2006 Aston Martin - A Guide

ASTON MARTIN - A GUIDE
Aston Martin Lagonda Limited, Banbury Road, Gaydon, Warwickshire, CV35 0DB England
Telephone +44(0)1908 610620 Facsimile +44(0)1926 644222 www.astonmartin.com
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is consistantly seeking ways to improve the specificxation, design and production of its vehicles and alterations take place continually. Whilst
every effort is made to produce up to date literature, this brochure should not be regarded as an infallible guide to current specifications, nor does it constitute an offer for sale of any particular
vehicle. The contents of this brochure represent the Company’s business as a whole. Text and photographs may relaye to models not available for sale in some countries. Performance results
may vary depending on the specification of the particular vehicle, road and envirronmental conditions and driving style. Published figures should be used for comparison purposes only and
verification should not be attempted on public roads. Aston Martin Lagonda Limited strongly urges that all speed laws be obeyed and that safety belts be worn at all times. Distributors and
dealers are not agents of Aston Martin Lagonda Limited and have absolutely no authority to bind Aston Martin Lagonda Limited by any express or implied undertaking or representation.
PART NO: 702144 (ENG)

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ASTON MARTIN TODAY
Over the past nine decades, Aston Martin has
Our plans do not end there. In addition to the
witnessed many changes. In a long and distinguished
Vanquish S and the DB9, we have introduced a third
history, Aston Martin has seen some good times and
model line with the addition of the V8 Vantage and
some not so good times.
this will allow just a few more people access to what
we regard as the world’s most exclusive sports car
The fact that Aston Martin has survived is testament
company.
to the strength and resolve of everyone who has ever
been involved with the company: customers and
However, Aston Martin is not about to become a
employees alike.
mass producer – we will not forget our roots or the
special aspects of the brand that make up our DNA.
Now Aston Martin is on the threshold of something
Aston Martin is not about numbers and statistics. We
truly special. We have entered a new period of
are passionate about the cars we produce and we
change quite unlike anything we have undergone
know this is a passion shared by our enthusiastic
before. This is not something new to our company –
owners. All of our sports cars will continue to be
Aston Martin has had to continually move to survive.
hand-built and bespoke but using high technology
Over the past five years alone Aston Martin has been
processes in a very modern environment.
through some of the most dramatic and profound
changes in its entire history.
That ethos goes right back to 1914 and the very
beginnings of the company. Our founders, Lionel
The launch of the DB9 was a significant moment as it
Martin and Robert Bamford, believed that a sports car
reflects the company today and the future direction
should have a distinctive and individual character.
that we are now taking. But it’s more than just a
They felt it should be built to the highest standards
launch of a new car; it’s the re-launch of Aston Martin
and be exhilarating to drive and own – many things
as a brand. It is a signal that Aston Martin is set to
have changed over the ensuing ninety plus years, but
become a serious contender in the world sports car
those goals are still very relevant to us today.
market.
An Aston Martin combines three important elements:
power, beauty and soul. Aston Martins are truly
special – they always have been and always will be.
Dr Ulrich Bez
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Aston Martin

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ASTON MARTIN THE PAST
Bamford Martin. It doesn’t have quite the right ring to
The first of the company’s many changes of
it, yet if things had been just a little different, that is
ownership took place in 1925. Lionel Martin’s heavy
how we would know this most British of performance
concentration on competition and consequent lack of
sports cars.
production preparation – only around 50 cars were
built between 1921-1925 – found the company in
It was back before the Great War that Robert
serious financial problems. Martin left the company
Bamford and Lionel Martin joined forces to sell Singer
he had founded, handing the reins to the Charnwood
cars, and to prepare them for hill climbing and racing.
family, but it was too late and the company went into
Successfully too: it was Martin’s performances with
receivership.
these cars at the hillclimb course in Aston Clinton,
Buckinghamshire that was to provide the inspiration
Augustus Cesare Bertelli, one of Martin’s competitors,
for a name when the pair started making their own
visited the Kensington workshop in 1925. Greatly
car.
impressed with the quality of the cars remaining, he
arranged a meeting between himself, his business
In 1914, Bamford & Martin Ltd moved into premises
partner William Somerville Renwick and Lord
Lionel Martin
in London’s West Kensington and announced the
Charnwood. It was decided that Lord Charnwood,
intention to build its first car: the ‘Coal Scuttle’, as it
using the considerable engineering talents of Bertelli
was affectionately known, was powered by a
and Renwick, would form Aston Martin Motors Ltd
Coventry Simplex side valve engine and was
and move to new premises in Feltham, Middlesex.
registered in March 1915.
Renwick and Bertelli had already designed an
Further growth was, of course, halted by the war. But
advanced single overhead camshaft 1.5-litre engine
once peace was restored Bamford and Martin
which, when placed in a new Aston Martin chassis,
returned to making cars at new premises in
helped create the legendary International. The
Kensington. Once again, competition success
International and later Le Mans and Ulster models
proved the product: in May 1922, an Aston Martin
became regular race winners with class victories at
nick-named Bunny broke ten world speed records at
Le Mans among the highlights.
Brooklands, averaging more than 76 mph for over 16
hours of continuous running.
In 1932, there was another change of ownership
when Sir Arthur Sutherland took over, placing his son
In the same year, Aston Martin entered international
Gordon in control. More motor racing successes
Robert Bamford
racing. With backing from racing driver and
ensued though Sutherland was also keen to show
Brooklands legend Count Zborowski, Aston Martin
that Aston Martin could produce more than just
built two cars for the French Grand Prix.
competition cars.
LEFT: Le Mans 1959

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ASTON MARTIN THE PAST
In 1936 a major step was taken to develop the road
The DB2 arrived in 1950 and within two years had
car side of the business and a 2.0-litre engine was
helped increase Aston Martin Lagonda production six
produced for use in saloons and tourers. Early in
fold. In 1948, the company made just 57 cars; by the
1939, an avant-garde prototype was developed using
end of 1952, production had jumped to 351. In 1954,
an early form of space frame chassis and
the bigger and more powerful DB2/4 accounted for
independent suspension. Known as the Atom, it was
240 of the company’s total output of 324 cars. At this
to form the basis of a totally new generation of Aston
stage, production continued in Feltham with engines,
Martins… but yet again, war intervened in the
chassis and running gear being assembled at a David
company’s progress.
Brown factory in Huddersfield, Yorkshire. The time
was right to merge all operations under one roof.
Once production resumed after World War 2, it was
time for another change in the company’s fortunes –
And that one roof became Aston Martin’s spiritual
and this was to be one of the more far reaching
home. It was in 1954 that David Brown bought
changes in the history of Aston Martin. In 1947,
Tickford Motor Bodies in Newport Pagnell, and it is on
although the company was financially more secure
that site today where the superb Vanquish is hand-
David Brown
that at any time previously, there still weren’t
built. The site has a long and illustrious coach-
sufficient funds to develop a totally new car.
building history and was originally occupied by
Salmons and Son, ‘Coachbuilders to the Nobility’.
Thus it was at this stage that the name of David
Again, bringing Tickford within the fold made sound
Brown entered the picture. The David Brown Group
commercial sense as the company was
of Companies was a highly successful engineering
at that time supplying bodies to Lagonda.
concern building tractors and other agricultural
machinery. Brown took over Aston Martin and, a few
For the first few years of the new partnership, car
months later, also acquired another British sports car
assembly continued in Yorkshire with the manufacture
manufacturer, Lagonda.
of engines and other components established at
Newport Pagnell.
The marriage of these two great names made sound
commercial and engineering sense, not least
In 1957, the DB Mark III superseded the DB2/4 Mark
because Lagonda, under the supervision of the great
II, the first Aston Martin to be built at Newport
W.O. Bentley, had a newly developed 2.6-litre twin
Pagnell, and brought with it many technical advances
overhead camshaft engine just looking for a suitable
proven on the race tracks. It was one of the first
chassis. Before long, Brown had the solution – the
production cars to have disc brakes as standard, for
Aston Martin DB2, where DB stood for David Brown.
example.
Racing continued to be the life blood of the company.
Countless class wins at Le Mans and elsewhere fell
to the DB2, while the purpose-built DBR1 conquered
the world’s race tracks in the mid to late 1950s.
Under the guidance of celebrated team manager
John Wyer, Aston Martin won no fewer than six World
Championship races, success culminating in outright
victory at Le Mans and the World Sports Car
Championship crown in 1959.
LEFT: DBR1 en route to winning the World Sports Car Championship in 1959

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ASTON MARTIN THE PAST
There was success on the road car side of the
Alas, Company Developments soon discovered that
business too. In 1958, the stunning DB4 was
running a prestige automotive business needed
unveiled, with styling by Touring of Milan. The body
regular and large injections of capital. After just two
shape and the engine – a 3.7-litre all-aluminium six
years of difficult trading which, nevertheless produced
cylinder unit designed by Tadek Marek – were to
some 256 cars in 1974 and which recorded the
become Aston Martin signatures for years to come.
regaining of Aston Martin’s entry certificate to the
USA, the company was up for sale again and
As the DB4 led to the DB5 and DB6 – taking in track
production reduced to a trickle.
success with the DB4GT and film superstardom
courtesy of James Bond along the way – so Aston
The company was put into receivership and the end
Martin decided to concentrate on road car production.
looked inevitable until to its rescue came four
In 1964, sales increased from around 250 a year to
individuals: North American Peter Sprague, Canadian
peak at 591 in 1966 when the DB6 and DB6 Volante
George Minden and two Englishmen, Alan Curtis and
– the first European car with a power hood – went on
Denis Flather. Production was cranked up and the
sale.
Lagonda named revived: 1976 saw the unveiling of
the outrageous William Towns-designed Lagonda
In the quest for more power and luxury, a new V8
limousine, its sharp, straight lines, described at the
engine was developed to power the DBS, the first
time as ‘origami on wheels’.
totally new shape from Aston Martin since the
introduction of the DB4.
Stability was not part of the equation, though. In
1981, the company changed hands yet again when
But its arrival coincided with another of those
Pace Petroleum, a privately-owned company led by
character-building changes for the company. In 1972,
Victor Gauntlett, and CH Industrials took control. One
David Brown sold Aston Martin to Company
of the new company’s first decisions was to return to
Developments, a group of Birmingham-based
motor sport, via an association with Nimrod Racing
businessmen. Brown, now Sir David, retained a seat
Automobiles to whom works assistance was
on the board as the DBS was restyled and re-named:
provided. Although unable to repeat the successes of
the six cylinder car became the Aston Martin Vantage
the 1950s, third in the World Endurance
with its bigger engined sister called the Aston Martin
Championship by a privately entered Nimrod at the
V8: the DB prefix was lost.
end of its first year back on track was no mean
achievement. Road car production, meanwhile,
continued at steady levels, peaking at 214 in 1987 –
some way off those heady DB days.
LEFT: DB7 Zagato, DB5 and V8 Vantage

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ASTON MARTIN THE PAST
In 1987 when Ford Motor Company acquired 75 per
The DB7 marked a significant change in Aston
cent of the shares – the remainder was split evenly
Martin’s fortunes and work practices. For starters it
between the Livanos family and Gauntlett – and long
was built not at Newport Pagnell but at a new facility
term stability, finally, arrived. That same year, James
near Bloxham in Oxfordshire with far more
Bond was reunited with Aston Martin, driving an AM
automation than had traditionally been the case.
V8 in The Living Daylights, while the following year,
Production of the DB7 started in late 1994, the same
1988, the new Virage appeared.
year that Ford acquired a 100 per cent holding in the
company, and the rewards were immediate. In 1995,
Over the next five or six years, life at Aston Martin
the first full year of the DB7, Aston Martin produced
continued largely unchanged, but things were
more than 700 cars – an all-time record for the
happening behind the scenes as Ford planned
company.
the future for its new acquisition. Long-serving
executive chairman Victor Gauntlett handed over
With the arrival of the convertible DB7 Volante in
control to another legend, Walter Hayes CBE, a
1996, production has continued at similarly high
A 1970s AM V8 Vantage
former Ford of Europe Vice-Chairman. There was
levels making the DB7 easily the most successful
also another return to competition, with a creditable
model in Aston Martin’s history. By the end of 2001,
6th overall for the AMR1 in the 1989 World
total DB7 production had passed the 5,000 milestone
Endurance Championship and plans were hatched for
and outstripped the combined total production of DB5
a new small Aston Martin.
and DB6 models.
The new car could not come soon enough. The early
This same period saw a new V8 model developed
1990s saw a recession hit the UK and sales of the
from the Virage, culminating in the hugely powerful
big V8-powered Virage and Virage Volante dwindled:
V8 Vantage, the last example of which was delivered
in 1992, just 46 cars were built. So it was that in 1993
in October 2000. The ‘V’ car traditional continued at
at the Geneva Show, Aston Martin proudly showed
Newport Pagnell with the 2001 launch of the
the new DB7, a model imbued with the spirit of those
V12-powered Vanquish.
classic DB models of the 1960s. Indeed, the entire
project was encouraged by Sir David Brown, who
In 2002 Aston Martin unveiled the first purpose-built
died at the end of 1993.
facility in the history of the company at Gaydon in
Warwickshire. The DB9 was the first car to be built at
the facility, which will be the home of all future Aston
Martins.
LEFT: DB7 GT

