Aston Martin!

Aston Martin 2009 DBS

The vehicle in Quantum of Solace is one smoking-hot vehicle.

By Dan Neil

With my rock-hard abs and murderous smile, Im frequently mistaken for James Bond. I open cans of Coke with my Walther PPK. I settle hotel bills with lethal kung fu finger strikes. A glimpse of my Omega Speedmaster has caused waitresses to spontaneously disrobe.

My charms, however, are somewhat diminished when I climb into my white Honda minivan. Really, the only time my sick-cool man-pantherism can achieve its maximum fullness is when Im obliged to test an Aston Martin.

I was initially offered a chance to drive an actual prop car from the latest Bond flick Quantum of Solace, an Aston Martin DBS in which actor Daniel Craigs alabaster butt had actually sat. I declined. The thought of my wife purring and pawing at the upholstery did not appeal.

Soon enough, Aston Martin sent around a proper 2009 DBS, doused in scintillant flint-gray paint and upholstered with black, quilted Alcantara leather. Its a modest runabout that costs around $280,000, which is, interestingly, about the median home price in Southern California.

No lasers, alas, no oil spreaders, no glove box-mounted defibrillator to treat the beauty-induced tachycardia. God, this is one smoking-hot car. My desire, the sheer want of it, stings my face like sleet.

Before you reach for your sustainable-softwood pencil and recycled stationery, yes, I know, I get it. Ive been co-opted by the oil fascists, the hyper-consumerist hypnotists, the evil marketers who sell the poison of materialism as cure for unhappiness.

Not only that, the Aston Martin, being British, plays into Americans Anglophile fixation on class and rank as a substitute for human decency. Somewhere Thorstein Veblen is sitting on a horse like Iron Eyes Cody, crying.

Please. Ordinarily, I would so rain space-based missiles down on you using my cellphone, but Ive got T-Mobile and I cant get a good signal from my office.

The DBS is not, perhaps, the ideal car for a spy, since the thing arrives with all the stealth of a marching band. This is an audacious car, big (nearly a foot longer than a Corvette), broad and low, with impossibly tight wheel-well clearances around the 20-inch rims and a canopy as narrowed as Cleopatras eye.

Aston Martins usual restraint in penmanship here surrenders to an orgy of strakes, ducts, aero channels and fender bulges cavorting across the aluminum and carbon-fiber bodywork. Yet theres harmony to the car, a strangely organic and unstrained quality as if it were a naturally occurring knot in the warp and weave of physics.

And then theres the moment when you plug the sapphire crystal key into the center dash-mounted starter receptacle. Theres a flash of crystalline red, then a foreboding thunder rises from under the hood. Uh-oh. Somebodys knickers are going walkabout.

Though its capable of 191 mph and will put a smoking borehole through the head of your typical Porsche 911, the DBS is neither the fastest nor most powerful of the six-figure exotic sports cars.

Mounted well back in the chassis is a 6.0-liter, 48-valve V12 engine producing an effortless 510 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque at a relatively high 5,750 rpm. To compare, the nose-to-nose rival Ferrari 599 GTB serves up 102 more hp and it weighs nearly the same as the DBS (3,828 pounds).

Meanwhile, there are two gearboxes available in the DBS, one a conventional manual six-speed and the other a paddle-shifted six-speed automatic transaxle. I tested a car with the automatic Touchtronic gearbox.

The factorys quoted figure for 0 to 100 kilometers per hour (0 to 62 mph) is 4.3 seconds not all that impressive. Ferraris, Lamborginis and even Corvettes are well down in the mid-3-second range. So, although it is still blazingly fast, the Aston simply doesnt have the pace of a true exotic. And you know, I could not care less.

Aston Martin could have hammered on the V12 for more low-end torque and more top-end horsepower. But it didnt. What it did was, at every turn, surrender some small and meaningless fraction of numerical performance lateral grip, top speed, braking distance for a holistic refinement and day-to-day drivability in every direction.

The suspension is quite taut and cinched down, but its not so flat and hard and unyielding that you wouldnt want to drive to Canada and back.

Likewise, the steering is light and micrometer precise, but there is enough softness on center that you can sneeze and not wind up in Fontana. The new carbon-ceramic brakes will stop a freight train, but the initial tip-in is measured, silky and progressive.

This is not an exotic sports car so much as a hyper-focused grand touring car, immensely powerful but also mature. And it shows in the thousand grace notes around the cabin: the appealing chronometer-style gauges; the oversized Hermes-style stitching; the unidirectional carbon weave pattern on the doors; the beautiful, blue-lighted switch gear against the piano black console fascia.

