Aston’s sparkling diamond specials

SPARKLING is the only way to describe how Aston Martin Works is going to celebrate its diamond anniversary. 2015 marks 60 glorious years of producing the marque at its Newport Pagnell facility. And all that experience is going to be put into six limited edition sports cars. As part of the company’s Christmas celebrations, it has revealed the first of the cars, which also forms the start of 12 months of exciting anniversary activity at Aston Martin Works. The six bespoke cars, all versions of the current Vanquish super GT in either Coupe or Volante form, are being created in association with the luxury British brand’s Gaydon-based design team, and its ultimate personalisation service: Q by Aston Martin. Each of the six cars is subtly different, and each is tailored to reflect one of the six decades being celebrated. The result is a collection of rare and ultra-desirable sports cars that will be instantly recognisable as ‘Works 60th Anniversary’ models. A number of elements distinguish the Anniversary cars including trim and paint colour treatments. But, perhaps, the most emotive part of each car comes in the form of a fine detail: Bespoke rotaries around the major controls in the centre console of each Vanquish. Each rotary has been cast from metal that, previously, had formed a piston in an Aston Martin engine of the relevant period. These rotaries are then carefully laser etched with Works’ Anniversary wording. The six pistons have been drawn from engines in the following Newport Pagnell-built sports cars: 1955-1965: DB 2/4 Mk II saloon 1965-1975: DB5 1975-1985: V8 Coupe 1985-1995: V8 Vantage X-pack 1995-2005: V8 Vantage supercharged 2005-2015: Original Vanquish In each case, the relevant piston has been sourced from an engine that has been rebuilt or reworked at some point in its life. The process of creating the bespoke Aston Martin Works 60th Anniversary Limited Edition Vanquish models began way back in July of this year, as the Works team met with designers from Aston Martin’s Gaydon HQ to scope out their plans. Dr Matthew Bennett, General Manager of VIP and Q by Aston Martin Sales at Gaydon, said: “The colours of these six unique cars have been very carefully chosen to reflect and celebrate the progress of Aston Martin Works over those six decades. “Celebrating the past, but pointing very much toward a bright and exciting future, too, these Vanquish models will, I’m sure, very quickly become a notable feature of the brand’s history at Newport Pagnell.”

Instantly identifiable as Works Anniversary cars by features such as their Anniversary Yellow side strakes and alloy wheels, the six Vanquish also feature the new Aston Martin Works 60th Anniversary logo which, like the cars’ colour schemes, has been designed by the team at Gaydon. The vibrant and distinctive logos are etched into each car’s sill plates. Unique features in the Anniversary cars include: rotaries made from worked metal of a heritage model piston from the relevant era; distinctive Anniversary Yellow accents on the side strakes and alloy wheels; White/black Duotone seat centre panels; unique sill plaques depicting the era the car relates to and featuring the Works Anniversary logo; distinctive colour and trim treatments that include features such as contrast yellow stitching in the leather, and new heavy weave carbon fibre. The cars of course retain the standard technical features of the Vanquish super GT such as its 6.0-litre V12 petrol engine mated in a pioneering transaxle layout to the latest generation Touchtronic III eight-speed automatic gearbox. This provides the Vanquish with genuinely spirited performance: the 0-60mph time is a mere 3.6 seconds and the maximum speed tops 200mph. Prices for the six cars are available on application at Aston Martin Works. http://www.astonmartinworks.com/