Aston Martin DB9 and Vanquish E-Book

James Taylor

• Herausgeber: The Crowood Press
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Seitenzahl: 285

Beschreibung

Aston Martin broke new ground with the Vanquish at the start of the 21st century, having previewed the model with a fully driveable prototype called Project Vantage at the Detroit Show in 1998. The Vanquish became the company's new flagship model, with a sleek and readily recognisable shape penned by Ian Callum that would later be further developed for the slightly less expensive (but no less exotic) DB9. The importance of these two models to Aston Martin went far beyond publicity and the company image. For the Vanquish, a completely new and highly advanced body structure had been created, and this was further developed for the DB9 as the VH platform. Deliberately designed to provide flexibility and underpin further new models, this went on to become the basis of every new Aston Martin in the early years of the century. This book tells the complete story of the DB9 and Vanquish, the models that established a new and successful era for the company that made them.

Leseprobe

TITLES IN THE CROWOOD AUTOCLASSICS SERIES

Alfa Romeo 105 Series Spider

Alfa Romeo 916 GTV & Spider

Alfa Romeo 2000 and 2600

Alfa Romeo Alfasud

Aston Martin DB7

Aston Martin DB9 and Vanquish

Aston Martin V8

BMW E30

BMW M3

BMW M5

BMW Z3 and Z4

Classic Jaguar XK – The Six-Cylinder Cars

Classic Mini Specials and Moke

Ferrari 308, 328 & 348

Frogeye Sprite

Ginetta: Road & Track Cars

Jaguar E-Type

Jaguar F-Type

Jaguar Mks 1 & 2, S-Type & 420

Jaguar XJ-S

Jensen V8

Lamborghini Diablo

Land Rover Discovery

Land Rover Freelander

Lotus Elan

Lotus Elise & Exige 1995–2020

Lotus Esprit

MGA

MGB

Mazda MX-5

Mercedes-Benz ‘Fintail’ Models

Mercedes-Benz Pontons

Mercedes-Benz S-Class 1972–2013

Mercedes SL Series

Mercedes-Benz SL & SLC 107 Series

Mercedes-Benz Saloon Coupé

Mercedes-Benz W123

Mercedes-Benz W124

Mercedes-Benz W126 S-Class 1979–1991

Mercedes-Benz W201 (190)

Mercedes W113

Morgan 4/4: The First 75 Years

Morgan Plus 8

NSU Ro 80

Peugeot 205

Porsche 924/928/944/968

Porsche Boxster and Cayman

Porsche Carrera – The Air-Cooled Era 1953–1998

Porsche Air-Cooled Turbos 1974–1996

Porsche Carrera - The Water-Cooled Era 1998–2018

Porsche Water-Cooled Turbos 1979–2019

Range Rover First Generation

Range Rover Second Generation

Range Rover Sport 2005–2013

Range Rover Third Generation

Reliant Three-Wheelers

Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud

Rover 800 Series

Rover P5 & P5B

Rover P6: 2000, 2200, 3500

Rover SDI

Saab 92-96V4

Saab 99 and 900

Shelby and AC Cobra

Toyota MR2

Triumph Spitfire and GT6

Triumph TR6

TVR 1946–1982

TVR Cars of the Peter Wheeler Era

Volkswagen Karmann Ghia and Cabriolet

Volvo 1800

Volvo Amazon

First published in 2024 byThe Crowood Press LtdRamsbury, MarlboroughWiltshire SN8 2HR

[email protected]

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2024

© James Taylor 2024

All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

James Taylor has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

ISBN 978 0 7198 4317 4

Cover design by Blue Sunflower Creative

CONTENTS

Introduction and Acknowledgements

Timeline

CHAPTER 1 ASTON MARTIN, THE COMPANY

CHAPTER 2 VANQUISH DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 3 THE V12 VANQUISH, 2001–2004

CHAPTER 4 THE V12 VANQUISH S, 2004–2007

CHAPTER 5 A NEW DB MODEL

CHAPTER 6 THE EARLY DB9, 2003–2008

CHAPTER 7 MOTOR SPORT: THE DBR9 AND DBRS9

CHAPTER 8 THE MID-PERIOD DB9, 2009–2012

CHAPTER 9 THE LATER DB9, 2013–2016

CHAPTER 10 PURCHASE AND OWNERSHIP

APPENDIX A BUILDING THE DB9

APPENDIX B PAINT COLOURS

Index

Image Credits

INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Aston Martin name conjures up images of glamorous high-performance machinery, and rightly so. Despite a difficult period – one of many in the company’s lifetime – in the later years of the twentieth century, the marque reinvented itself with stunning success at the start of the new century. The New Era cars were spearheaded by the Vanquish, which set the tone for the models to follow with its timeless shape and superb V12 engine. Within a couple of years of its 2001 launch, it had been promoted to the position of range flagship and had been joined by a less expensive but no less exciting model called the DB9.

