Editing Aston Martin (section)

=== 1981–1987: Victor Gauntlett ===
In January 1981, there having been no satisfactory revival partners, Alan Curtis and Peter Sprague announced they had never intended to maintain a long-term financial stake in Aston Martin Lagonda and it was to be sold to [[Pace Petroleum]]'s [[Victor Gauntlett]]. Sprague and Curtis pointed out that under their ownership AML finances had improved to where an offer for MG might have been feasible.<ref>Petrol chief takes over Aston Martin. ''The Times'', Monday, 5 January 1981; p. 15; issue 60817.</ref>

Gauntlett bought a 12.5% stake in Aston Martin for £500,000 via [[Pace Petroleum]] in 1980, with Tim Hearley of CH Industrials taking a similar share. Pace and CHI took over as joint 50/50 owners at the beginning of 1981, with Gauntlett as executive chairman. Gauntlett also led the sales team, and after some development and publicity when the [[Aston Martin Lagonda|Lagonda]] became the world's fastest four-seater production car, was able to sell the car in Oman, Kuwait, and Qatar.<ref name=VGOBIT>{{cite news |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20030409/ai_n12682539 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080203121039/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20030409/ai_n12682539 |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 February 2008 |title=Obituary: Victor Gauntlett |newspaper=The Independent (London) |access-date=3 February 2008 }}</ref> In 1982, Aston Martin was granted a [[Royal Warrant of Appointment (United Kingdom)|Royal Warrant of Appointment]] by the [[Prince of Wales]].<ref name=":0" />

Understanding that it would take some time to develop new Aston Martin products, they created an engineering service subsidiary to develop automotive products for other companies. It was decided to use a trade name of Salmons & Son, their in-house coachbuilder, [[Tickford]], which Aston Martin had bought in 1955. Tickford's name had been long associated with expensive high-quality carriages and cars along with their folding roofs. New products included a Tickford [[Austin Metro]], a Tickford [[Ford Capri]] and even Tickford train interiors, particularly on the [[Jaguar XJS]].<ref name=VGOBIT/> Pace continued sponsoring racing events, and now sponsored all Aston Martin Owners Club events, taking a Tickford-engined Nimrod Group C car owned by AMOC President [[Viscount Downe]], which came third in the Manufacturers Championship in both 1982 and 1983. It also finished seventh in the [[1982 24 Hours of Le Mans]] race. However, sales of production cars were now at an all-time low of 30 cars produced in 1982.<ref name=VGOBIT/>

[[File:Aston Martin Volante.jpg|right|thumb|Aston Martin V8 Vantage from ''[[The Living Daylights]]'']]
As trading became tighter in the petroleum market, and Aston Martin was requiring more time and money, Gauntlett agreed to sell Hays/Pace to the Kuwait Investment Office in September 1983. As Aston Martin required greater investment, he also agreed to sell his share holding to American importer and Greek shipping tycoon [[Peter Livanos]], who invested via his joint venture with Nick and John Papanicolaou, ALL Inc. Gauntlett remained chairman of AML, 55% of the stake was owned by ALL, with Tickford a 50/50 venture between ALL and CHI. The uneasy relationship was ended when ALL exercised options to buy a larger share in AML; CHI's residual shares were exchanged for CHI's complete ownership of Tickford, which retained the development of existing Aston Martin projects. In 1984, Papanicolaou's Titan shipping business was in trouble so Livanos's father George bought out the Papanicolaou's shares in ALL, while Gauntlett again became a shareholder with a 25% holding in AML. The deal valued Aston Martin/AML at £2&nbsp;million, the year it built its 10,000th car.<ref name=VGOBIT/>

Although as a result Aston Martin had to make 60 members of the workforce redundant, Gauntlett bought a stake in Italian styling house [[Zagato]], and resurrected its collaboration with Aston Martin.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1120288_aston-martin-shows-off-vanquish-zagato-shooting-brakes-interior |title=Aston Martin shows off Vanquish Zagato shooting brake's interior |date=4 December 2018 |publisher=Motor Authority |access-date=4 December 2018}}</ref> In 1986, Gauntlett negotiated the return of the fictional British secret agent [[James Bond]] to Aston Martin. [[Cubby Broccoli]] had chosen to recast the character using actor [[Timothy Dalton]], in an attempt to re-root the Bond-brand back to a more [[Sean Connery]]-like feel. Gauntlett supplied his personal pre-production Vantage for use in the filming of ''[[The Living Daylights]]'', and sold a Volante to Broccoli for use at his home in America. Gauntlett turned down the role of a [[KGB]] colonel in the film, however: "I would have loved to have done it but really could not afford the time."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thegoldengun.co.uk/tld/tldpress.html |title=TLD – Press (Allies/MI6) |publisher=thegoldengun.co.uk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513082305/http://www.thegoldengun.co.uk/tld/tldpress.html |archive-date=13 May 2008 |access-date=23 August 2014}}</ref>