prewar vehicles, some of extreme rarity, illustrate the marque's origins as a small specialist sporting car manufacturer decades before it achieved the global recognition associated with its later postwar and modern models.
The DB Series and Postwar Golden Age
Displays trace the development of Aston Martin's celebrated DB series under David Brown's ownership from the late 1940s, culminating in the DB5 — the model forever associated with James Bond following its appearance in Goldfinger in 1964 — and its successors. This period established the classic Aston Martin silhouette and the marque's enduring international reputation for combining sporting performance with refined British luxury craftsmanship.
Motorsport Heritage
Aston Martin's substantial motorsport history, including victory at the 1959 Le Mans 24 Hours with the DBR1, is represented through archival material, photographs, and, when on loan, competition vehicles, illustrating the racing pedigree that has underpinned the marque's road car engineering and brand identity throughout its history.
Collections
The Aston Martin Heritage Trust Museum holds the official archive and a representative collection of vehicles charting the history of Aston Martin from its 1913 founding to the present. Archival holdings include company records, engineering drawings, and photographs spanning the marque's full history, forming an essential research resource for owners, restorers, and historians.
The vehicle collection, drawn from the Trust's own holdings and supplemented by loans, spans Aston Martin's evolution from early Bamford & Martin-era cars through the celebrated postwar DB series, including material relating to the DB5's James Bond fame, to more recent production models and the marque's substantial motorsport history, including Le Mans success with the DBR1.
The Trust's dual identity as both a public heritage attraction and a working archival resource for the Aston Martin owner community distinguishes its collection from a conventional static motoring museum.
Aston Martin: A Century of British Sports Cars
The evolution of Aston Martin from its 1913 founding through the postwar DB series to more recent models, told through preserved vehicles and archival material.
📍 Main display hall
The Archive: Preserving Aston Martin's Engineering History
The Trust's official company archive of engineering drawings, records, and photographs, supporting both public research and individual owner authentication.
📍 Archive building (by appointment)
Themes
Time Periods
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.