Ogle Sotheby Special
The Ogle Sotheby Special was a sensational sports coupé from British body designer David Ogle Limited , which was presented in 1971 and was produced in two copies.
Model history
The initiative for the car went back to the British cigarette manufacturer WO Wills, who wanted to use the car for advertising purposes for its new cigarette brand Sotheby .
The car was based on the chassis of the Aston Martin DBS V8 , whose drive technology he also used. The body design came from Ogles chief designer Tom Karen . The Sotheby Special was designed as a three-seater coupé; the third seat was installed behind the front seats across the direction of travel. He carried pop-up headlights and a spacious, glazed passenger compartment. The belt line running upwards over the rear wheel and merging into the rear section was a design feature that was generally perceived as elegant and was blatantly copied from the Leyland Princess introduced in 1975 . The most striking detail of the Ogle Coupé were 22 round tail lights: two horizontally arranged rows of round lights. Four flashing lights were installed on each side, which, when actuated, would light up one after the other from the inside out. The fifth generation of the Ford Thunderbird , the so-called Glamorbirds from 1967, had a similar gimmick . The numerous brake lights changed their brightness depending on the intensity with which the driver braked.
The first vehicle was manufactured in 1971. It was initially painted blue and had gold stripes. It thus corresponded to the color scheme of the Sotheby cigarette brand . When the cigarette could not establish itself on the market, the car was given the colors of the Embassy brand - also belonging to the Wills Group - which the British Formula 1 team Hill used to advertise. The car then painted white and red was called the Embassy Ogle . The first car was destroyed in a traffic accident.
In 1973 a second copy was made, which now used the platform of the Aston Martin V8 I (which was essentially identical to that of the Aston Martin DBS V8). The car had a manual transmission and was painted red with a green roof. The price of the car was quoted at £ 28,000, three and a half times that of a factory Aston Martin V8. The vehicle still exists today.
literature
- Andrew Noakes: Aston Martin fascination . Parragon Publishing, Bath 2006, ISBN 1-40547-900-0 , p. 95.