Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 8 i Aston Martin Driver

MY WIFE usually has as much interest in cars as I have in painting the living room. But when I mentioned to her about this special edition of AMD that celebrates 60 years of the DB5, even she seemed impressed. Admittedly her first reaction was, “Who do you think you are? James Bond?” but it’s due to the car’s long and successful connection with the famed celluloid spy why she, like everyone else in the world, not only knows and recognises the DB5 but understands its allure. Yet as the several features in this issue dedicated to the model show, there’s more to it than simply being 007’s machine gun-wielding company car. A drive in a beautiful recently restored example reveals that, at its heart, the DB5 was one of…

The new location brings the highest levels of the iconic British brand’s bespoke service, Q by Aston Martin, to North America for the very first time, providing the most sophisticated luxury specification experience available anywhere in the world. The new location will serve as a showcase and launch venue for Aston Martin’s latest products, from unique special builds to limited-edition models and newcomers to Aston Martin’s current portfolio. As part of a custom-made appointment, clients will be able to visualise their personalised Aston Martin on a 10.5m x 3.5m LED wall capable of providing an ultra-high definition, 360-degree view of any Aston Martin in real-life size. A live video link from Manhattan to Aston Martin’s design studio in Gaydon, UK, then enables real-time communication with the brand’s designers and the…

WHEN IT comes to vehicles, stylists may steal all the limelight, but it’s what’s underneath that can make or break a model. A sports car may be beautiful, it may be powerful, it may be fast, but if it doesn’t handle and lacks the substance to match the looks, then it can easily be game over. Fortunately for Aston Martin, it had Harold Beach making sure that its machines lived up to everything their appearances promised. Without his considerable engineering expertise in chassis and suspension design from 1950 through to 1978, cars from the DB4 through to the V8 might have felt and behaved very differently. His contributions to the company were enormous, yet he was content to remain a behind-the-scenes boffin, away from all the glory. Because of this,…

IT MUST have been a scene worthy of a James Bond film. In the dead of night, a team of thieves broke into an airport hangar and stole something of immense value. It was then loaded onto a cargo plane that disappeared into the darkness, never to be seen again. Yet what those daring robbers were after wasn’t gold, diamonds, or a top-secret weapon with the potential to destroy the world, but rather Bond’s own car, the original Aston Martin DB5 that was driven by Sean Connery in Goldfinger. Following the film’s 1964 release, its many clever gadgets made the silver coupe undeniably the most famous car in the world. And due to 007 driving a DB5 in another eight Bond films, from Thunderball in 1965 to the most recent,…

THIS IS a car that shouldn’t exist for two very important reasons. Firstly, Aston Martin never officially produced a V8 version of the DB5. And secondly, as a development mule it would normally have been destroyed once its work was over. Yet here it is, a Newport Pagnell-built V8 version of Aston’s most famous model. Although the car breaks all the rules, it still represents an important and specific moment in Aston Martin’s history. The reason behind the car’s existence is simple. When Aston needed to test the new V8 designed by Polish engineer, Tadek Marek, in early 1966, it produced a unique car using mainly surplus parts. Newport Pagnell’s experimental department took a DB6 platform, removed the rear end and created a new one that would accept either a…

Despite qualifying second in Thursday’s Hyperpole session, a podium had initially looked unlikely for the number 25 car – driven by Ahmad Al Harthy, Michael Dinan and Charlie Eastwood – after it had dropped outside the top 15 following its first pit stop. But as rain, safety cars and caution periods made conditions challenging, the Aston Martin fought back to third place with two and a half hours to go at which point Eastwood climbed aboard for his final stint. He closed a 20-second gap on the car ahead and passed it around the outside with 90 minutes left to take over second place, where he would finish. TF Sport’s team principal Tom Ferrier said, “The result is a testament to the Aston Martin Vantage GTE. It’s the ultimate GT…

THE ASTON Martin DB5 can be described in many ways: beautiful, powerful, and desirable are just three adjectives that perfectly fit this now iconic model. Yet the one thing it can’t be called is practical. With its low roof line, lack of rear interior space and modest boot, even an original Mini would be a better choice for the supermarket run. Ironically, this is the issue that faced Aston Martin’s then owner, (Sir) David Brown. Something of an outdoorsman, the car didn’t offer enough room for his polo gear or Labrador. Legend has it that in September 1965 he took the dog into an Aston Martin board meeting, put his four-legged friend on the long table and said, “Build me something he can sit in.” “Something of an outdoorsman, the…

IT’S SURPRISING how many of us have unexpected relatives. Former American presidents Barack Obama and George W Bush, for example, are apparently tenth cousins while the comedian, Josh Widdicombe, is a descendant of the 14th century British monarch, King Edward I. Even more amazingly, my wife is said to be related to Sir Isaac Newton. Yet perhaps the most unexpected family members are the Aston Martin DB7 and Jaguar XJS. Despite being as different in character and image as my wife is from a 17th century astronomer, physicist, and mathematician, with one heavily based on the other, they aren’t so much distant relatives as non-identical twins. But like all siblings, with their production overlapping by a couple of years, it made the pair rivals. So, like choosing between two very…

