350-mile Aston V8 Vantage S show car for sale

Motor show kudos, registered in 2021 and only 350 miles on the clock. Who fancies a time machine?

There weren’t many who didn’t fall in love with the Aston Martin V8 Vantage the moment they laid eyes on it in 2005. The elegant silhouette juxtaposed with eight rioting cylinders was the perfect amalgamation of the company’s sleek, sophisticated return to form and the boisterous era that came immediately before. And it was just as good to drive, mixing an agile chassis with the signature ride of an Aston grand tourer. The British marque had a major hit on its hands, racking up over two and a half thousand orders within the Vantage’s first 18 months on sale - the sort of numbers it could have only dreamed of beforehand.

Mind you, that didn’t mean the V8 Vantage was without flaws. The 4.3-litre engine was lacking in mid-range torque and needed to be revved hard to get the most out of it, while the steering could feel a little vague around the centre. All the ingredients were there for greatness; a few key areas just needed tightening up to achieve it. Prodrive managed to iron some launch car’s creases out with a set of four performance packs, but a proper factory effort wouldn’t come until the release of the Vantage S in 2011. Thankfully, it was well worth the wait.

The Vantage S was less of a mid-life refresh and more a complete overhaul of what could already be called a winning formula. Out went the 4.3-litre motor, in went a 4.7-litre V8 with 436hp and 347lb ft of torque - a step up of 51hp and 45lb ft over the launch car. While it was marginally quicker in a straight line (4.6 seconds to 62mph vs the base car’s 4.9), the real gains were made in how the extra grunt was delivered. The Vantage S was much more linear than the standard car, while a new seven-speed semi-automatic added a level of urgency with snappier shifts. So good was the Sport Shift II box that Autocar reckoned “there’s no way you’d ever want a manual gearbox again”. Hmm.

More important were the changes underneath. The big modification was the move to a quicker steering ratio to rectify the launch model’s inert rack, while firmer bushes, springs and dampers added an extra layer of responsiveness to the already agile chassis. Ride quality remained nice and pliant, but the Vantage S was intended to be a more focused offering rather the a replacement to the standard car, which itself received a decent upgrade around the same time.

To spread word of the new and improved Vantage S, Aston Martin displayed this very car on motor show stands across the world. And although show cars are often finished in an attention-grabbingly garish spec, the combination of Stratus White over a Chancellor Red leather interior on this example is visually appealing without being too in-your-face. Just as an Aston should be. The Vantage S isn’t as understated as the standard car anyway with those pumped-up arches, and being a show car means all the exterior trim - splitter, diffuser and wing vents - are all finished in carbon fibre. It’s a marvellous-looking thing.

Even more special is the fact that it’s only covered 350 miles since its first motor show appearance back in 2012. The ad says the car was stored in as-new condition after completing its motor show world tour, and was only registered in 2021. You’ll need to call up the seller for a price, but given how much collectors are willing to pay these days for anything sealed and unopened - let alone an official Aston show car - means you’ll probably need to set aside a good chunk of cash to buy it. Alternatively, the auction for this one-of-three TVR Wedge 430SE, also a show car and in an identical spec, ends tonight at 20:00. Who knows how much it’ll sell for - but it likely won’t be in the same league as this Aston.

See the original advert here