RE: David Brown Speedback GT: Review
Discussion
God, it's disgusting! And the interior manages to outdo the exterior for utter vileness.
I love the people on here criticizing others for not understanding the shopping mindset of the ultra rich. Of course, these critics are all multimillionaires or billionaires, which is why they are hanging out on Pistonheads selflessly educating the rest of us proles.
I love the people on here criticizing others for not understanding the shopping mindset of the ultra rich. Of course, these critics are all multimillionaires or billionaires, which is why they are hanging out on Pistonheads selflessly educating the rest of us proles.
gigglebug said:
I'd rather have one which has all the benefits of modern technology added in (safety, performance, reliability and quality) I'm sure I can't be the only one who would think like this otherwise companies like Singer etc wouldn't have a leg to stand on.
What Singer have done is very different to this though. I too love the concept of an old looking car with modern components (a Singer is the first "lottery car" I would buy). But this is nothing like it because it doesn't look like the original classic car on the outside like a Singer does.Instead it looks like a new car trying to look like an old one. Like a Jaguar S-Type looks like a modern version of a Jaguar mk2 - horrible.
gigglebug said:
It's not 6 million pounds though is it? 600K is now well within what the very richest of car fanatics are willing to pay for a single vehicle, it's no longer a figure that shocks when you see it. I'll point out for the second time that I'm not defending this particular car just questioning why people would assume that just because they don't like it or think it doesn't represent good value that it is a complete waste of money for anyone. I would love to own some of the classic cars as they can be simply beautiful but I'd rather have one which has all the benefits of modern technology added in (safety, performance, reliability and quality) I'm sure I can't be the only one who would think like this otherwise companies like Singer etc wouldn't have a leg to stand on. This car might well be the perfect solution to someone and only they will decide if it worth the outlay or not
gigglebug, you speak of fanatics, but there is usually a very good reason why people become fans of a particular car manufacturer. Heritage, engineering excellence, motorsport success, innovation, design excellence to name a few key qualities. This car does not offer any of these, so I am struggling to see how anyone can be a fan. The posts we have seen here reinforce my doubts to such a degree, I am almost certain this venture will be a failure. BarbaricAvatar said:
It doesn't look too bad. But £600,000 might buy you an actual DB6, so what is the point in this imitator?
Besides, it looks too much like:
Would you really want someone to make that mistake if you'd just spent £600k?
£600K will buy you 2 DB6s, it's actually DB5 territory.Besides, it looks too much like:
Would you really want someone to make that mistake if you'd just spent £600k?
gigglebug said:
djneils98 said:
gigglebug said:
This happens every single time, why don't people get it?? Do you think that anyone who can afford to pay 600K for a car hasn't got the money to buy another at the same time??? Why on earth would they worried about the fact they could get 3 other cars for the same price and have some change??? What's the change for anyway, to do the weekly shop at Tesco's?? You could buy 30 ford Focuses for the same money but they aren't going to do that either are they? What the mega rich want is to be seen as being individual with impeccable taste so limited volume, high quality cars appeal to them regardless of cost. It's why Bugatti had no problems selling out the more limited but hugely more expensive Super sport version of the Veyron but struggled to shift the regular car in the end. Anyone buying this car won't have forgotten that they need to buy a house, a daily driver, a sports car or any other comparison you can make for the same money will they??
look even rich people appreciate value - if it was 6 million would that raise one of your eyebrows?It's hard to see what they have done to a 60k jag to justify the price IMO. it looks nice enough but it's not jaw-droppingly beautiful. It's not an original design really either is it? and as for build quality it's hard to see it beating a Roller for less than half the price.
As to the Singer it may be a reworked Porsche but it is still a Porsche at the end of the day. This never was an Aston DB5/6 and never will be. DB would have been better off designing a unique classically styled body that made it's own style rather than try to badly copy the Aston.
BarbaricAvatar said:
It doesn't look too bad. But £600,000 might buy you an actual DB6, so what is the point in this imitator?
Besides, it looks too much like:
Would you really want someone to make that mistake if you'd just spent £600k?
I thought exactly the same when i saw the front view.Besides, it looks too much like:
Would you really want someone to make that mistake if you'd just spent £600k?
What has been cannot be unseen!
CarSpotter said:
Cars like this disappoint me. Clearly a great deal of time, thought, passion and energy has gone into this to craft something nearly brilliant.