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ASTON MARTIN THE PRESENT
The 21st Century has seen an astonishing change of
pace at Aston Martin. With production during the final
four years of the previous century running between
620 and 660 models a year, the year 2000 saw a
huge jump to 1,029 units, 1,000 of which were the
newly developed V12 powered DB7 Vantage.
Production rose by almost 50 per cent in 2001 to
1,506 cars. Again the lion’s share was of DB7
variants, but 204 Vanquish models helped make up
the total. In 2003, Aston Martin created a sales record
of nearly 1,600 cars and another record was created
in the US with 500 cars sold representing 33% of
production volume. Records were surpassed again in
2004.
Vanquish production also continues at Newport
Pagnell, but now in the form of the fastest ever
production Aston Martin – the Vanquish S, capable of
over 200mph and offering the ultimate high-
performance Aston Martin. The Vanquish S has been
designed to deliver even greater performance,
complemented by subtle suspension and steering
changes and a number of interior and external style
revisions.
Newport Pagnell is also home to the Works Service
department for development of customer-driven
specialist projects and accident repair, as well as
Heritage Operations, which restores older Aston
Martin models.
The company’s new state of the art Gaydon facility
begins a new chapter in Aston Martin’s history. As the
new company headquarters, Gaydon will house
production of the DB9 and V8 Vantage as well as all
future Aston Martin models.
In 2005, Aston Martin returned to international motor
sport with the DBR9 based on the road going DB9.
LEFT: Customer reception at Gaydon

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ASTON MARTIN THE FUTURE
Aston Martin’s future model plans are, naturally, a
closely guarded secret known only within the
organisation.
What is in the public domain, however, shows that
Aston Martin’s future is not only safe but very
exciting.
Gaydon is the future of Aston Martin. It combines
cutting-edge technology with craftsmanship and
tradition. It is here that the V8 Vantage will be built,
which is designed to widen the Aston Martin
ownership opportunity still further. Not that Aston
Martin is about to become a volume sports car
manufacturer: while numbers will rise in large
percentage terms when the new model arrives, Aston
Martin’s total annual production will still be far fewer
than most other sports car manufacturers.
As Chairman and CEO, Dr Ulrich Bez says: “Aston
Martin is not about numbers. It is not about market
share, volume or even performance figures. It never
has been and it never will be. Aston Martin is about
individuality, emotions, feelings, passion, personal
experience and participation.
“By increasing the number of cars we make we can
simply allow a few more people to enjoy the Aston
Martin experience.”
LEFT: Aston Martin design studio at Gaydon

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ASTON MARTIN INTEGRITY
A typical modern car factory is a soulless place where
That said, there is a consistency and uniformity about
There is no such thing as a zero-mile Vanquish.
cars are churned out as if they were white goods…
the Superform panels ensuring far greater accuracy,
Every car is given a 40 mile shakedown test drive at
fridges on wheels. Things aren’t like that at Newport
build quality and panel fit than has been enjoyed by
the demanding Millbrook proving ground before being
Pagnell, home of the Aston Martin Vanquish S. Here
Aston Martins in the past. As a result, production
given the all clear by Aston Martin’s Quality Inspector,
in the very same buildings that produced such
quality is more consistent than before which ensures
who personally checks every finished car before
enduring classics as the DB4/5/6 and the later ‘V’
that the latest generation of Aston Martin cars are the
signing it off. It’s his name that adorns the famous
cars – like the V8 and the Vantage – the Vanquish is
best yet.
plaque placed on every finished car signifying it is
assembled.
ready for its new owner.
Great advances have been made in the paint
In the not-too-distant past, Aston Martins created at
processes, too. Aston Martins are available in any
In the trim shop a team of dedicated professionals
Newport Pagnell were largely built by hand. Panels
colour requested by the customer and spend a total
hand cut and stitch the leather hides that help give
were hand formed, lovingly smoothed into shape by a
of up to three hours in the paint bay being given no
every Aston Martin its unique ambience.
combination of trained eye and experienced hand.
fewer than eight coats of paint and lacquer.
In contrast, production of the Vanquish S bristles with
Its cars might be at the leading edge of 21st Century
modern techniques and space age materials. But the
Once the body has been assembled, painted and
automotive engineering, but there is still plenty of
Vanquish S remains far from mass-produced. Each
partially trimmed, it is made ready to accept the
room for traditional skills to play their part at Aston
car takes between six to eight weeks to build and
powertrain. Such is the size of the engine and
Martin.
each is built to individual customer specification: no
transmission assembly, however, that the old way of
two cars are exactly alike. In a typical year, Aston
lowering the powertrain into the car can no longer be
Martin expects to make only a few hundred examples
undertaken. Instead the body/chassis is lowered onto
of the Vanquish S.
the powertrain.
The body structure and panels are preformed mixing
After final trimming, with leather covered panels and
lightweight aluminium with the latest composite
trimmed seats created in house, each car undergoes
materials, but even so, a large degree of hand
a quality inspection – indeed, three cars in every
finishing is required before the Vanquish S can take
eight are picked at random for a detailed quality audit
shape – each Superform aluminium front wing, for
– before it is ready for the final stage of the build
example, takes some five hours of hand smoothing
process: the test drive.
and detail shaping before it is ready to be offered, by
hand, to the body.
LEFT: High technology production line at Gaydon

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