These are the cars covered by this book, which also takes a brief look at the short-lived Virage that was intended to fill a position between them in the market. Although newer models have now taken their place in Aston Martin showrooms, there remains considerable respect for the Vanquish and DB9, which have slid seamlessly into the category of modern classics.

Telling their story has been a fascinating experience, but it could not have been done successfully without the kind assistance of the Aston Martin Heritage Trust. For many of the pictures used in this book I have drawn on Aston Martin’s own publicity material, and to supplement that I have added a few of my own photographs and a number drawn from social media, whose originators have kindly made them available for further use. I am very grateful to them all.

James TaylorOxfordshireApril 2023

TIMELINE

Vanquish

DB9

1998

Project Vantage concept at Detroit Show

2001

Launch at Geneva (March)

2002

Appears in

Die Another Day

, a 007 film

2003

Sports Dynamic Pack available

Launch at Frankfurt Show

2004

Vanquish Zagato RoadsterVanquish S

Volante introduced

2005

Racing DBR9 and DBRS9 introduced

2006

Last Vanquish built

Sports pack available

2007

Boniolo Vanquish EG Shooting Brake

GT1 Class win at Le Mans

2008

Le Mans editionFacelift for 2009 season

2010

Minor facelift for 2011 season

2011

Carbon Black, Morning Frost and Quantum Silver editions

2012

Major improvements for 2013 season

2013

DB9 Hybrid (May)Spyder Zagato Centennial (July)

2014

Carbon edition (March)

2015

DB9 GT introduced (June)GT Bond edition (September)

2016

‘Last of 9’ edition and end of production (July)

CHAPTER 1

ASTON MARTIN, THE COMPANY

When the wealthy and successful British tractor manufacturer David Brown bought Aston Martin for £20,500 in 1947, he was both indulging a whim and getting a bargain. The Aston Martin company had reached a low point in its existence – so low, in fact, that it had offered itself for sale through a classified advertisement in The Times newspaper as a ‘high-class motor business’.

David Brown, clearly in acquisitive mood, bought the ailing Lagonda company later the same year for a further £52,500. He merged the two companies into one, renaming it Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd, and setting it up in new premises at Hanworth Park in Feltham, Middlesex, not far from its earlier factory. Here, he had his engineers draw up the first of the new company’s cars. They would bear his initials to distinguish them from those that had gone before, and would become the first of the legendary DB-series Aston Martins.

In Aston Martin, what David Brown was buying was indeed a ‘high-class motor business’, even though it was a small one. The company had developed a formidable reputation as a maker of high-performance sporting machinery, but it had never really made much money, and the disruption of the 1939–1945 war, when the Aston Martin works had been commandeered by the Air Ministry for the manufacture of aircraft parts, had certainly not helped.

The highly recognisable winged Aston Martin emblem is seen here on the nose of a DB2/4 dating from the 1950s.

The original Aston Martin company had been founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin, a wealthy car enthusiast, and Robert Bamford, an engineer. Since 1912, the two had been in business as Bamford & Martin, with premises in London’s Callow Street from which they sold Singer cars and serviced other makes, including GWK and Calthorpe. Lionel Martin had a Singer-based ‘special’ that he raced enthusiastically at Aston Hill, near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire, and when the partners decided to try making their own car, the combination of the Aston and Martin names was a natural choice.

The first Aston Martin was another ‘special’, this time with a Coventry-Simplex engine in a 1908 Isotta-Fraschini voiturette racing chassis. By March 1915, Bamford and Martin had their own design ready, and they also had new premises at Henniker Mews in Kensington – but the Great War had broken out a year earlier. Both men were called to serve their country, and all the original Aston Martin equipment and machinery was sold to the Sopwith Aviation Company.