But just think if the designer/s were allowed to think more freely, and interpret a spiritual successor influenced by, but not copied from British motorcars of the 60s - an E-Type was ground breaking at the time - this really isn't, at least not aesthetically - and there is so much talent and new thinking out there.
The Ford GT worked as it was a nod to the GT40; but more importantly it had providence and history - and it was a thoroughly modern take on the dance with contemporary volume and stance (There have been the Miura and Stratos concepts too of course). DB certainly has a wonderful history - but this is not Aston Martin, so why not carve your own language? Fisker did some good work based on the 6-Series, and SL and spawned it's own design language and marque from there. Eagle E-Types, Singer 911s, and Brabus SL300s are making vintage wonders a little more drivable, safer and reliable, but you know what they are about.
I LOVE the ambition for projects like this; but tradition is passing on the flame, not worshipping the ashes - it's so like a DB5 as to look flawed next to one, and not original enough as it so deserving could be.
I've quoted this as I couldn't agree more.But just think if the designer/s were allowed to think more freely, and interpret a spiritual successor influenced by, but not copied from British motorcars of the 60s - an E-Type was ground breaking at the time - this really isn't, at least not aesthetically - and there is so much talent and new thinking out there.
The Ford GT worked as it was a nod to the GT40; but more importantly it had providence and history - and it was a thoroughly modern take on the dance with contemporary volume and stance (There have been the Miura and Stratos concepts too of course). DB certainly has a wonderful history - but this is not Aston Martin, so why not carve your own language? Fisker did some good work based on the 6-Series, and SL and spawned it's own design language and marque from there. Eagle E-Types, Singer 911s, and Brabus SL300s are making vintage wonders a little more drivable, safer and reliable, but you know what they are about.
I LOVE the ambition for projects like this; but tradition is passing on the flame, not worshipping the ashes - it's so like a DB5 as to look flawed next to one, and not original enough as it so deserving could be.
I think David Brown would have been better off having regard to the modern interpretations of classics such as the Fenomenon Stratos rather than trying too hard to emulate a DB4/5/6. He perhaps also should see how Aston themselves did homages such as the DB7 Zagato.
He seems to have concentrated on odd areas such as getting Pilkington to fabricate new screens when would anyone really have noticed if he kept the original Jag screen? To me he would have been better concentrating on getting both the styling and the more obvious details correct in the first instance.
I had a poke around this at Goodwood, other than the fancy seats in the boot there was nothing that really impressed me, it was nice but that's it, it is after all a Jag with a few bells and whistles, for me its not quite interesting enough to really make a statement that I want a £600k car to make.
I am of course not the target market, hope the fella flogs a few and the Speedback 2.0 is a much more interesting car. Best of luck to him.
I am of course not the target market, hope the fella flogs a few and the Speedback 2.0 is a much more interesting car. Best of luck to him.
365daytonafan said:
gigglebug said:
djneils98 said:
gigglebug said:
This happens every single time, why don't people get it?? Do you think that anyone who can afford to pay 600K for a car hasn't got the money to buy another at the same time??? Why on earth would they worried about the fact they could get 3 other cars for the same price and have some change??? What's the change for anyway, to do the weekly shop at Tesco's?? You could buy 30 ford Focuses for the same money but they aren't going to do that either are they? What the mega rich want is to be seen as being individual with impeccable taste so limited volume, high quality cars appeal to them regardless of cost. It's why Bugatti had no problems selling out the more limited but hugely more expensive Super sport version of the Veyron but struggled to shift the regular car in the end. Anyone buying this car won't have forgotten that they need to buy a house, a daily driver, a sports car or any other comparison you can make for the same money will they??
look even rich people appreciate value - if it was 6 million would that raise one of your eyebrows?It's hard to see what they have done to a 60k jag to justify the price IMO. it looks nice enough but it's not jaw-droppingly beautiful. It's not an original design really either is it? and as for build quality it's hard to see it beating a Roller for less than half the price.
As to the Singer it may be a reworked Porsche but it is still a Porsche at the end of the day. This never was an Aston DB5/6 and never will be. DB would have been better off designing a unique classically styled body that made it's own style rather than try to badly copy the Aston.
For those who can get over the fact it's a retro DB5, the styling is elegant and the interior hides its XK roots successfully. After a morning behind the wheel, being stared at wherever we went, I concluded David Brown's reason for making it to be a success: this is a retro-look car with modern car refinements, that you can easily use for grand tours with the DB5 kept safe back in the garage.
