Tales of a V8V (illustrated)
Discussion
fvert said:
Great write up! Let's meet sometimes, I live in Zurich and own a 4.3 (with upgraded clutch!!!)
Nevertheless I would not drive the car on snowy and salty roads!!!
Who's your AM dealer? AM Zurich wanted 450chf only to watch the car and see what was to be done for the service....
Hey fvert, 450chf just for an inspection, ouch! My dealer is Emil Frey Aston Martin in Safenwil - I don't know how they are price wise compared to anywhere else as I have only used them thus far, but they have been helpful and done a bit extra a couple of times so I can't complain.Nevertheless I would not drive the car on snowy and salty roads!!!
Who's your AM dealer? AM Zurich wanted 450chf only to watch the car and see what was to be done for the service....
Sure we can meet up, thanks for the offer. I am not often in Zurich other than coming and going from Kloten, but I will PM you if I know in advance that I will be in the area. Please do likewise if you come to Luzern!
So, when I went to get my winters off and summers on my dealer threw the key for a DB9 GT at me. I was impressed at his trust, this was a new 2016 model with 320km on the clock that weighed in at more than three times the price of the eight-year-old Vantage I’d bought a few months earlier!
Having previously been a passenger, but never driven a V12 Aston, this was a sweet moment. I took it for a 30+ minute spin over a nearby mountain pass, and I felt like a teenager who had absconded with a car they shouldn’t be driving but to hell with it, pedal to the metal and all that!
The DB9 GT delivered such nice, smooth power, and sounded prodigious while doing it! Impressive grip and handling for a vehicle that feels noticeably bigger and heavier than the Vantage, and even the shifts were relatively fluid and quick, much more so than the couple of sportshift Vantages I`ve driven anyway. Amazing too that despite such similar interiors they feel so different, yet familiar... but different...
The Aston DNA.
I walked, or rather drove away happy to have had that opportunity, one that comes from going through the AM dealer experience I guess. (And it’s not all about the coffee, my guy offers beer also!) Of course, it’s all part of the game and since then he’s drawn my attention to a new, manual, MY17 Vantage in their showroom, and offered to give me back exactly what I paid for my 4.3 as a deposit… A generous deal but not a game I want to play. I like second hand cars, they are nicely depreciated and have a bit less care factor about them, besides, if I was going to buy new I’ll spec it myself, thanks!
A couple of weeks later in mid-April I flew into the UK for the first round of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championships at Silverstone. I made good use of my rental car, an appallingly uninteresting Audi TT, to scoot over to Halford (passing two DB11’s out testing along the way) to visit Bamford Rose and have a look around the operation with Mike.
Shortly after joining up to Pistonheads one of the first things I did was sift through the 80+ pages of the “Aston Martin advice from Bamford Rose independent specialist” thread, which I found to be extremely interesting and they definitely seemed to have some performance enhancements available that I liked the sound of… These mods convinced me that one need not feel condemned to a life of 4.7 envy if owning a 4.3.
Mike kindly took a good chunk of time to show me around the garage and parts department and explain the operation amid the sundry Vantages, DB’s and a mean looking Vanquish, the wheels of which only just contained some ginormous carbon ceramic discs. I loved the engine building room in the old section of the plant, which just reeked of secret laboratory, Frankenstein type know-how. I made my way back to Silverstone thinking of when I can justify a drive to the UK to get a BR sports exhaust fitted. Maybe a lightened flywheel and clutch also... At least I had something to take my mind off the shoddy Audi.
I’d never been to Silverstone, and it was a fun couple of days and the Vantage GT8’s podiumed in Pro & Am so that was good for morale!
If anyone is interested there’s some of my photos on facebook, (& from round 2 at Spa also) – link below.
https://www.facebook.com/deantreml/media_set?set=a...
July was fast approaching and with that the 2200km (1400 mile) round trip from Switzerland to Burghley House for the 2016 Festival of Aston Martins! I was looking forward to this, not just for the gathering, but also to do a bit of a “Grand Tour” as it would be the longest trip I was likely to undertake in the Vantage any time soon, and I was curious to see how comfortable it was over that sort of distance. I had seriously figured on doing the Bamford Rose thing on this trip but it transpired that I couldn’t get my s
t together, so that went on the back burner for now.
When the time rolled around my daughter was visiting from down under so she came along as co-pilot. We crossed into France at Basel and carried on to Lens for dinner, such as it was, and then spent the night in Calais before Chunneling over to Blighty the next morning. The Vantage ran great, cruised like a true GT and made the journey enjoyable rather than a task. There were moments on that drive where everything came together and the feelings were sublime.