IT SEEMS a pity that during the Nineties MI5’s Q branch equipped James Bond with a series of boring BMWs when his preferred brand for almost 30 years, Aston Martin, had an absolute goliath of a car in its arsenal, the Virage-based Vantage. With a twin supercharged 5.3-litre V8, what it lacked in weapons and gadgetry it made up for with sheer brute force. Perhaps the real reason why Q switched Bond over to a boring 5-Series was due to the time it took to arrive. Although the Virage had debuted in 1989, it would take another three years for the Vantage version to finally make an appearance, plenty of time for Q to lose interest and do a deal with MI5’s local BMW dealer instead. Yet with the updated…

RISK COMES from not knowing what you’re doing,” Warren Buffett, the successful American businessman, once said. Although it must have been a gamble for Martin Pugsley and Tim Lewis to leave an established Aston Martin specialist to branch out on their own, it would have been lessened due to their extensive knowledge of the cars they’d be working on. Both Martin and Tim started their careers as apprentices for the race division of established Aston Martin specialist RS Williams, which at the time was based in Brixton, south London. Martin was first, joining in the mid-Seventies. “My dad was a chauffeur and I was always into cars,” Martin tells me. “In 1975 my uncle was the manager of a sheet metal company based next door to RS Williams. He heard…

To celebrate the success of its Formula 1 team, Aston Martin has released a special version of the DBX707. Named after the brand’s Formula 1 challenger, the AMR23 Edition features a combination of unique colour and trim features by Aston Martin’s bespoke service, Q by Aston Martin. This includes Podium Green paint, a unique ‘Q by Aston Martin’ bumper badge and Aston Martin Racing Green brake calipers. There are also lime accents to the sculptured carbon body kit reminiscent of the AMR23 F1 car. Inside, there’s lime contrast stitching, carbon fibre veneers and dark satin with carbon fibre jewellery. The AMR23 logo also appears on the door sills to leave occupants in no doubt of the Aston Martin racing bloodline. “The AMR23 Edition takes DBX707 to a new level of…

The work of renowned designer William Towns, with its twin-turbocharged 5.3-litre V8 engine producing 600bhp and its proposed 237mph top speed would have made it the fastest production car in the world when it debuted in 1980. But while it did reach 192mph during testing at MIRA, the Bulldog was never quite able to top the magic 200mph mark. Aston had originally planned to build 15 to 20 Bulldogs, but only one was ever completed, and after reputedly being sold in 1981 to a Middle Eastern prince, the car disappeared. It was recently discovered and purchased by renowned collector Philip Sarofim who had one goal: to see the car pass the double ton, just as Towns and Aston Martin’s then chairman, Victor Gauntlett, dreamed of. In early 2020, the Shropshire-based…

TOGETHER WITH the original Mini and Land Rover Series 1, the Aston Martin DB5 is one of a handful of British cars that’s instantly recognisable. You don’t need to be a motoring expert to know what it is or what it represents; the epitome of Sixties cool. But while the Mini helped to bring motoring to the masses and the Land Rover made four-wheel drive mainstream for the first time, the DB5 has always been a low-volume niche model, only affordable by the well-heeled, more so today due to their current six-figure values. So, why has the car become so famous? Judging by this beautifully presented 1965 Californian Sage Green example that’s been freshly restored by Chiltern Aston Centre, looks have clearly played their part in the car’s now legendary…

WHETHER USED to describe the remains of yesterday’s lunch or yours truly every time a playground football team was picked, the term ‘leftover’ never symbolises anything good. It’s usually reserved for what’s unwanted, unneeded and, unused. Yet it was due to Aston Martin using leftover parts in the mid-Sixties that resulted in the company producing what would become one of the prettiest and now most sought-after models from the entire David Brown era, the Short Chassis Volante. With it being the first to be called this now legendary name, unlike my school football career, despite its dodgy start in life, the car’s place in the company’s history is assured. When production of the DB5 ended in September 1965, Aston Martin discovered 37 of the car’s chassis hadn’t been used. Since…

THERE IS always a danger, with widely revered experiences and items, that you can lose track of the reality amid the myth. And while there are scores of ‘top ten grand tourer’ lists out there that put the Aston Martin DB5 squarely in first place, the odds are that some writers have never even sat in a DB5, let alone driven one. The only way to verify such statements is to test the car – not in isolation, but against period rivals that the would-be Aston Martin owner might have considered as alternative purchases. At over £4,000 in 1963 there are few cars that really stack up – the Jensen CV-8 was 25 percent cheaper, the Gordon Keeble was a new and untried brand produced in tiny numbers, and the…

THE V8 Vantage produced between 2005 and 2017 can look far too tempting on paper: a sub-five seconds 0–60mph time with a top speed of between 174mph and 190mph, a dry-sump’d quad-cam 4,280cc or 4,735cc all-aluminium V8 engine mated to a six-speed manual gearbox or a six- or eight-speed semiautomatic Sportshift, bonded aluminium bodywork and resale values that start from around £25k. So, what’s the catch? Find a good example that has been looked after and continue to be meticulous with maintenance, and whilst we cannot guarantee you’ll have trouble-free motoring for life, you certainly stand a better chance of appreciating the exhilarating performance and handling this supercar boasted when it was new and why it worried the likes of the Porsche 911. Based on Aston Martin’s VH Platform, rumblings…