Everything is surgically precise, fitted, bespoke. The car dares to be swank and glamorous, to have a sense of style unto itself. The interior of the DBS makes the guts of the Ferrari 599 look like a Juarez swap meet.

As for gadgets, the DBS has two of particular note. The first is the Bang & Olufsen BeoSound audio system, with ultra-cool acoustic lens tweeters that seem to levitate out of the dash top. The second is utterly not cool that is the small disaster of the navigation system and display. The graphics are awful, the controls clumsy, the interface silly. The vendor of this hardware should be fed to the sharks.

Aston Martin

Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars, whose headquarters are at Gaydon, England. The company name is derived from the name of one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire.

From 1994 until 2007 Aston Martin was part of the Premier Automotive Group, a division of the Ford Motor Company. On 12 March 2007, it was purchased for £479 million (US$848 million) by joint-venture of Kuwait's investors of Investment Dar and Adeem Investment and by English-businessman John Sinders. Ford retained a US$77 million stake in Aston Martin, setting the total value of the company at US$925 million.

Many of the James Bond films feature an Aston Martin as Bond's car.

Aston Martin History

Aston Martin Foundation

Aston Martin was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. The two had joined forces as Bamford & Martin the previous year to sell cars made by Singer from premises in Callow Street, London where they also serviced GWK and Calthorpe vehicles. Martin raced specials at Aston Hill near Aston Clinton, and the pair decided to make their own vehicles. The first car to be named Aston Martin was created by Martin by fitting a four-cylinder Coventry-Simplex engine to the chassis of a 1908 Isotta-Fraschini. They acquired premises at Henniker Place in Kensington and produced their first car in March 1915. Production could not start because of the outbreak of World War I, and Martin joined the Admiralty and Bamford the Royal Army Service Corps. All machinery was sold to the Sopwith Aviation Company.

Aston Martin Mk II 1935

After the war the company was refunded at Abingdon Road, Kensington and a new car designed to carry the Aston-Martin name. Bamford left in 1920 and the company was revitalised with funding from Count Louis Zborowski. In 1922, Bamford & Martin produced cars to compete in the French Grand Prix, and the cars set world speed and endurance records at Brooklands. Three works Team Cars with 16 valve twin cam engines were built for racing and record breaking: chassis number 1914, later developed as the Green Pea; chassis number 1915, the Razor Blade record car; and chassis number 1916, later developed as the Halford Special. Approximately 55 cars were built for sale in two configurations, long chassis and short chassis. The company went bankrupt in 1924 and was bought by Lady Charnwood, who put her son John Benson on the board. The company failed again in 1925 and the factory closed in 1926, with Lionel Martin leaving.

Later that year, Bill Renwick, Augustus (Bert) Bertelli and a number of rich investors, including Lady Charnwood, took control of the company and renamed it Aston Martin Motors, and moved it to the former Whitehead Aircraft Limited works in Feltham. Renwick and Bertelli had been in partnership some years and had developed an overhead cam 4 cylinder engine, using Renwick's patented combustion chamber design, and had tested it in an Enfield Allday chassis. It was the only 'Renwick and Bertelli' motor car made. It was known as 'Buzzbox' and survives to this day.

They had planned to sell this engine to motor manufacturers, but having heard that the Aston Martin car was no longer in production they realised that they could capitalise on the reputation of the Aston Martin name (what we would now call the brand) to give themselves a head start in the production of a completely new car.

Between the years 1926 and 1937 Bertelli was the technical director of Aston Martin, and the designer of all subsequent Aston Martin cars during this period, these being known as the 'Bertelli cars'. They included the 1 1/2 litre 'T-type', the 'International, the 'Le Mans, the 'MKII' its racing derivative the 'Ulster, and the 2 litre 15/98 and its racing derivative the 'Speed Model'.

Mostly open two seater sports cars and mostly bodied by Bert Bertelli's brother Enrico (Harry)a small number of long chassis four seater tourers, dropheads and saloons were also produced.

Bertelli was very keen to race his cars and he was a very competent driver. One of the very few motor manufacturers to actually sit in and race the cars he designed and built , the competition no doubt 'improved the breed' and the 'LM' team cars were very successful in national and international motor racing including at Le Mans and the Mille Miglia.

Financial problems reappeared in 1932 and the company was rescued by L. Prideaux Brune who funded it for the following year before passing the company on to Sir Arthur Sutherland. In 1936, the company decided to concentrate on road cars. Car production had always been on a small scale and until the advent of World War II halted work only about 700 had been made. During the war years aircraft components were made.

Aston Martin The David Brown era

1958 Aston Martin DB Mark IIIIn 1947, David Brown Limited bought the company under the leadership of managing director Sir David Brown its "post-war saviour". David Brown also acquired Lagonda that year, and both companies shared resources and workshops. In 1955, David Brown bought the Tickford coachbuilding company and its site at Tickford Street in Newport Pagnell, and that was the beginning of the classic series of cars bearing the initials "DB". In 1950, the company announced the DB2, followed by the racing DB3 in 1957 and the Italian-styled 3.7 L DB4 in 1958. All the cars established a good racing pedigree for the firm, but the DB4 was the key to establishing the company's reputation, which was cemented by the famous DB5 in 1963. The company continued developing the "grand touring" style with the DB6 (1965-70), the DBS, and the DBS V8 (1967-72).

Aston Martin 1970s - Changing ownership

Despite the cars' appreciation in value, the company was often financially troubled. In 1972, it was sold to a Birmingham-based consortium, owned by William Willson, (MBE), and resold in 1975 to North American businessmen Peter Sprague and George Minden. The new owners pushed the company into modernizing its line, producing the V8 Vantage in 1977, the convertible Volante in 1978, and the one-off William Towns-styled Bulldog in 1980. Towns also styled the futuristic new Lagonda saloon, based on the V8 model.

In 1980 Aston-Martin had plans, which did not materialize, to buy MG, which they would have utilized as a sister marque, probably building smaller sports cars. Ideas were plotted to design a new model and they revealed to the press their approach to an 'updated' '1981' model MGB.

As worldwide sales of Aston Martin shrank to three per week, chairman Alan Curtis together with fellow shareholders American Peter Sprague and Canadian George Minden, had almost chosen to shut down the production side of the business and concentrate on service and restoration. Curtis attended the 1980 Pace sponsored Stirling Moss benefit day at Brands Hatch, and met fellow Farnham resident Victor Gauntlett.

Aston Martin 1980s - Victor Gauntlett

Gauntlett bought a 10% 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 a lot of publicity when it became the worlds fastest 4-seater production car, was able to sell with success the Aston Martin Lagonda into Persian Gulf states, particularly Oman, Kuwait and Qatar.

Understanding it would take some time to develop new Aston Martin products, they bought Tickford to develop automotive products for other companies. Products included a Tickford Austin Metro, a Tickford Ford Capri and even Tickford train interiors, particularly on the Jaguar XJS. 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.

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 company with Nick and John Papanicalou, ALL Inc. Gauntlett remained chairman of the AML company 55% 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 development of existing Aston Martin projects. In 1984, Titan the main shipping company of the Papanicolaous 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 million, the year it built its 10,000th car.

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.

Aston Martin Volante from The Living DaylightsIn 1986, Gauntlett negotiated the return of 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."

Although the company was doing well, Gauntlett knew it needed extra funds to survive in the long term. In May 1987, Gauntlett and Prince Michael of Kent were staying at the home of Contessa Maggi, the wife of the founder of the original Mille Miglia, while watching the revival event. Another house guest was Walter Hayes, vice-President of Ford of Europe. Despite problems over the previous acquisition of AC Cars, Hayes saw the potential of the brand and the discussion resulted in Ford taking a share holding in September 1987. In 1988, having produced some 5,000 cars in 20 years, a revived economy and successful sales of limited edition Vantage, and 52 Volante Zagato coupes at £86,000 each; the company finally retired the ancient V8 and introduced the Virage range the first new Aston launched in 20 years.

Although Gauntlett was contractually to stay as chairman for two years, his racing interests took Aston back into sports car racing in 1989 with limited European success. However, with engine rule changes for the 1990 season and the launch of the new Aston Martin Volante model, Ford provided the limited supply of Cosworth engines to the Jaguar cars racing team. As the "small Aston" DB7 would require a large engineering input, Ford agreed to take full control of Aston Martin, and Gauntlett handed over the company chairmanship to Hayes in 1991. In 1992, the Vantage version was announced, and the following year the company renewed the DB range by announcing the DB7.

Aston Martin The Ford era

Ford placed Aston in the Premier Automotive Group, substantially invested in new manufacturing and quickly ramped up production. In 1994, Ford opened a new factory at Banbury Road in Bloxham. In 1995, the company produced a record 700 vehicles. In 1998 the 2,000th DB7 was built, and in 2002 the 6,000th, exceeding production of all previous DB models. The DB7 range was boosted by the addition of V12 Vantage models in 1999, and in 2001 the company introduced the V12-engine Vanquish.

At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan in 2003, Aston Martin introduced the AMV8 Vantage concept car. Expected to have few changes before its introduction in 2005, the Vantage brought back the classic V8 engine to allow the company to compete in a larger market. 2003 also saw the opening of the Gaydon factory, the first purpose-built factory in Aston Martin's history. Also introduced in 2003 was the DB9 coupé, which replaced the ten-year-old DB7. A convertible version of the DB9, the DB9 Volante, was introduced at the 2004 Detroit Auto Show. In 2006, the V8 Vantage sports car entered production at the Gaydon factory, joining the DB9 and DB9 Volante.

In December 2003 Aston Martin announced it would return to motor racing in 2005. A new division was created, called Aston Martin Racing, which became responsible, together with Prodrive, for the design, development, and management of the DBR9 program. The DBR9 competes in the GT class in sports car races, including the world-famous 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Aston Martin Sale by Ford

In 2006, under mounting financial pressure, an internal review of costs and realisable value on investment led Ford to consider divesting itself of parts of its Premier Automotive Group. After suggestions of selling Jaguar Cars, Land Rover or Volvo Cars, Ford appointed UBS AG to sell Aston Martin by auction. At the end of August 2006, Ford announced that it would be willing to sell all or part of Aston Martin. Bill Ford said: "As part of our on going strategic review, we have determined that Aston Martin may be an attractive opportunity to raise capital and generate value".

The first round of the auction closed on 30 November 2006. One of the four survivors was Syrian-born billionaire Simon Halabi, while the Australian bid included James Packer, Australia's second richest man. The German auto newspaper Autobild reported on 2 February 2007 that the luxury goods conglomerate LVMH had bought the company for an undisclosed sum. The paper cited "anonymous, but well-placed sources" with the information. It was later reported by Autocar magazine that LVMH had denied the news as "rubbish".

Aston Martin 2007 - A new era begins

On 12 March 2007 a consortium led by Prodrive chairman David Richards purchased Aston Martin for £475m/$848m. Prodrive has no financial involvement in the deal. Ford will keep a stake in the company (valued at GBP 40 million / USD 70 million). The consortium also consisted of John Sinders, an Aston Martin collector; and two Kuwaiti investment companies, Investment Dar and Adeem Investment Co.

On 19 July 2007 the last car, a Vanquish S, was produced at the Newport Pagnell plant. Nearly 13,000 cars had been made there since 1955. All production was concentrated at Gaydon, with the old premises in Tickford Street remaining in Aston Martin ownership as the restoration and service department.

Aston Martin has also boosted its worldwide appeal by opening more dealers in Europe, as well as branches in China for the first time in its 93 year history in Beijing and Shanghai. This has brought their dealership programme to 120 dealers in 28 countries.

On 1 September 2008, Aston Martin announced the revival of the Lagonda marque. A concept will be shown in 2009, coinciding with the brand's 100th anniversary. The first production cars should come in 2012.

In December of 2008, one third of the work force was laid off.

Aston Martin Aston Martins in film and culture

Author Ian Fleming gave his James Bond hero a DB III in the seventh novel, Goldfinger. A long association between 007 and the marque began on screen with the silver DB5 that appears in Goldfinger (1964) and Thunderball (1965). This was James Bond's company car, and in GoldenEye (1995) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) appeared to have become his private car. In On Her Majesty's Secret

Service (1969) a metallic-green DBS appears at the beginning and end of the movie. After an interlude with Lotus, Aston Martins were again used: a charcoal-grey V8 Volante and Vantage in The Living Daylights (1987). After switching to BMW for several films, the Vanquish appeared in Die Another Day (2002). In Casino Royale (2006), James Bond drives both the classic DB5 which becomes his personal vehicle after winning a poker game, and the new DBS which is revealed to be his new company car in Quantum of Solace (released in cinemas on October 31st 2008)

American rappers 50 Cent and Tony Yayo among others make references to the car, sometimes calling it the "James Bond car" or "James Bond Vanquish" (see above)

In Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, a DB2/4 Drophead Coupe (convertible) is driven by male lead Rod Taylor and figures prominently in the final scene.

An Aston Martin DB4 was used by Sir Michael Cain in The Italian Job (1969).

Two Aston Martins, a green Vanquish and a black DB7 Volante, appear in The Italian Job (2003).

In the film Gorgeous (1999) Jackie Chan drives an Aston Martin.

Rowan Atkinson's own DB7 Vantage was used in Johnny English (2003).

In the HBO series Entourage (2006), Vince buys all the guys an Aston Martin DB9 to celebrate the recent success of "Aquaman".

In the TV Series "Las Vegas" James Caan's character Ed Deline drives a DB AR1.

In the TV series Desperate Housewives, the character Gabrielle Solis (played by Eva Longoria Parker) drives a Maroon DB9 Volante.

On YouTube, there is a clip of Kobe Bryant, an American basketball player, supposedly jumping over a speeding Aston Martin.

In the episode "Driven" from the fourth season of CSI: Miami, an Aston Martin is one of three high-end vehicles stolen from a spa.

In the book Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer, Edward Cullen throws the keys to an Aston Martin Vanquish to Jacob Black which he drives for a few hours before returning it.

In the 1970s, Johnny Carson speaks of someone that once asked him if he had an "Aston Martin", Carson misunderstands and thought he was asked, "do you have an .... " (the audience starts laughing so hard, that there's no need for a punch-line here).

Aston Martin Models

1967 - 1989 DBS and later

2001 Aston Martin DB7 Vantage

2004 Aston Martin DB9 coupé

DB AR1 roadster

Aston Martin V12 Vanquish

2003 DB7 Zagato (coupé) and DB AR1 (roadster)

2006 Aston Martin DB9 Volante (convertible)

Broughtons Aston Martin Showroom, Cheltenham

Aston Martin's model naming can be confusing to the uninitiated. In general, high performance models use the Vantage name, while convertibles are called Volante. The current V8 Vantage is an exception to this however, as it is a range of its own rather than a higher performance version of another car.

Aston Martin Pre-war cars

1921-1925 Aston Martin Standard Sports

1927-1932 Aston Martin First Series

1929-1932 Aston Martin International

1932-1932 Aston Martin International Le Mans

1932-1934 Aston Martin Le Mans

1933-1934 Aston Martin 12/50 Standard

1934-1936 Aston Martin Mk II

1934-1936 Aston Martin Ulster

1936-1938 Aston Martin 2 litre Speed

1937-1939 Aston Martin 15/98

1939-1939 Aston Martin 2 litre C-Type

Aston Martin Post-war Sports and GT cars

1948-1950 Aston Martin 2-Litre Sports (DB1)

1950-1953 Aston Martin DB2

1953-1957 Aston Martin DB2/4

1957-1959 Aston Martin DB Mark III

1958-1963 Aston Martin DB4

1961-1963 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato

1963-1965 Aston Martin DB5

1965-1969 Aston Martin DB6

1967-1972 Aston Martin DBS

1969-1989 Aston Martin V8

1977-1989 Aston Martin V8 Vantage

1986-1990 Aston Martin V8 Zagato

1989-2000 Aston Martin Virage

1989-1996 Aston Martin Virage/Virage Volante

1993-2000 Aston Martin Vantage

1996-2000 Aston Martin V8 Coupe/V8 Volante

1993-2003 Aston Martin DB7/DB7 Vantage

2002-2004 Aston Martin DB AR1

2001-2007 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish

2004-2007 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish S

2004- Aston Martin DB9

2005- Aston Martin V8 Vantage

2007 Aston Martin DBS V12

Aston Martin Other

1944 Aston Martin Atom (concept)

1961 1964 Lagonda Rapide

1976 1989 Aston Martin Lagonda

1980 Aston Martin Bulldog (concept)

1993 Lagonda Vignale (concept)

2008 Aston Martin Rapide

2007 Aston Martin V12 Vantage RS (concept)

Aston Martin Current models

V8 Vantage, V8 Vantage Roadster & V12 Vantage RS

Aston Martin DB9 & DB9 Volante

Aston Martin DBS V12

Aston Martin Future models

Rapide - Addition to the range in 2009 - a long, 4-seater Grand Tourer

A DBX model was mentioned on the call announcing the sale of Aston Martin to the consortium led by David Richards and CEO, Ulrich

Bez. No further details were provided. The DBX was later revealed to be a possible new flagship for Aston Martin based on the

Zagato to compete against the Mercedes McLaren SLR, with speed over 205 mph (330 km/h) and a V12 mid engine tuned to produce 700 bhp. This is now most likely the newly revealed Aston Martin One-77.

Aston Martin V12 Vantage RS (600bhp) - Announced at the official opening of Aston Martin's first-ever dedicated design centre in Gaydon, Warwickshire, on Tuesday 11 December 2007.

Aston Martin Race cars

A Group C Nimrod NRA/C2 which used Aston Martin's V8 engines in the 1980s. Part of Aston Martin's current racing program, Charouz Racing System competes with sports prototype powered by an Aston Martin V12See also: List of Formula One constructors, Aston Martin Racing