After a three day stop in London, we arrived at Burghley. Having stayed at a nearby hotel it was unexpected fun to leave for the event with two other Vantages and a DB7 whose owners had stayed at the same hotel. Along the way we picked up a couple more Astons so the view out the windscreen and in the rear view mirrors was fantastic. Previously I had given a Porsche 911 owning mate plenty of grief about his 911 country cruising get togethers (and to be fair any 911 owner deserves a certain amount of grief if for nothing else than lack of imagination) but I had to eat humble pie (no hardship, I love pie) as the convoy thing was quite a buzz.
Arrival was very cool, to rumble into the grounds of Burghley House amid all the others and see the plethora of Astons laid out across the lawns was quite the occasion.
After parking and chatting with our immediate neighbours we started doing the rounds. There were evidently 600 Astons, the largest gathering ever, and while there was a lot of very similar cars in attendance there was some precious metal lurking here and there as well. Oddly, so many Aston Martins in one place kind of takes the shine off the AM uniqueness…
It was good to see both the DB10 & DB11, both look better in real life than I’ve seen in most photos, especially the 11, which I feel suffered in images originally with the contrasting roof strake, which doesn’t work for me at all.
The Vulcan certainly drew a crowd, especially when they fired it up! Overall it was a very special event to attend and the organisation was superb, and Burghley House itself quite terrific to look through. People were open and chatty about their cars and it was all feeling quite free and easy, as one would expect. I was happy too, to bump into “BlackV8” who had made a similar trip through from Austria!
I don’t think I would do the trip again in a hurry, but it was 100% worth it to be there amid the many AM’s and enthusiasts, see all the assembled works of art and feel the pride and history in Aston Martin ownership. Having said that if another such event coincides with an excuse to be in the UK, then why not!
The other highlight of Burghley was getting Clive Chedzey to fit the exhaust valve bypass unit to my car – and he pointed out that I can program the on/off controls into my auto-dimming rear view mirror, which I have since done – no more pulling the boot apart to remove or replace the fuse depending on how I feel about the neighbours at 5am…
We cut a track at 4:30pm as I didn’t want to get caught in a mass exodus and started the drive back to Switzerland. As the trip went on I felt pretty decent and other than food and petrol, kept on the move, and 11 hours later pulled into the driveway at home (and I was only flashed twice by the sneaky little cameras of the gendarmerie!)
This is testament to the comfort of the car, as not once on the drive did I feel the need to stop for a stretch or anything to ward off seat pains or cramps, and this harks back to what I wrote previously about the DB7 – “never had I sat in a car that felt so custom made for me” - and this is true of the Vantage too, when I’m sitting in it, it just feels right.
I’ve posted some of my photos from Burghley on facebook (link below) & if you see your car, let me know!
https://www.facebook.com/deantreml/media_set?set=a...
Having previously been a passenger, but never driven a V12 Aston, this was a sweet moment. I took it for a 30+ minute spin over a nearby mountain pass, and I felt like a teenager who had absconded with a car they shouldn’t be driving but to hell with it, pedal to the metal and all that!
The DB9 GT delivered such nice, smooth power, and sounded prodigious while doing it! Impressive grip and handling for a vehicle that feels noticeably bigger and heavier than the Vantage, and even the shifts were relatively fluid and quick, much more so than the couple of sportshift Vantages I`ve driven anyway. Amazing too that despite such similar interiors they feel so different, yet familiar... but different...
The Aston DNA.
I walked, or rather drove away happy to have had that opportunity, one that comes from going through the AM dealer experience I guess. (And it’s not all about the coffee, my guy offers beer also!) Of course, it’s all part of the game and since then he’s drawn my attention to a new, manual, MY17 Vantage in their showroom, and offered to give me back exactly what I paid for my 4.3 as a deposit… A generous deal but not a game I want to play. I like second hand cars, they are nicely depreciated and have a bit less care factor about them, besides, if I was going to buy new I’ll spec it myself, thanks!
A couple of weeks later in mid-April I flew into the UK for the first round of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championships at Silverstone. I made good use of my rental car, an appallingly uninteresting Audi TT, to scoot over to Halford (passing two DB11’s out testing along the way) to visit Bamford Rose and have a look around the operation with Mike.
Shortly after joining up to Pistonheads one of the first things I did was sift through the 80+ pages of the “Aston Martin advice from Bamford Rose independent specialist” thread, which I found to be extremely interesting and they definitely seemed to have some performance enhancements available that I liked the sound of… These mods convinced me that one need not feel condemned to a life of 4.7 envy if owning a 4.3.
