| From | Message |
| Bob A.
4/07/2003 12:24:06 |
 Subject: Victor Gauntlett 1943-2003
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| Message: Victor Gauntlett Aston Martin executive who presided over the launch of the company's first new model in 20 years Taking over as chairman of the famous but troubled car company Aston Martin Lagonda in 1981, Victor Gauntlett oversaw a mini-renaissance in its fortunes which, in 1988, produced the first new Aston Martin for 20 years. Aston Martin’s troubles were not to be truly over until the company’s sale to Ford, its present owner. Yet in his time at the helm, Gauntlett’s enthusiasm, backed by the finances of the Greek American businessman Peter Livanos, gave a sense of purpose to the small Newport Pagnell-based firm — among other things taking a works-entered car to the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1989. Although virtually a household name through its choice as James Bond’s favoured mode of transport for taking on opposition ranging from Smersh agents to seduceable blondes, by the 1980s Aston Martin had not produced a new model for years, and was in danger of being remembered only as a glamorous marque of yesteryear. The launch of the Aston Martin Virage at the Birmingham Motor Show in 1988 changed all that. It introduced to that sector of the public who could afford its price of up to £90,000, a sleek — some might have said somewhat overweight — coupé, with a host of new features, yet retaining in its body shell just enough echoes of its originals to appeal to nostalgia. The Virage, with its uprated V8 5.4-litre engine with a new head and four valves per cylinder, delivered 330bhp to give a quoted top speed of 155mph (it actually went considerably faster than that). It became a prized possession of its era. Although Ford had taken over Aston Martin Lagonda the previous year, the Virage project was entirely the work of the Gauntlett-Livanos regime at the company. Its other notable feat was to enter, for the first time in years, a team Aston Martin at Le Mans in 1989. Powered by a development of the Mirage engine, the car — which had a state-of-the-art carbon fibre and Kevlar body — achieved a very creditable 11th place in the gruelling 24-hour Grand Prix d’Endurance of that year. A rule change the following year which restricted engines to 3.5 litres effectively prevented further Aston Martin participation at Le Mans; further engine development for racing was not in the company’s remit. Malcolm Victor Gauntlett was born in Surrey in 1942 and educated at St Marylebone Grammar School. After a short service commission in the RAF he joined British Petroleum in 1963, the beginning of a career in the oil industry, in which he was to prove highly successful. In 1967 he moved to Compagnie Française des Petroles, the parent company of Total, where he worked for a further five years. Then, in 1972, he founded Pace Petroleum which he made into one of Britain’s largest independent petrol suppliers. He was managing director from 1972 to 1979 and chairman from 1979 to 1983, when he sold the company to Kuwait Investment Office. In the meantime, in 1980 he had become a director of Aston Martin Lagonda, then owned by an Anglo-American consortium. It was subsequently acquired by a triumvirate consisting of the brothers Nick and John Papanicalaou and Peter Livanos. When the Papanicalaou brothers decided to sell their interest, Livanos upped his stake to 75 per cent and Gauntlett became a 25 per cent shareholder. They were faced with the task of doing something about annual sales, which had dropped from 170 in 1978 to just 30 in 1982. A period of creativity followed for the company, with the reintroduction and redevelopment of extant models, such as the Vantage, whose Zagato bodied DB7 coupé and Volante became some of the most sought-after cars of the 1980s. And then, with the Virage, Gauntlett achieved his dream of putting a completely new Aston Martin on the road. Yet undercapitalisation remained a chronic Aston Martin problem. Gauntlett was aware that such a small company could not hope to compete in the automobile market and regarded the sale to Ford in 1987 as the only route to the survival of the Aston Martin name. Stepping down as chairman of Aston Martin in 1991, he concentrated again on his oil interests. He had founded another supply company, Proteus Petroleum, in 1988 and ran it with great success for ten years until selling to Texaco in 1998. In the meantime it had been made UK Oil Company of the Year in 1995. Last year Gauntlett was appointed chairman of Automotive Technik Holdings, the UK based manufacturer of Pinzgauer all-terrain vehicles. Outside his business interests he was, among many other things, a trustee of the RAF Museum and chairman of its fundraising committee, as well as being a trustee of the Maritime Air Trust. He held the rank of honorary air commodore, 4624 (County of Oxford) Movements Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force. He is survived by his wife, Jean, whom he married in 1966, and by their daughter and three sons. Victor Gauntlett, chairman Aston Martin Lagonda, 1981-91, was born on May 20, 1942. He died of a heart attack on March 31, 2003, aged 60. | |
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