So what made you fall in love with Astons and when?
Discussion
As per the title, how young you were when they became an object of lust. Was it an old movie that kicked it off? Or did you and your spotty mates park your bikes at the bottom of a neighbours driveway and drool at his V8? (Zero points for mentioning Goldfinger, thats burned into the nation's psyche by now!).
Apart from Bond and Corgi, they always stoof d out in magazines and adverts that were laying around when I was very young. I remember seeing a black and white advert for car stereos, aged about 5 in the early 70s, featuring an arab sheikh and a pair of quad headlight DBSs. My dad filled me in what they were, and I was saddened when he said they had just stopped making them!
However it was the Italian Job DB4 that really did it, more than Bond. I then became a "spotter" for appearances like "The Wrong Arm of the Law" with Peter Sellers, and also this gorgeous caribbean blue example in Doctor In Love. With the advent of video in the 80s the pause and rewind buttons were nearly as worn out with these films as with Sinitta videos!
With many other cars that's when you could say "I knew then I'd have one", but even as a kid it was obvious how rare and expensive they were and it was not a given! So what about you then?
Apart from Bond and Corgi, they always stoof d out in magazines and adverts that were laying around when I was very young. I remember seeing a black and white advert for car stereos, aged about 5 in the early 70s, featuring an arab sheikh and a pair of quad headlight DBSs. My dad filled me in what they were, and I was saddened when he said they had just stopped making them!
However it was the Italian Job DB4 that really did it, more than Bond. I then became a "spotter" for appearances like "The Wrong Arm of the Law" with Peter Sellers, and also this gorgeous caribbean blue example in Doctor In Love. With the advent of video in the 80s the pause and rewind buttons were nearly as worn out with these films as with Sinitta videos!
With many other cars that's when you could say "I knew then I'd have one", but even as a kid it was obvious how rare and expensive they were and it was not a given! So what about you then?
Edited by Loose_Cannon on Wednesday 29th March 00:41
I remember reading a boys "annual" when I was about eight I guess, which featured sports cars. The only ones I remember from it were an E-Type and what must have been a DB5 or DB6. The E-Type was the one I wanted at the time. It was when The Persuaders was broadcast in 1971 that I fell in love with the DBS (V8)and would cycle down to HW Motors to drool over the cars in the showroom window after each episode. I was eleven at that time.
When in 2010 I bought my DB9 it was from HW Motors, and it was quite a special experience to go back to the same garage nearly 40 years later, but this time to actually drive away in an Aston Martin.
When in 2010 I bought my DB9 it was from HW Motors, and it was quite a special experience to go back to the same garage nearly 40 years later, but this time to actually drive away in an Aston Martin.
About 5 or 6 years ago, there was an old Bond film on and I saw the DB5 and thought : That's lovely, I'm going to buy one of them.
I already had a couple of nice cars, and figured the DB5 was probably in the ~£40k region. When I discovered that I'd need at least 10 times that, I rethought my plan!
The V8V I have now will have to do as a substitute for a few years yet....
I already had a couple of nice cars, and figured the DB5 was probably in the ~£40k region. When I discovered that I'd need at least 10 times that, I rethought my plan!
The V8V I have now will have to do as a substitute for a few years yet....
Like many, I had a Corgi DB5 as a child, replete with guns, ejector seat and pop up bulletproof shield so I was aware of the brand from the age of 5.
Never saw one in the flesh until my early twenties (DB7 was new on the scene and I lived in a small, non-descript Welsh town where such cars were never to be found) and was quite smitten with its lines. Plus, this was the stage on my life where owning cars started to improve so my prurient interest gathered pace.
Saw the V8 Vantage launch at a time when life had dealt me several bad hands and thought it was the prettiest, non-vintage car ever made (usurping my previous favourite of the Ferrari 355) but came to the conclusion I'd probably never get to even drive one let alone own one.
Started shopping around in 2015 in advance of my 40th as I wanted to treat myself on my landmark birthday and finally found the one in June of last year and that's where the love affair truly started.
One of my favourite photos of it in Bruge, last year. It makes me smile every time I see it.
Never saw one in the flesh until my early twenties (DB7 was new on the scene and I lived in a small, non-descript Welsh town where such cars were never to be found) and was quite smitten with its lines. Plus, this was the stage on my life where owning cars started to improve so my prurient interest gathered pace.
