MARQUE HISTORY FROM THE ARCHIVES
FROM THE ARCHIVES Each issue, we take a look back at some of the finest Aston Martin models via an array of period photographs and brochures WORDS: PAUL GUINNESS PHOTOGRAPHY: KELSEY ARCHIVES
HAND-CRAFTED CREATION Issued in the late 1970s was this fold-out brochure dedicated to the Aston Martin V8, the classic coupe that was still handcrafted at the company’s Newport Pagnell headquarters. And it was the hand-built nature of the car that the brochure referenced when it stated: ‘Each new Aston Martin has had 175 loving owners’. The brochure went on to explain that the V8 was built by a ‘handful of skilled craftsmen and craftswomen, who care about their work and who take as much
pride in the finished motor car as the fortunate owner’. There was more to the V8 than its hand-built status, however, as this was very much a driver’s car: ‘The Aston Martin V8 is built for the driver who wants his motoring to be exhilarating and enjoyable, and who will give his own best in return’. This was, insisted the company, a ‘grand tourer in the great tradition’.
LATEST VOLANTE Although the original two-seater Volante version of the Virage made its debut at the 1990 British International Motor Show (two years after the coupe derivative), it wasn’t until ’97 that an extended-wheelbase version was introduced, shown in this original press photograph of the time. The chassis was lengthened by 200mm compared with the previous model, ensuring the latest V8 Volante offered extra space for those sat in the rear. Production continued through to 2000, by which time just 63 examples had been built – making this one of the rarest of today’s modern-classic convertibles.
64 Aston Martin Driver | Issue one