Undeterred, the two got together again after the war, and by 1920 they were in business at Abingdon Road in Kensington. From 1921 the company had its Aston Martin Special Sports in low-volume production, but Robert Bamford had already left. Despite an injection of funds from the wealthy amateur racing driver Count Louis Zborowski, and in spite of some notable successes in major race events, Aston Martin went bankrupt in 1924. It was bought by Lady Charnwood, and staggered on for another year before failing again. In 1926 the factory closed and Lionel Martin left the business – but later that year Lady Charnwood and a group of investors revitalised the company and relocated it to Feltham, where it moved into the Victoria Road premises formerly occupied by the Whitehead Aircraft Company.

Key among the investors in the new company were Bill Renwick and Augustus (‘Bert’) Bertelli, who had previously been partners in an automotive business and now brought their ideas to bear on the future of Aston Martin. Though production levels were always low – an Aston Martin was a more or less bespoke creation intended for those who had the means to indulge in the fashionable sport of motor racing – the company gained a formidable reputation through racing successes. It was this reputation that persuaded one investor after another to keep the company alive when it failed yet again in 1932. But by 1936 it had become clear that the company could not remain profitable if it focused so heavily on competition machinery. That year a decision was made to focus on road cars, and as a consequence production was increased to over 200 cars a year for the rest of the 1930s.

The Aston Martin Atom never made production, although prototypes were produced from 1939 to 1944. It was a little sports saloon designed to bring the company wider sales.

In 1939, Aston Martin looked at expanding production by adding a smaller car to its portfolio, a little sports saloon with lightweight aluminium bodywork called the Atom. However, that project was necessarily suspended during the war years, and although it was revived with a new engine when peace came, Aston Martin floundered for a while. Even though buyers were grateful to get their hands on any kind of car at all during the years of austerity that immediately followed the war, the economic circumstances of the time did not favour expensive and individualistic performance types.

THE DAVID BROWN CARS

The first car to come from the Feltham works under its new post-war ownership was called the DB1, and it was a little tentative (which was understandable in view of the times) and more than a little odd in appearance. However, it was the next car that demonstrated the wisdom of David Brown’s purchases. In 1949 he entered a new car at Le Mans that combined the 6-cylinder Lagonda engine (designed by W.O. Bentley) with an aerodynamic coupé body based on a space-frame of square-section tubes. The following year this entered production as the DB2, and it pointed the way ahead for Aston Martin.

Available as a 107bhp DB2 or a 123bhp DB2 Vantage (the first use of a name that would become famous), the new car was a grand touring coupé that was wholly capable of being used as a track racer if its owner so wished. It was noisy, cramped inside, and not quite as able on the track as subsequent legend would have it, but it undoubtedly looked the part and (quite literally) made all the right noises. It was also considerably more robust and better built than most of the hand-crafted Italian cars that were its natural competitors.

The DB1 was the first post-war production Aston Martin. Though not particularly attractive, it made its own statement about the company’s performance intentions.

The DB2 coupé defined Aston Martin very well in the early 1950s. The shape was exquisite, despite that huge air intake just below the number-plate.

Tidied up visually, and with more power and more seats (although rear accommodation was still an afterthought), the DB2/4 of 1952 continued with the same successful overall appearance.

Sporting intent: though very much an early 1950s design, the DB2/4 looked powerful from every angle.

Those who wanted open-air motoring were certainly not ignored, and this elegant and desirable machine is the drophead coupé variant of the DB2/4.

Racing certainly improves the breed … and this is the 1956 DBR1, a sports racing model designed to compete in the World Sportscar Championship. In 1959 it won both that Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans; pictured is the actual Le Mans winner.

Aston Martin followed up with a ‘works’ racing programme that helped gain publicity for the cars. Some dedicated racing cars appeared: the DB3 in 1952, followed by the DB3S a year later. Meanwhile the DB2 evolved into an occasional four-seater (the 1952 DB2/4), its original 2.6-litre engine was increased in size to 3 litres, and a rather stylish drophead body was offered alongside the original coupé. The DB2/4 MkII followed in 1955 with more power and a new fixed-head coupé body, and then in 1957 the further developed DB MkIII arrived. It was this model that, amongst other things, introduced a new front grille shape that would go on to become an Aston Martin visual trademark.

