Aston Martin Garage
About this location
Audio Transcript
This building has lived two very different lives.
Long before it became associated with Aston Martin, it formed part of Walton’s famous Hepworth Studios, one of the earliest film production studios in Britain. According to local tradition, the upper floor, with its distinctive wooden slatted structure, may even have been used as a private workspace by the legendary silent film star Charlie Chaplin during his time in Walton.
In the years that followed, the site became home to Hersham and Walton Motors, better known as HWM. Founded by racing enthusiasts George Abecassis and John Heath, HWM developed from a local garage into one of Britain’s most successful post-war racing teams.
During the early 1950s, HWM competed at the highest levels of international motorsport, building cars that raced in Formula Two and Formula One. Their drivers competed across Britain and Europe, helping to establish Walton-on-Thames as an unlikely centre of motor racing excellence.
In 1951, HWM became an Aston Martin dealer, beginning a relationship that continues to this day. Remarkably, it remains the world’s longest-established Aston Martin dealership.
As you stand here, you’re looking at a building that reflects two of Walton’s most remarkable stories: the birth of British filmmaking and the golden age of British motor racing.
Further Information
Hersham and Walton Motors (HWM) is the world’s longest established Aston Martin business (having acquired the franchise in 1951) and is well known as a racing car constructor. As a constructor, it is best known for its involvement in Formula Two from 1950 to 1953 and Formula One in 1954.
When HWM owners George Abecassis and John Heath went racing together from 1946 and in 1948 they built a streamlined sports racing car on the chassis of a Sports Alta, and thus embarked upon the construction of racing cars and racing sports cars at their motor works in Walton-on-Thames.
From 1950 to 1952, HWM achieved remarkable success in Formula Two but when the international Formula changed in 1954, John Heath constructed a works car to compete in Formula One. HWM abandoned the new Formula One after two appearances as their car was seriously outclassed. Meanwhile, the first Jaguar-engined HWM sports racing car had appeared in 1953, and this had some success with George Abecassis at the wheel. From then on until 1957, the team was involved in sports car racing both in Britain and on the continent, sometimes beating their Jaguar and Aston Martin Works competitors. After John Heath was killed on the 1956 Mille Miglia in Italy in an HWM Works car, Abecassis did not wish to continue and the works racing programme continued for just a year.
HWM is today owned by George Abecassis’s business partner Mike Harting (ex. Aston Martin) and his family. HWM trades as HWM Aston Martin and HWM Alfa Romeo and is an Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo dealership.
