The last car rolls forward
It was a sad day yesterday (19
July) for British motoring heritage as the last Aston Martin Vanquish rolled off the production line. In doing so, it also means the closure of the Newport Pagnell facility – as a production site at least. The ‘Works Service’ centre (which offers servicing, restoration and enhancement of Aston Martins and sees more than 2000 current and historic cars through its doors annually) on the other side of the high street will continue in business for the foreseeable future.
The Newport Pagnell site was purchased by David Brown in 1954 and first used for building Aston Martin bodies. Full production at the site began in 1958 with the DB4 and since then nearly 13,000 cars have been produced at the factory – some 30 different models and their derivatives.
Newport Pagnell has been Aston’s base throughout the highs and lows of the last 50 years. At one time, the proximity of the bank in the high street – just four minutes from the front door – was very useful when the cheque for a new car came in.
Aston Martin is of course now a very different company, with nearly 20 years of Ford ownership under its belt and lately a new owner in the David Richards-led private consortium. V8 Vantage and DB9 production is at Aston’s modern headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire (the seventh home for the company) which is where the Vanquish replacement – the DBS – will be produced.
Famous Astons outside the factory
The 100 or so staff on the production side of the site have been offered a choice of reemployment options within the company at different sites or a redundancy package. As for the site itself, Aston has put in a local planning application for a housing development.
Kingsley Riding-Felce, Aston Martin’s Director of Works Service and Customer Relations, said: “Although the day was tinged with sadness it was a celebration. It is important to remember that an Aston Martin is a car for life – it never dies and nor will the great achievements of the employees who have worked here over the fifty years. Although we say farewell to the buildings it is the spirit of the people and the cars themselves that will live.”
Some old friends came to say goodbye...
The final 50 Aston Martins built at Newport Pagnell were the limited edition Vanquish S Ultimate Edition priced at £182,095 the last of which – chassis number 502593; the black car in the photos – will be retained by the company.
One thing’s for certain: this rambling collection of atmospheric sheds and houses – and the extraordinary craftsmen working within them – will be sorely missed by enthusiasts everywhere.