Mike kindly took a good chunk of time to show me around the garage and parts department and explain the operation amid the sundry Vantages, DB’s and a mean looking Vanquish, the wheels of which only just contained some ginormous carbon ceramic discs. I loved the engine building room in the old section of the plant, which just reeked of secret laboratory, Frankenstein type know-how. I made my way back to Silverstone thinking of when I can justify a drive to the UK to get a BR sports exhaust fitted. Maybe a lightened flywheel and clutch also... At least I had something to take my mind off the shoddy Audi.
I’d never been to Silverstone, and it was a fun couple of days and the Vantage GT8’s podiumed in Pro & Am so that was good for morale!
If anyone is interested there’s some of my photos on facebook, (& from round 2 at Spa also) – link below.
https://www.facebook.com/deantreml/media_set?set=a...
July was fast approaching and with that the 2200km (1400 mile) round trip from Switzerland to Burghley House for the 2016 Festival of Aston Martins! I was looking forward to this, not just for the gathering, but also to do a bit of a “Grand Tour” as it would be the longest trip I was likely to undertake in the Vantage any time soon, and I was curious to see how comfortable it was over that sort of distance. I had seriously figured on doing the Bamford Rose thing on this trip but it transpired that I couldn’t get my s
t together, so that went on the back burner for now. When the time rolled around my daughter was visiting from down under so she came along as co-pilot. We crossed into France at Basel and carried on to Lens for dinner, such as it was, and then spent the night in Calais before Chunneling over to Blighty the next morning. The Vantage ran great, cruised like a true GT and made the journey enjoyable rather than a task. There were moments on that drive where everything came together and the feelings were sublime.
After a three day stop in London, we arrived at Burghley. Having stayed at a nearby hotel it was unexpected fun to leave for the event with two other Vantages and a DB7 whose owners had stayed at the same hotel. Along the way we picked up a couple more Astons so the view out the windscreen and in the rear view mirrors was fantastic. Previously I had given a Porsche 911 owning mate plenty of grief about his 911 country cruising get togethers (and to be fair any 911 owner deserves a certain amount of grief if for nothing else than lack of imagination) but I had to eat humble pie (no hardship, I love pie) as the convoy thing was quite a buzz.
Arrival was very cool, to rumble into the grounds of Burghley House amid all the others and see the plethora of Astons laid out across the lawns was quite the occasion.
After parking and chatting with our immediate neighbours we started doing the rounds. There were evidently 600 Astons, the largest gathering ever, and while there was a lot of very similar cars in attendance there was some precious metal lurking here and there as well. Oddly, so many Aston Martins in one place kind of takes the shine off the AM uniqueness…
It was good to see both the DB10 & DB11, both look better in real life than I’ve seen in most photos, especially the 11, which I feel suffered in images originally with the contrasting roof strake, which doesn’t work for me at all.
The Vulcan certainly drew a crowd, especially when they fired it up! Overall it was a very special event to attend and the organisation was superb, and Burghley House itself quite terrific to look through. People were open and chatty about their cars and it was all feeling quite free and easy, as one would expect. I was happy too, to bump into “BlackV8” who had made a similar trip through from Austria!
I don’t think I would do the trip again in a hurry, but it was 100% worth it to be there amid the many AM’s and enthusiasts, see all the assembled works of art and feel the pride and history in Aston Martin ownership. Having said that if another such event coincides with an excuse to be in the UK, then why not!
The other highlight of Burghley was getting Clive Chedzey to fit the exhaust valve bypass unit to my car – and he pointed out that I can program the on/off controls into my auto-dimming rear view mirror, which I have since done – no more pulling the boot apart to remove or replace the fuse depending on how I feel about the neighbours at 5am…
We cut a track at 4:30pm as I didn’t want to get caught in a mass exodus and started the drive back to Switzerland. As the trip went on I felt pretty decent and other than food and petrol, kept on the move, and 11 hours later pulled into the driveway at home (and I was only flashed twice by the sneaky little cameras of the gendarmerie!)
This is testament to the comfort of the car, as not once on the drive did I feel the need to stop for a stretch or anything to ward off seat pains or cramps, and this harks back to what I wrote previously about the DB7 – “never had I sat in a car that felt so custom made for me” - and this is true of the Vantage too, when I’m sitting in it, it just feels right.
I’ve posted some of my photos from Burghley on facebook (link below) & if you see your car, let me know!
https://www.facebook.com/deantreml/media_set?set=a...