THE MOVE TO NEWPORT PAGNELL

The Astons of the early 1950s were not assembled at the company’s premises in Feltham, but at the premises of the coachbuilder Tickford at Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire. The chassis were constructed at the David Brown works in Farsley, Yorkshire, while the bodies were being built by Mulliners of Birmingham. The two came together at the Tickford works, where the bodies were painted and trimmed before being mated to the chassis to create complete cars. For the Tickford company, the Aston Martin contract was important business, and very necessary as the market for bespoke coachbuilt bodies gradually shrank.

Now with Italian styling to add to their charms, the Astons of the 1960s were spearheaded by the DB4. This is the short-wheelbase DB4 GT, a superbly balanced design.

When Tickford’s ran into financial trouble in 1954 it was almost automatic for David Brown to buy the company. From early 1955 the Newport Pagnell factory was turned over entirely to work for Aston Martin and Lagonda, and it became the company’s assembly plant. The Aston Martin engineering and test departments, and the administrative offices, would remain at Feltham for a few more years, but gradually all these functions were centred on Newport Pagnell. So the DB4, new in 1958, became the first Aston Martin to be manufactured and assembled wholly at Newport Pagnell. Even so, the cars continued to wear identification plates that gave the Feltham address for many more years. Aston Martin Lagonda finally left its old Middlesex home in 1964, by which time DB4 production had ended and had given way to that of the DB5. Aston Martin Works, the company’s heritage division, remains at Newport Pagnell to this day.

Meanwhile, Italian styling had come to the fore in Europe, and was even attracting interest from American car makers as well. Italian cars were also making a major impact as motor sport returned to the agenda in the early 1950s, and David Brown was shrewd enough not only to consider the Italians purely as the sporting opposition, but to embrace what they had to offer. Aston Martin sent three of the DB2/4 MkII chassis to Carrozzeria Touring in Milan to be given ‘spider’ (open sports) bodies. It was the start of an association that would stand Aston Martin in good stead; later, Touring would play a part in developing the Superleggera bodywork of the DB4 model.

THE CLASSIC ERA

Over the next decade and a half, Aston Martin created some remarkably capable, devastatingly attractive, and much lauded sports cars. They had their faults: they were typically rather heavy despite the extensive use of aluminium alloys in their bodies, and they tended to be rather brutal in contrast with the delicacy of many Italian-made rivals. Yet the 1958 DB4, 1963 DB5 and 1965 DB6 created a legend that endures to this day. The cars all depended on coachwork designed by Touring in Milan, and all were powered by derivatives of a twin-overhead-camshaft 6-cylinder engine designed by engineer Tadek Marek in the mid-1950s.

The car that took Aston Martin into the public consciousness was the DB5, best known as the car from the James Bond 007 film Goldfinger. This is a standard 1965 DB5 coupé, without the special gadgets added to the film car.

The 6-cylinder twin-overhead-camshaft engine of the DB5 was impressive to look at as well as being a superb performer.

The DB6 continued the lines already established by the DB4 and DB5. This Volante convertible derivative is seen with its folding top erected.

It was during this period that Aston Martin also made one of its smartest business moves ever. The first James Bond 007 film based on Ian Fleming’s novels about the fictional British professional spy was a massive box-office hit during 1962, and the team behind it followed up with a second film in 1963. A third was soon in the planning, and for this the production company wanted a glamorous car for the hero to drive. Jaguar turned them down, but Aston Martin were just about to release the DB5 and agreed to provide a pair of cars for filming.

The original script only called for the car to be fitted with a device to create a smokescreen that would hinder pursuing vehicles, but the fertile minds on the production team added an array of gadgets that included a revolving licence plate, an ejector seat, and machine guns concealed behind the sidelights. When the film Goldfinger appeared in 1964, the resulting publicity for the DB5 was enormous. A special scale model made by Corgi Toys became a huge hit as well, and from then on the name of Aston Martin became inseparable from the James Bond 007 franchise. Even though other car makers have had their moments in the sun too, the DB5 appeared in six more James Bond films – first Thunderball in 1965, and then, after a pause, Goldeneye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), Casino Royale (2006), Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015). Aston Martin has exploited the connection ever since.