Saw the V8 Vantage launch at a time when life had dealt me several bad hands and thought it was the prettiest, non-vintage car ever made (usurping my previous favourite of the Ferrari 355) but came to the conclusion I'd probably never get to even drive one let alone own one.
Started shopping around in 2015 in advance of my 40th as I wanted to treat myself on my landmark birthday and finally found the one in June of last year and that's where the love affair truly started.
One of my favourite photos of it in Bruge, last year. It makes me smile every time I see it.
Edited by Frances The Mute on Thursday 30th March 08:51
I've always been a car fan and was the typical teenager with pictures of the Lamborghini Countach and Porsche 911 on my walls. I'd watched the bond movies and seen the various car used, but never really started to appreciate the Aston brand or indeed the Vantage until I was a bit more mature in life (NOTE: I'm only 42 now.....). I've owned a Ferrari and Porsche previously, but nothing like the feeling of owning an Aston. I was at the AM dealers in Newcastle last weekend and I was explaining to the receptionist how the V12 is so modern looking, but really the 'basic' design is +10 years old, just shows you how well it was designed back in those days.
Most of my life's "wish list" was created before the age of 16, this includes cars. I wondered how many other people are the same.
Actual real-life contact with Astons when I was a nipper was limited, although when the neighbour across the road (a lady) got a stunning new light blue V8 asa company car in the late 70s it was a wake-up moment. It was tragic when she traded it in for a Scimitar.
Probably the most pivotal day was in about 1978 when the family had a day out at a country fair in Teesdale (Lartingdon?). It was there I saw my first Lotus Esprit, a gold S2 just like the press car. I could hardly see over the roof which seems absurd now. I knew I'd have one some day.
At the same show a farmer turned up in a ropey old DB4 (complete with taked on rear wiper IIRC) and 3 gorgeous dolly birds got out with him. I knew then I would TRY to have an Aston!
I currently have both, which is just amazing and hopefully will be that way for a long time to come.
Actual real-life contact with Astons when I was a nipper was limited, although when the neighbour across the road (a lady) got a stunning new light blue V8 asa company car in the late 70s it was a wake-up moment. It was tragic when she traded it in for a Scimitar.
Probably the most pivotal day was in about 1978 when the family had a day out at a country fair in Teesdale (Lartingdon?). It was there I saw my first Lotus Esprit, a gold S2 just like the press car. I could hardly see over the roof which seems absurd now. I knew I'd have one some day.
At the same show a farmer turned up in a ropey old DB4 (complete with taked on rear wiper IIRC) and 3 gorgeous dolly birds got out with him. I knew then I would TRY to have an Aston!
I currently have both, which is just amazing and hopefully will be that way for a long time to come.
For me it was my first Scalextric Set, and one of the two cars was a dark green Aston Martin DB4 GT with lights. Nobody else was allowed to use my Aston, they had to use the blue Ferrari, and of coarse the Aston always won. Think I may have put some led weights in the Ferrari at the time. I was all of about 8 years old.
Forward to 2017, and I am now living the dream. It might not be green (Couldn't find one in Green), and certainly not a DB4, but who cares.
and at least it's the right colour when covered in the garage.
Forward to 2017, and I am now living the dream. It might not be green (Couldn't find one in Green), and certainly not a DB4, but who cares.
and at least it's the right colour when covered in the garage.
Edited by Pitcombe on Wednesday 29th March 10:10
Edited by Pitcombe on Wednesday 29th March 10:16
Frances The Mute said:
One of my favourite photos of it in Bruge, last year. It makes me smile every time I see it.
That's such a simple, yet lovely photo! Great testament to the overall design that the car looks so good in what's a relatively bland setting.For me it all started with the Vantage. I've always liked sports cars, but tended to shift my allegiances between marques depending on whether I liked the design of particular models. Out and out performance has always been secondary compared to overall design for me and up until the Vantage, my favourite modern era car was the Mk1 Audi TT - which I still think is a great design. Astons were always well out of reach, but once I saw the spy-shots of the Vantage just prior to launch, I was hooked. I knew then that somehow I'd figure out a way to find enough money to buy one eventually.
I think the DB5 is the pinnacle of the AM vintage era and the Vantage is the pinnacle of the modern era design. For a design that's well over 10 years old now, I still think it looks great - perfect proportions, unfussy yet purposeful details etc.
Edited by blade runner on Wednesday 29th March 15:51
I was born in Newport Pagnell and had family that worked at the factory. Being driven passed their regularly throughout my formative years, seeing the cars parked outside and getting the opportunity to go round the factory at the time the Bulldog was there is still put them the top of my must have list from as far back as I can remember.
1978, a young bloke from the antipodes walked out of Sloane Sq towards Knightsbridge and passed a V8 which was just gobsmackingly powerful and imposing. Never thought I would own one but lays liked the brand.
1990's sometime went for a ride in a cousins V8 Vantage and still loved it
2016 Was looking to update my RS4 and wanted a manual sports car - realized a V8VM was a much better option in both value and practicality than an R8 and was within my budget
So pleased, they are great cars, fabulous at all they do and a pleasure to be a part of the marque
Won't be changing makes anytime soon - now looking forward to possibly DB 11 or new Vantage in a few years
Graze
1990's sometime went for a ride in a cousins V8 Vantage and still loved it
2016 Was looking to update my RS4 and wanted a manual sports car - realized a V8VM was a much better option in both value and practicality than an R8 and was within my budget
So pleased, they are great cars, fabulous at all they do and a pleasure to be a part of the marque
Won't be changing makes anytime soon - now looking forward to possibly DB 11 or new Vantage in a few years
Graze
Graze01 said:
...Won't be changing makes anytime soon - now looking forward to possibly DB 11 or new Vantage in a few years
Graze
Funny thing is, although my V8V is 10 years old now, when I saw the DB11 on Top Gear the other night I actually thought : Hmm, I like that - I guess I might own one in a few years!Graze
Was quite a nice thought!
davek_964 said:
Graze01 said:
...Won't be changing makes anytime soon - now looking forward to possibly DB 11 or new Vantage in a few years
Graze
Funny thing is, although my V8V is 10 years old now, when I saw the DB11 on Top Gear the other night I actually thought : Hmm, I like that - I guess I might own one in a few years!Graze
Was quite a nice thought!
As a young lad in 1978 (when I was a member of the Aston Martin Young Supporters Club), I went to the factory at Newport Pagnell - I fell in love with a red V8 Vantage, and it just grew from then.
I vowed, one day, I'd have one.
Then three years ago I drove a pal open mine's DB9 to the South of France with him.
Fell in love for the second time.
Went and bought my own, and I love it. It brings a smile every single time I start it (and have had no problems whatsoever).
I vowed, one day, I'd have one.
Then three years ago I drove a pal open mine's DB9 to the South of France with him.
Fell in love for the second time.
Went and bought my own, and I love it. It brings a smile every single time I start it (and have had no problems whatsoever).
Saw a V8 Vantage getting photographed in Hyde Park 40 years ago , ended up craicing on with the driver who worked for AM , I was a very young apprentice mechanic at the time.
Used to drive up to Reg Vardy's and gawp through the window when they were shut , not having the confidence to go in when open .
Fast forward to about 18 months ago when a pal told me he had an invite to see a DB10 on a road show at the same garage I used to stand at the window.
That got the brain working overtime as I'd sold my 911 by then.
After a couple of road tests and a lot of thought and then haggling ended up with a brand new N430 last year , I love driving it and the dragon enjoys it where she never liked the Porsche.
Something tells me I bought at the right time , NA and manual just might mean a slightly slower level of depreciation, not that I'm selling any time soon.
Used to drive up to Reg Vardy's and gawp through the window when they were shut , not having the confidence to go in when open .
Fast forward to about 18 months ago when a pal told me he had an invite to see a DB10 on a road show at the same garage I used to stand at the window.
That got the brain working overtime as I'd sold my 911 by then.
After a couple of road tests and a lot of thought and then haggling ended up with a brand new N430 last year , I love driving it and the dragon enjoys it where she never liked the Porsche.
Something tells me I bought at the right time , NA and manual just might mean a slightly slower level of depreciation, not that I'm selling any time soon.
It's a very enjoyable thread, but it does make me wonder; Aston Martin's create this kind of warmth, I suspect most of us still remember when we first saw one; how many other manufacturers could have this sort of thread on Pistonheads?
Will there be a thread in 20 years time in the Audi section entitled "when did you first fall in love with the R8?"?
Will there be a thread in 20 years time in the Audi section entitled "when did you first fall in love with the R8?"?
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