Aston Martin Vantage Volante V600 | PH Heroes

Decades of coachbuilding wound up at Newport Pagnell 25 years ago - the occasion was marked in incredible fashion

You know how it goes with an end-of-an-era special edition these days. There’ll be a social media teaser campaign, a lavish launch video, a luxuriant press release that extends into many thousands of words and lots of disappointed customers who didn’t get an allocation. Whether it’s the final manual, last combustion engine or the retirement of a nameplate, a similar sort of frenzy is whipped up every single time.

The very opposite was true when this car was made. It’s a Volante version of the Aston Martin Vantage, the very last model made at Newport Pagnell with hand-whacked panels in the traditional style. Once this car was done, it was on to the much more modern Vanquish, with its superformed panels, automated manual and suave new look; then it would be Gaydon, then these cars would be firmly Aston Martin’s past rather than its present. The Short Wheelbase Volante was the end of the twin-supercharged V8, with roots stretching back decades, the end of Aston Martin production methods as they had been known, and the end of the V8/Virage/Vantage two-door that’d had been decimating smaller, less powerful sports cars throughout the 1990s. This car was a proper epoch-ender, and just eight were made (because that’s how many could be squeezed in following a low-key announcement and before the factory had to be refitted for the Vanquish.)

It’s hugely significant then, but very little is known about the Short Chassis Vantage Volante - because very little was ever said about it. Though Aston Martin had been pestered for a while about making such a thing, it had always resisted; the drop-top was the idea of Kingsley Riding Felce, to bid farewell to the old ways and the old cars. According to Nicholas Mee, who’s selling this one, Felce always saw the Vantage as a spiritual successor to the Blower Bentleys - both hugely powerful, supercharged Brit bruisers, after all - and a Volante felt like a fitting tribute. Back in 1999, a few Aston dealers were told such a car was going to happen, they were instructed to ask their VIP customers whether they’d be interested, and before long the cars had been assembled - five right-hand drive, three left - and were with their lucky buyers, never really to be talked about much again. Nobody in the media drove the Volantes, obviously they weren’t all over the internet in 2000, and it won’t have even made it to an i-spy book. Anyone who did see one probably thought it was a normal Virage Volante.

This V600 has particular significance, for Nick at least, because he specced the car when it was new. He mentioned the project to a customer at Le Mans in 1999 - where Aston would have been celebrating 40 years since that famous DBR1 win - who was very keen on the idea, even at £250,000 or so (£470k in today’s money). Keen enough, in fact, to let Nick choose the colours for him. It was delivered in 2000; hard to imagine the customer being anything but overjoyed with Rolls Royce Blue over Parchment and Pacific Blue leather. They had the car for five years, after which the second owner took the Vantage to Aston Works for the full V600 conversion. Still with fewer than 4,000 miles, it’s from that owner that Nicholas Mee now has the car.

It’s an exquisite thing in the metal. Something like 200mm was taken from the wheelbase to create a Short Chassis Volante, meaning there’s tension and attitude to the look that the standard V8 drop top could never boast. While a more traditional look than we’re used to now for the folding canvas inevitably dates the Volante, those of us who lusted after Vantages, V550s and V600s three decades ago will still find an awful lot to like here. The appearance is very much of a convertible that was produced alongside the coupe, rather than a super limited edition squeezed in at the end of the production run.

The interior, of course, is a feast of supple leather and tasteful wood veneers. You sit high, captain of your craft, looking out on as many buttons and dials as an aircraft carrier. The Volante feels imperious, significant, omnipotent before moving an inch. If convertibles are meant to be softer, sweeter option, nobody mentioned it to end-of-the-century Aston Martin.

Despite modest (by modern standards) exhaust pipes, the noise that erupts from them is formidable. The 5.3 V8 ripples and rumbles through the air at idle, slow and deliberate enough to almost hear every explosion. It’s an angry, purposeful, rude V8 sound, exactly the sort of thing to be expected from probably Aston Martin’s most caddish era. Nick calls it “a car for fat cats”, which makes complete sense; you feel more disreputable just in its presence.