Aston’s first great classic era was brought to a close with the DBS, which was originally intended to have a V8 engine but instead took on the 4-litre 6-cylinder from the DB6 when the new engine was not ready in time. Even though a more powerful DBS Vantage was offered, the car suffered criticism for not delivering performance significantly better than its predecessor. Despite its stylish new body designed by William Towns, which maintained the classic coupé proportions but was slick in the latest idiom, and despite a new De Dion rear suspension to improve the handling, the DBS was not entirely what Aston Martin customers wanted. It nevertheless took the company to the end of what is still sometimes seen as its best decade.

THE UNHAPPY YEARS

The DBS got its much awaited V8 engine in 1970: a 5.3-litre all-alloy unit designed by Tadek Marek that put out around 350bhp on its introduction. The car was renamed a DBS V8 and proved brutally fast, but that was not quite enough to win back the customers who had gone elsewhere at the end of the 1960s. The Bosch fuel-injection system on early models needed careful maintenance, and fuel consumption could be alarmingly high if the cars were used as their makers expected. However, before much could be done about these early disappointments, a great deal went wrong for Aston Martin.

The problems began in 1972 when financial trouble obliged David Brown to sell both his tractor company and Aston Martin Lagonda. Although Ford showed some interest, the car company was sold to Company Developments Ltd, who did as their reputation suggested they would and began to slim down the company in order to maximise profits. A year later, the first oil crisis sent the prices of petrol at the pumps sky high, and large and thirsty cars of all types became hard to sell. Aston Martin was soon in trouble, as sales tumbled and the quality of its products fell thanks to cost cutting by its new owners.

Company Developments responded by creating a two-model range that was intended to bring in the buyers. The DBS V8 evolved into the AM V8 and its price was increased by over 25 per cent, while a cheaper model called the Vantage was introduced, using the old 6-cylinder engine of the DBS in the latest body. The customers were not impressed with either model, and only 70 of the Vantage were made before Aston Martin entered receivership at the end of 1974.

A consortium of businessmen bought the company from the receiver in 1975 and began trading again as Aston Martin Lagonda (1975) Ltd. They retained the DBS V8 model, which staggered on through several improvements as the Aston Martin V8 saloon until 1989, all the while becoming increasingly dated. Against that background, the company hatched a bold plan to produce a car that would appeal strongly to the emerging taste for Western luxury goods in Middle Eastern markets.

That car was announced in 1976 as the Aston Martin Lagonda, although actual production did not begin until 1978. Powered by the V8 engine, and stuffed full of what seemed like avant-garde technology at the time, this four-door saloon had unforgettable wedge-shaped styling by William Towns. To some eyes it was simply garish, but it was a major hit with the media and put the Aston Martin name in the spotlight once again. The company attempted a second bite of the cherry with the Bulldog coupé concept in 1979, with another wedge shape from Towns and a 600bhp twin-turbocharged derivative of their V8 engine. Not quite capable of reaching its 320km/h (200mph) target, the car nevertheless achieved 307km/h (191mph) on test and gained more valuable publicity for Aston Martin, although cost considerations ensured that it would never go into production.

Meanwhile the company soldiered on through the end of the 1970s and into the 1980s with its V8-powered coupés in a quite bewildering variety of forms, which included a Vantage model that in 1977 returned the use of the name to its traditional position for a high-performance derivative. From mid-1978 there was a Volante convertible derivative too, and with the performance enhancements this had the full title of Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante.

THE VICTOR GAUNTLETT YEARS

By the end of the 1970s, Aston Martin’s outlook was bleak. Worldwide sales had dropped to 150 cars a year, and production was no longer sustainable. However, in 1980 the company was rescued by investments from Victor Gauntlett of Pace Petroleum, a long-time car enthusiast, and Tim Hearley of CH Industrials. They took over as joint owners in early 1981, when Gauntlett became Executive Chairman.

An energetic few years followed, with sponsorship of racing at AMOC events and the development of a Group C racer (the Nimrod), which came third in the Manufacturers’ Championship in both 1982 and 1983 and also finished seventh in the 1982 24 Hours of Le Mans. The lack of new production models was beginning to tell, however, and Aston Martin built just 30 cars to meet demand in 1982. Trading conditions persuaded Gauntlett to sell Pace Petroleum in September 1983, while he sold his share in Aston Martin to the Greek shipping tycoon Peter Livanos. Gauntlett nevertheless remained as Aston Martin Chairman.