Edited by Mr.Tremlini on Friday 4th October 21:57
Well, It has been a while and that seems to be a theme with this thread but anyway, summer has treated the car and I well. It`s currently sitting on 49,500km, so about to hit the half century and more interestingly means that in 23 months I`ve done 23,000km (14,300 miles) which is a decent number. I`m sure it`ll be around 1000km per month during my tenure come October 6th…
My plans to add some more power via exhaust etc., have not yet been realised but the process of making other changes is coming along. I have begun the de-chroming and I`m happy with the results so far and to date I have done the following;
Replaced 8 bar silver grill with 6 bar black grill.
Painted bonnet meshes black
Exhaust tips black
Window surround wrapped in black
Side strakes wrapped in black
Outer brake hubs painted black
Divinatech carbon fibre composite mirror caps
Additionally… other than wheels/tyres
Shorty aerial
Silver caps on seat controls
LED bulbs in internal lights
Exhaust bypass switch
It has the potential to be a little bit endless…
As the blacks start to take over I appreciate more the purity of the original chrome features, this is not to say I prefer it, I certainly like both looks but black is the pathway I am on at the moment and am happy with, and everything I have done is reversible so a return to spec is relatively easy. As I was having the window surrounds wrapped I had the side strakes done at the same time as I was not sure when I would or might get the carbon versions, but having seen the divinatech mirror caps I ordered their side strakes smartly and I have received them and will get them in at an appropriate time. I also fancy their N420 style rear diffuser and possibly a small front splitter to keep it company... oh dear.
Internally the new map reading LED bulbs in the interior made a huge difference to being able to actually see something inside the car at night. These are the items in question;
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111333591645?_trksid=p20...
And thanks to Shinjuku who I had the pleasure of meeting up with for lunch in Zurich recently, I have ordered the aluminium sat nav and radio knobs off ebay which gives these round knobs on the 4.3 a better look in keeping with the other larger ones.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aston-Martin-SAT-NAV-and...
Now there is not much shiny stuff on the outside except my summer wheels, the Vantage badge and the Aston Martin wings badges. I would love to replace the existing Aston Martin wings badges with the forged carbon versions, although it`s kind of hard to justify the high expense for such a small change…
I am undecided on if I should paint the sportspack wheels or just buy a new set of anthracite or black wheels… I don`t think the sportspack`s will suit black/anthracite that well…I will wait until my winter wheels go on, which are the original 7-spokes in anthracite, and live with the overall darker look and feel for a few months before making a decision. As I am driving regularly the darker wheels make sense as the cleaning is seemingly endless!
I quite like the black 10-spokes that you see on the occasional V12 Vantage...
On a slightly different note, while I was on a job a few months back and my car was parked within viewing from the work desk in the hotel room I noticed a few people react to the car as they went past so I grabbed a camera and in between work I grabbed a couple of shots. It was quite interesting to see how the Vantage seemed to make people happy & curious.
Sadly I had no CF card in the camera when a busty young wench posed for a selfie, which originally drew my attention to these paparazzi-style photo opportunities...
It will be due in the the dealership soon for the winter tyres/wheels and a service, always nerve wracking, and in the last couple of weeks I have been getting a occasional creaking sound from the front end while moving which I suspect is suspension related and I hope is just some bushes that need renewing, watch this space...
My plans to add some more power via exhaust etc., have not yet been realised but the process of making other changes is coming along. I have begun the de-chroming and I`m happy with the results so far and to date I have done the following;
Replaced 8 bar silver grill with 6 bar black grill.
Painted bonnet meshes black
Exhaust tips black
Window surround wrapped in black
Side strakes wrapped in black
Outer brake hubs painted black
Divinatech carbon fibre composite mirror caps
Additionally… other than wheels/tyres
Shorty aerial
Silver caps on seat controls
LED bulbs in internal lights
Exhaust bypass switch
It has the potential to be a little bit endless…
As the blacks start to take over I appreciate more the purity of the original chrome features, this is not to say I prefer it, I certainly like both looks but black is the pathway I am on at the moment and am happy with, and everything I have done is reversible so a return to spec is relatively easy. As I was having the window surrounds wrapped I had the side strakes done at the same time as I was not sure when I would or might get the carbon versions, but having seen the divinatech mirror caps I ordered their side strakes smartly and I have received them and will get them in at an appropriate time. I also fancy their N420 style rear diffuser and possibly a small front splitter to keep it company... oh dear.
Internally the new map reading LED bulbs in the interior made a huge difference to being able to actually see something inside the car at night. These are the items in question;
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111333591645?_trksid=p20...
And thanks to Shinjuku who I had the pleasure of meeting up with for lunch in Zurich recently, I have ordered the aluminium sat nav and radio knobs off ebay which gives these round knobs on the 4.3 a better look in keeping with the other larger ones.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aston-Martin-SAT-NAV-and...