Getting the V600 underway isn’t difficult - once you know how. As part of the V600 overhaul, a short shift kit was installed, which makes the gearbox operate like it’s working a locomotive. Again it feels very fitting, having to heave the lever over for first and leg press the clutch, but does nothing for the intimidation factor.

Handily, with 600lb ft, gear selection is about as influential on the Short Chassis Volante driving experience as your choice of climate control temperature. Whatever the revs, gear, or throttle position, it’s capable of going tremendously fast indeed. Its vital stats these days aren’t much to write home about, especially with something like a two-tonne kerbweight - but back at the beginning of the 21st century, a Ferrari V12 flagship had 485hp. Even the standard V550 was seriously potent, and anything with 600hp sounded like science fiction.

The capacity and those ‘chargers mean the Vantage picks up from zip, even in the gears that would also take it deep into three figures; the powerband seems never-ending, a ceaseless torrent of sound and speed. The latter needs discussing again, too, because to experience supercharger shriek behind ripping V8 lead vocals is a true privilege. Particularly without any filter above.

That was all largely to be expected, of course. Anything built from the 90s-era Vantage was going to look menacing, sound epic and accelerate with boundless fury. The most surprising aspect of the Short Chassis is actually how composed and dependable it feels as a soft top. Naturally it’s some way from being a DB12 Volante, but neither does it shake, rattle or roll anything like you might expect a cabrio of this era to do so. Especially one with a chassis being taxed by so much torque. Wobble is well contained, the steering is accurate (with just a bit of sensation through the Nardi wheel), and the ride smartly damped. As with the appearance, this Volante drives like such a thing was always meant to exist in greater numbers.

With values now being what they are (think something like three times that original asking price), today is not the day for an exhaustive assessment of the Volante. But rest assured at A-road speeds it feels utterly magnificent, commanding and almighty. The prospect of cross-country - or cross continent, come to think of it - cruising is a hugely appealing one, Vantage always with plenty in reserve (apart from fuel) and the sense of occasion absolutely off the scale. It’s a twin supercharged, 600hp, Aston Martin convertible, which sounds good enough on paper; that the reality is even better comfortably assures the Short Chassis Hero status.

What the future holds for this era isn’t clear yet. While the V550 and V600 coupes have risen in significance over recent years, they haven’t skyrocketed in a way that many rare (fewer than 250 were ever made), distinctive, manual poster cars of the 1990s have. Back in 2017, Adam Clayton’s V550 was for sale at £229,000; it’s still possible to buy a V600 (without the famous musician association) for that money. Imagine what a Ferrari 456 might cost if there were only ever a couple of hundred and they were all manual. So while it’s hard for any normal enthusiast to see the value in a £200,000 car, their future collectability looks guaranteed, especially as the kids who lusted after these in the 1990s continue to grow up. And hopefully inherit a DB6 or similar at some point, which maybe doesn’t hold the same classic Aston appeal anymore.

The Volante, of course, is so vanishingly rare that it’ll always claim a special place in a top-tier collection. This is rarer than any Zagato, any Continuation, pretty much any recent big bucks special: there were 77 One-77s, 110 Valours, 24 Vulcans. And while not offering up quite that level of driving exhilaration, the best discovery about an afternoon with a Short Chassis is that it’s far more capable than it has any real right to be. As well as charming like you wouldn’t believe. Sunny summers will never be the same again for one lucky Aston enthusiast.

SPECIFICATION | ASTON MARTIN SHORT CHASSIS V600 VOLANTE

Engine: 5,341cc, twin-supercharged V8
Transmission: 5-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 608@6,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 600@6,200rpm
0-62mph: c. 4.5sec
Top speed: c. 180mph
Weight: c. 2,000kg
MPG: Not many
CO2: A lot
On sale: 1999
Price new: c. £250,000
Price now: c. £750,000