The 1980s were characterised by speculation and see-sawing prices in all fields, and by a new appetite for making money quickly. Changing social expectations also saw a major change in the demographic of Aston Martin buyers. Once characterised as the tweedy country set (at least in Britain), they were now increasingly bankers, entrepreneurs, lawyers and others who had found a way to attract wealth in the new situation. An Aston Martin became a symbol of that wealth as much as an expression of individuality. Meanwhile the models no longer in production attained the status of investments.

The company rose to the occasion. Chasing sales but remaining as true as possible to its own traditions, it commissioned the Italian coachbuilder Zagato (in which Victor Gauntlett had bought an interest) to design a sleek if somewhat angular coupé body for a shortened version of the existing V8-engined chassis. With a 430bhp version of the engine, it was claimed the car was capable of 300km/h (186mph). It was announced at the 1986 Geneva Show, but only as a drawing, and yet it immediately attracted orders. The original coupé sold just 52 copies before being withdrawn in 1990, and its production coincided with a peak in speculation on supercars from which Aston Martin drew benefit. A convertible version followed, of which just 37 examples were built.

The 1988 Virage was Aston’s first new car in twenty years, and it set the style for the big and brutal coupés of the following decade.

Victor Gauntlett, Aston Martin Chairman from 1981 to 1991, kept the company alive and relevant during a difficult period. He is standing in front of one of the Zagato cars he commissioned.

The success of the Zagato car helped provide the funds for Aston Martin to develop its first new car in twenty years, which was announced in 1988 as the Virage. Its V8 engine had been reworked by Callaway Engineering in the USA, with a 4-valve design that maintained outputs and performance in the face of increasingly tightening emissions requirements. The body was a sleek and curvaceous design with the classic coupé profile that had been drawn up by John Heffernan and Ken Greenley, who were automotive design tutors at the Royal College of Art in London. Meanwhile the chassis was the final version of the one designed by Harold Beach for the DB4, more than 30 years earlier.

FORD OWNERSHIP

In the meantime, another new chapter in the history of Aston Martin was about to begin. By the mid-1980s Gauntlett had recognised that the company needed a major injection of capital to safeguard its long-term future, and mentioned this at a chance meeting with Walter Hayes, Vice President of Ford of Europe. Hayes saw the potential of the brand, and after negotiations with the then owners, Ford bought a 75 per cent stake in Aston Martin in September 1987.

The DB range was continued under Ford ownership with the DB7, which may have had a lot of Jaguar in it but was nevertheless a very worthy Aston Martin. This is a DB7 GT, with the 6-cylinder engine.

The new V12 engine made its first appearance in the DB7 Vantage, and made very clear that Aston Martin now had a worthy powerplant of their own to take them through the first years of the new century.

Once they had reviewed the situation, Ford concluded that Aston Martin needed a new model that was less expensive than the Virage, as quickly as possible. This was going to require the sort of major engineering input that only Ford could provide, and as a result the American company acquired the remaining 25 per cent stake in Aston Martin during 1988. In 1991, Walter Hayes took over from Victor Gauntlett as the company’s Chairman.

Meanwhile events at Ford-owned Jaguar helped to shape the plans for a new Aston Martin. During 1990, Ford cancelled Jaguar’s planned F-type sports car. Tom Walkinshaw of TWR suggested building a new Jaguar on the existing XJ-S platform, and asked his own designer Ian Callum to draw up a suitable body shape. Jaguar rejected this, but Walter Hayes realised that it represented a cost-effective way of providing Aston Martin with the new model it needed. He asked Callum to modify his design to make it suitable for an Aston Martin, and had TWR at Kidlington undertake the necessary engineering, supercharging and re-working of a 6-cylinder Jaguar engine for the job.

The new model returned to earlier nomenclature, and took on the name of DB7. It was presented at the Geneva Show in 1993, and the following year production began at the factory in Banbury Road, Bloxham, where the Jaguar XJ220 had earlier been built. Anticipated production quantities were far greater than the old Newport Pagnell works could accommodate, although this remained active for production of the Virage. The DB7 became the only Aston Martin to have a steel monocoque construction, which was inherited from Jaguar: later models would depend on the lightweight aluminium that had been traditional to the earlier DB series cars.