Now there is not much shiny stuff on the outside except my summer wheels, the Vantage badge and the Aston Martin wings badges. I would love to replace the existing Aston Martin wings badges with the forged carbon versions, although it`s kind of hard to justify the high expense for such a small change…
I am undecided on if I should paint the sportspack wheels or just buy a new set of anthracite or black wheels… I don`t think the sportspack`s will suit black/anthracite that well…I will wait until my winter wheels go on, which are the original 7-spokes in anthracite, and live with the overall darker look and feel for a few months before making a decision. As I am driving regularly the darker wheels make sense as the cleaning is seemingly endless!
I quite like the black 10-spokes that you see on the occasional V12 Vantage...
On a slightly different note, while I was on a job a few months back and my car was parked within viewing from the work desk in the hotel room I noticed a few people react to the car as they went past so I grabbed a camera and in between work I grabbed a couple of shots. It was quite interesting to see how the Vantage seemed to make people happy & curious.
Sadly I had no CF card in the camera when a busty young wench posed for a selfie, which originally drew my attention to these paparazzi-style photo opportunities...
It will be due in the the dealership soon for the winter tyres/wheels and a service, always nerve wracking, and in the last couple of weeks I have been getting a occasional creaking sound from the front end while moving which I suspect is suspension related and I hope is just some bushes that need renewing, watch this space...
Edited by Mr.Tremlini on Saturday 26th October 18:49
Hi Dean, the car is looking good. The mods enhance it well.
I would keep the sportspack wheels silver, they dont look right in black.
I think you are refering to the V12 Vantage lightweight wheels? TSW interlagos wheels look very similar if you are looking for a cheaper alternative.
All the best
I would keep the sportspack wheels silver, they dont look right in black.
I think you are refering to the V12 Vantage lightweight wheels? TSW interlagos wheels look very similar if you are looking for a cheaper alternative.
All the best
Looking great, Dean! Looks even better in person 
Mansfield said:
I would keep the sportspack wheels silver, they dont look right in black.
I think you are refering to the V12 Vantage lightweight wheels? TSW interlagos wheels look very similar if you are looking for a cheaper alternative.
Great tip! I'm also on the lookout I think you are refering to the V12 Vantage lightweight wheels? TSW interlagos wheels look very similar if you are looking for a cheaper alternative.
HBradley said:
Dean, stunning & very tasteful. I would love to know from where you picked up the seat control silver caps?
Thanks, great looking Vantage S you have!The caps I picked up off ebay, from China. They were 23US$. The person or company I got them from "qsuv-chrome" does not have them listed currently, but these are them, and even cheaper.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PM-Chrome-Seat-Adjustment-...
While still only plastic they provide a bit of a visual lift.
BlackV8 said:
Hi Dean, looks stunning with your black upgrades
and it seems that you are enjoying the V8V
Cheers Anthony
Thanks Anthony, and it seems that you are enjoying the V8VCheers Anthony
I am enjoying the process, and the car very much! 
IanV12VR said:
As always Dean some wonderful images. The first one is particularly striking!
Cheers Ian, I like that one too, it really looks like mercury. Mansfield said:
Hi Dean, the car is looking good. The mods enhance it well.
I would keep the sportspack wheels silver, they dont look right in black.
I think you are refering to the V12 Vantage lightweight wheels? TSW interlagos wheels look very similar if you are looking for a cheaper alternative.
All the best
Thanks! You`re quite right and I have already decided that the sportspacks will stay silver, and maybe get sold. In combination with finding a couple of images online as well as giving them the photoshop treatment I agree that they do not look right. As Shinjuku pointed out to me, the style really relies on the contrast of the spaces between the double spokes.I would keep the sportspack wheels silver, they dont look right in black.
I think you are refering to the V12 Vantage lightweight wheels? TSW interlagos wheels look very similar if you are looking for a cheaper alternative.
All the best
Cheers for the Interlagos tip, they are similar to the lightweights, that probably would have been a question I would have asked at some point...
shinjuku said:
Looking great, Dean! Looks even better in person
Cheers, and sounds good too in underground spaces I understand... 
Edited by Mr.Tremlini on Thursday 7th September 21:30
Mr.Tremlini said:
HBradley said:
Dean, stunning & very tasteful. I would love to know from where you picked up the seat control silver caps?
Thanks, great looking Vantage S you have!The caps I picked up off ebay, from China. They were 23US$. The person or company I got them from "qsuv-chrome" does not have them listed currently, but these are them, and even cheaper.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PM-Chrome-Seat-Adjustment-...
While still only plastic they provide a bit of a visual lift.
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