But, is it £600K's worth? To people like us, no. A Rolls-Royce Wraith offers an even richer experience and more bespoke feel for half the price, and an Aston Martin Zagato cracks the coachbuilt body atop a production car deal for £200K less (oh, and an F-Type R Coupe costs 14 per cent of its sticker price). But to the person who owns a superyacht, seeking a usable, easily-drivable piece of what they consider classic Bond-inspired auto design art? Quite possibly.
The core market for it is another world far removed from the regular, and not least because money is largely immaterial; that the Speedback GT drives nicely without moving the game on will be enough. More important is its rarity, its finish, the fact it is something they simply can't get anywhere else: a DB5 with sat nav, climate control, ample power, ease of use and, significantly, reliability. Credit where credit's due?
As the owner of a classic Aston I have followed this story since it was first uncovered about a year ago. At the time I didn't agree with Mr Browns reasons for building the car and still don't. He said that his DB5 was always breaking down. Well, it must be bloody badly maintained that's all I can say. Last summer I completed a tour of 2,500 miles along with many other Feltham and Newport Pagnell Astons and we all had a whale of a time, most of us also spending a couple of hours on track at Monza. The only break downs were modern era cars.
As for the car itself, I saw it at FoS and didn't know what to make of it. Personally I don't think the design works properly, as many people have said the front just looks wrong, the tail is better but not as good as either the DB5 or DB6 from which it is copied. I dislike the wheels, spoked wires on a modern car are daft and the wood and bright chrome interior is an anathema to me. Aston Martin made a point of not having wood inside their cars form the mid-50s onward, and rather like the E-Type and Ferraris, the interiors looked all the better for that. This is a car which seems like a mixed up pastiche of Jaguar, Bentley, Aston Martin and even Ford Thunderbird. It's not to my taste.
As for the car itself, I saw it at FoS and didn't know what to make of it. Personally I don't think the design works properly, as many people have said the front just looks wrong, the tail is better but not as good as either the DB5 or DB6 from which it is copied. I dislike the wheels, spoked wires on a modern car are daft and the wood and bright chrome interior is an anathema to me. Aston Martin made a point of not having wood inside their cars form the mid-50s onward, and rather like the E-Type and Ferraris, the interiors looked all the better for that. This is a car which seems like a mixed up pastiche of Jaguar, Bentley, Aston Martin and even Ford Thunderbird. It's not to my taste.
365daytonafan said:
BarbaricAvatar said:
It doesn't look too bad. But £600,000 might buy you an actual DB6, so what is the point in this imitator?
Besides, it looks too much like:
Would you really want someone to make that mistake if you'd just spent £600k?
£600K will buy you 2 DB6s, it's actually DB5 territory.Besides, it looks too much like:
Would you really want someone to make that mistake if you'd just spent £600k?
Crying shame (the cars, not the wife and son, who are a nightmare - I'd have left too. It's just I would have taken the cars with me).
As to the thread topic - smashing from the rear three quarters, OK-but-just-not-quite-right from anywhere else. Bit like a girl I once knew, but rather pricier.
Edited by Harry Flashman on Friday 1st August 17:20
PaulD86 said:
CedGTV said:
Saw it the FOS and I can tell you it is glorious in the flesh, it does not however give you a thought that it is a 'over' half a million quids worth.
Oh ! and it's quite long but very beautiful.
+1 Saw it at FoS too. Beautiful, but I'd rather just buy an Aston and accept it will only work sometimes.Oh ! and it's quite long but very beautiful.
Zod said:
crostonian said:
Is it really 'utterly horrible' or a 'horrendous mess'? OK it's divisive and stretches value for money to the extreme but I would hardly describe it as such, there really are some pricks on here.
Are you really calling me a prick for not liking the interior? Take a look at yourself.
It's nice but IMO it has no heritage and hence the price is overly stratospheric..
Aston Martin DB5's etc are fetching vast sums due to their heritage and rarity rather than the metal / parts being worth the money..
I agree with those that say the proportions (especially the front) are a little odd.
Aston Martin DB5's etc are fetching vast sums due to their heritage and rarity rather than the metal / parts being worth the money..
I agree with those that say the proportions (especially the front) are a little odd.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff