For The Love of Cars

[toasty]

Jonesy23 said:

And finally... that was very nice shiny paint. Shame that in the closeups you could still see damage underneath; I saw a gouge in one bit (front bit under the grill? not sure), and there were still dents e.g. below one of the side vents. Not the first time paint looks OK in long shots but the thing doesn't stand up to closer scrutiny.

I noticed a bit of orange peel too. If I was spending that much on a restoration, I'd want a wet sand after painting to get a proper finish.

[droopsnoot]

toasty said:

noticed a bit of orange peel too. If I was spending that much on a restoration, I'd want a wet sand after painting to get a proper finish.

As they hadn't painted it when "it's only a few days to the auction", I would imagine there's no chance it had gone off properly to be wet sanding it at that point. As someone else said, why couldn't they paint it before the engine came back? I forget now, I take it they're not body colour in the engine bay?

[RichB]

droopsnoot said:

I take it they're not body colour in the engine bay?

No, typically Aston used a black paint similar to the black paint used to protect wheel arches.

[FourWheelDrift]

FeelingLucky said:

JonRB said:

So they visit the Aston Martin Owners Club and every single person interviewed says originality is king, so naturally they ignore all this.

Doesn't this mean it not the best car to sell into the AMOC?

Whereas, some minted guy who just want's the very best condition and spec of a very pretty car will pay whatever it takes. I personally thought they made a stellar job of it, and that going Vantage spec was the right thing to do.

But what do I know..

Exactly this, the older owners of the Astons who had owned theirs for 20,30,40 years are not the target buying market.

[Flip Martian]

Just caught up with it. Utterly gorgeous when finished. Beautiful colour, red seats suited it perfectly. One of the best looking cars I've ever seen. If I won the lottery tomorrow I'd pay the same for it. Fantastic job. Probably not for the purists but hey ho.

[Mad March Taffy]

+1 on the comments on the paint job - up close you could see lots of blemishes and certainly not what you would expect for a concours condition car - I wonder if they agreed that this would be sorted post programme?

[JonRB]

FourWheelDrift said:

Exactly this, the older owners of the Astons who had owned theirs for 20,30,40 years are not the target buying market.

A fair point, but then does beg the question as to why they even bothered to interview the AMOC members.

Thinking about it, it was probably precisely so they could be seen to be taking an apparent risk. Although I am sure they did their research very, very thoroughly before going in that direction despite what the show tried to suggest.

Anyway, I was merely observing that they sought advice and then ignored it. I wasn't really commenting on whether it was the right decision or not and, of course, with hindsight it clearly was the right decision. But I didn't have the benefit of hindsight as I wrote that post as the show was being transmitted.

[RaptureJames]

Really enjoyed the programme inspite of Philip Glenister!

Nice to hear the buyer say it would be driven

[Flip Martian]

Interesting to compare the presenting duo of Ant and Phil to Jodie and Quentin on the Classic Car Show. Chemistry and presenting ability count for a lot.

[Davel]

I really enjoyed it too...

Better than much of the ste on TV

[JonRB]

Flip Martian said:

Interesting to compare the presenting duo of Ant and Phil to Jodie and Quentin on the Classic Car Show. Chemistry and presenting ability count for a lot.

I lasted less than 10 mins with the Classic Car Show. Quentin Willson has always been rather oily and smarmy, and I didn't even realise it was Jodie Kidd initially. Her teasing "banter" with Quentin seemed unbelievably forced and false, and the whole thing turned me off and I, in turn, turned the show off not long after.

[Rumblestripe]

First time I've seen the programme and I confess I did enjoy it.

On the subject of the value of the car, perhaps slightly inflated by the presence of cameras? Who knows? As for possible battlescars still visible, I can't say that I noticed any and you have to be careful judging as TV lights can make things look other than they really are, I doubt that it would have passed close inspection at the auction if there were visible shoddy repairs.

[Scuffers]

I'm in the WTF? camp

the bodyshell was terrible, and the 'repairs' we saw somewhat lacking (patch panels welded in then one assumes, filled over to cover the joints etc?)

as said, the paint finish looked pretty poor, etc etc etc..

I 100% agree that if you're 'restoring' a car, originality is everything, chopping the box and converting it into a Vantage, then colour change, etc. means it's now a bd, all be it may be a very nice bd, but still it's not original, and this is where the money is.

Can't quite get my head round the guy paying that much for it, one can only assume he got carried away being on TV etc, I would argue there are much nicer original cars out there for a lot less...

[Flip Martian]

Scuffers said:

I'm in the WTF? camp

Can't quite get my head round the guy paying that much for it, one can only assume he got carried away being on TV etc, I would argue there are much nicer original cars out there for a lot less...

Ant gambled on reducing the general purist appeal in the hope that 2 buyers would really want it and force up the bidding. Apparently it paid off.

[12TS]

I recorded it and then wizzed on the bits which annoyed me (quite a lot)

Why oh why do these types of programme always have to some race against the clock element? There would be other auctions that they could have used and they wouldn't have had to wait that long. I also noticed who was doing the auction as well which made me wonder a little.

And in one of the shots, the door seals looked a little untidy. Surely on something so easy and visible you'd make sure you got it right.

[marksx]

12TS said:

I recorded it and then wizzed on the bits which annoyed me (quite a lot)

Why oh why do these types of programme always have to some race against the clock element? There would be other auctions that they could have used and they wouldn't have had to wait that long. I also noticed who was doing the auction as well which made me wonder a little.

And in one of the shots, the door seals looked a little untidy. Surely on something so easy and visible you'd make sure you got it right.

That annoyed. 'These auctions only happen a few times a year.' So, not exactly cosmic timescales then. A quick look on the Coys website and it shows 6 auctions a year, and the next one after the NEC is in May. Why bloody rush?

[JonRB]

12TS said:

Why oh why do these types of programme always have to some race against the clock element?

I agree. This always annoys me too.

12TS said:

There would be other auctions that they could have used and they wouldn't have had to wait that long.

I'm sure the car was completed weeks, if not months, before the auction. They would no doubt have thoroughly researched the worst-case scenario for how long a complete restoration would take, and then added in a load of contingency, and then started from there. I very much doubt there was any 'against the clock' element at all in reality.

[PurpleTurtle]

marksx said:

12TS said:

I recorded it and then wizzed on the bits which annoyed me (quite a lot)

Why oh why do these types of programme always have to some race against the clock element? There would be other auctions that they could have used and they wouldn't have had to wait that long. I also noticed who was doing the auction as well which made me wonder a little.

And in one of the shots, the door seals looked a little untidy. Surely on something so easy and visible you'd make sure you got it right.

That annoyed. 'These auctions only happen a few times a year.' So, not exactly cosmic timescales then. A quick look on the Coys website and it shows 6 auctions a year, and the next one after the NEC is in May. Why bloody rush?

Because they probably wanted to get the whole series worth of cars through one auction, TV production schedules etc, I'd expect

[Eviltad]

PurpleTurtle said:

marksx said:

12TS said:

I recorded it and then wizzed on the bits which annoyed me (quite a lot)

Why oh why do these types of programme always have to some race against the clock element? There would be other auctions that they could have used and they wouldn't have had to wait that long. I also noticed who was doing the auction as well which made me wonder a little.

And in one of the shots, the door seals looked a little untidy. Surely on something so easy and visible you'd make sure you got it right.

That annoyed. 'These auctions only happen a few times a year.' So, not exactly cosmic timescales then. A quick look on the Coys website and it shows 6 auctions a year, and the next one after the NEC is in May. Why bloody rush?

Because they probably wanted to get the whole series worth of cars through one auction, TV production schedules etc, I'd expect

Was the Series 1 Land Rover from the first series not in the same Auction? there was a very similar one in the background shots? or had Mr Kahn flipped it on already?

[moribund]

Jonesy23 said:

All seemed a bit odd to me.
And finally... that was very nice shiny paint. Shame that in the closeups you could still see damage underneath; I saw a gouge in one bit (front bit under the grill? not sure), and there were still dents e.g. below one of the side vents. Not the first time paint looks OK in long shots but the thing doesn't stand up to closer scrutiny.

I thought that too - the paint looked pretty poor in the close ups.