Sales of the DB7 confirmed the wisdom of Ford’s decision to put the model into production. In 1995, Aston Martin produced 700 cars (including Virage models), which was more than at any time in its history. In 1997, a DB7 Volante convertible joined the coupé model in production, and in 1998 the company built the 2,000th example of the DB7. All this was achieved while maintaining the high degree of hand-building that had been an essential part of the Aston Martin image.

There was no Vantage specification yet, but that was in preparation, and in 1999 the DB7 Vantage was released with the superb new V12 engine that had been developed from a design by Ford in the USA. (There is more about the origins of this engine in Chapter 2.) This car proved such an immediate hit that the 6-cylinder version of the DB7 became virtually unsaleable and was discontinued later in the year. The DB7 as a model remained in production until 2004, by which time 7,000 examples had been built. At that time, it was the most numerous Aston Martin ever made – but subsequent models would eclipse it.

A NEW ERA, AND NEW OWNERS AGAIN

By this time, the era of Aston Martin’s history that is covered in this book had begun. As the chapters that follow make clear, Ford invested massively in both a new engine and in new structural technology to create a new platform, and together these achieved their purpose of propelling the Aston Martin brand back to the top of the supercar desirability charts. The first of the new high-tech models was the Vanquish, which was introduced in 2001 as a replacement for the top model Virage, and, after earlier product proposals had been rejected, the replacement for the DB7 was announced in 2003 as the DB9 (and not the DB8, for reasons explained in Chapter 5).

The new headquarters at Gaydon replaced both the former Jaguar-TWR plant that had been home to the DB7 and the older Newport Pagnell assembly plant.

A key figure in Aston Martin’s revival at the start of the 21st century was Dr Ulrich Bez.

The new platform, which originated with the Vanquish but had been further developed into a modular type by the time of the DB9, would go on to serve Aston Martin for nearly thirteen years and would underpin every new model between 2003 and 2016. And yet this advanced engineering technology was not enough to keep Aston Martin entirely out of difficulties, through no fault of the company’s new CEO, Dr Ulrich Bez, who had been put in place by Ford in mid-2000. While the models described in this book were in production, a somewhat turbulent business story was playing out in the background.

It sometimes seemed that things were never destined to go smoothly for Aston Martin. Just as the company seemed to have a coherent model range in place and an assured future, owner Ford began to seek significant economies across its global interests. This was the result of a major internal audit, which revealed that action needed to be taken immediately; among the early casualties was the Premier Automotive Group of European brands to which Aston Martin belonged. Beginning in 2006, the various marques were sold off: Volvo went to Geely in China, Jaguar and Land Rover were sold to Tata in India, and in August 2006 Ford announced it had engaged UBS AG to sell all or part of Aston Martin at auction.

On 12 March 2007 a consortium led by David Richards, the Chairman of British motor-sport company Prodrive, bought a majority holding in Aston Martin from Ford for £475 million. Ford retained a £40 million stake in the company. The consortium included a US investment banker and two Kuwaiti companies, but there was no direct involvement from Prodrive itself. Plans for future expansion were already in place, and Dr Ulrich Bez, who remained as Chief Executive Officer, stated in an interview that year that he believed Aston Martin needed to become more visible and build more cars. The company hoped to sell 7,000 cars during 2007, and in particular wanted to expand its sales in Italy, where it would take on the domestic brands of Ferrari and Maserati. The aim was to sell 275 cars there in 2007, up from 150 in 2006 and just 43 in 2004.

New models were of course in the pipeline, and on 19 July 2007 the last Vanquish S rolled out of the Newport Pagnell factory. This was also intended to be the last car made there (although that part of the plan would eventually be subverted), and work now began on converting the premises at Tickford Street into the Aston Martin Works heritage department. The plan at that stage was to concentrate all future production at the far more modern factory in Gaydon, although by March 2008 Aston Martin had negotiated a partnership with contract manufacturer Magna Steyr at Graz in Austria, where 2,000 cars were expected to be built a year.

The changes came thick and fast. It was also in 2008 that Aston Martin opened a dedicated test centre at the Nürburgring race track in Germany, and in September that year the company announced that it would revive the Lagonda name. Meanwhile, continued expansion saw the recruitment of more dealers in Europe and of the first two in China, where economic growth was opening new opportunities for Western luxury goods. While all this was happening, however, a global economic recession was building, and Aston Martin, no more immune to its effects than any other luxury brand, found itself obliged to cut its workforce from 1,850 to 1,250 by the end of the year.