RE: Aston Martin DB4 GT 'Continuation': Driven

[anonymous-user]

DonkeyApple said:

A Golf R is cheaper and faster.

A Casio watch is cheaper and more accurate than a Patek Philippe watch.

Ridiculous argument.

[WCZ]

PRND said:

A Casio watch is cheaper and more accurate than a Patek Philippe watch.

Ridiculous argument.

a £1.4m db4 official replica isn't for everyone though is it? if you're just after outright speed then it's not the car for you.

[anonymous-user]

WCZ said:

PRND said:

A Casio watch is cheaper and more accurate than a Patek Philippe watch.

Ridiculous argument.

a £1.4m db4 official replica isn't for everyone though is it? if you're just after outright speed then it's not the car for you.

I'm struggling to understand your point?

[gt69]

Most beautiful racing car ever? There's quite some competition

Ferrari P4, 500 Mondial, 750 Monza, 250 TR, 335S, 206 Dino, 375 MM, 156 Sharknose, 250SWB, 250 GTO
Alfa 33/2, TZ2, T332, 1750 Monza, P2, 8C
Jaguar D-Type, XJ-13,
Maserati 300S, 250F, 200Si, Tipo 151, 450S, A6GCS,
Porsche 917, 904,
Aston DB3S, DB4 GTZ, 212,
.......

[BFleming]

I think it's odd/funny that they put the 1AML plate on this, complete with silver digits on a black background, whereas in reality it should be wearing a 17 plate in black & yellow. Wouldn't look so nostalgic then, would it?
I have no particular opinion on the car, other than it's gorgeous of course, as was the original.

[DonkeyApple]

PRND said:

A Casio watch is cheaper and more accurate than a Patek Philippe watch.

Ridiculous argument.

Exactly. A Casio watch isn’t likely to be faster than a Patek.

[DonkeyApple]

samoht said:

Agreed, that seems a wanton disposal of original-spec correctness, making it more of a factory-spec hotrod. If I was campaigning an original DB4 in a historic series, I certainly wouldn't want to see someone with one of these come in with 10% more displacement. OTOH if it was spec-correct it would seem fair.

(The engine capacity also seems to have grown by another 100cc between the article and the summary stats at the bottom!)

Don’t go thinking that an original DB4 sports the same engine at a race weekend that it does during the week.

[Pericoloso]

DonkeyApple said:

PRND said:

A Casio watch is cheaper and more accurate than a Patek Philippe watch.

Ridiculous argument.

Exactly. A Casio watch isn’t likely to be faster than a Patek.

You REALLY should have used the smiley DA......

[Ian-27xza]

As an FYI - I seem to recall an interview by Lord March stating that he wouldn't be allowing these cars to race as part of The Revival meet.

[Europa1]

Ian-27xza said:

As an FYI - I seem to recall an interview by Lord March stating that he wouldn't be allowing these cars to race as part of The Revival meet.

He certainly said it regarding the continuation Jaguar E-Types. Coincidentally the documentary about those cars was repeated the other night on one of the Channel 4 spin off channels.

[Skylinecrazy]

j90gta said:

andymac said:

Lovely car and a great to be able to manufacture again but this puts it in serious car territory ,Ferrari F40 for example .

You can pick up a decent F40 for half what they're asking for this Aston

Why are you comparing an F40 to this?

for 1.4 million pound I can also get a nice yacht. It's about as relevant.

[dinkel]

DonkeyApple said:

A Golf R is cheaper and faster.

Sorry. Post me 5 pics of a Golf R that ooze more style please.

[Ninja59]

BFleming said:

I think it's odd/funny that they put the 1AML plate on this, complete with silver digits on a black background, whereas in reality it should be wearing a 17 plate in black & yellow. Wouldn't look so nostalgic then, would it?
I have no particular opinion on the car, other than it's gorgeous of course, as was the original.

How would it be road legal though? It won't meet any of the current regs. Surely this has exactly the same issue as the E Type continuation? (unless they are using IVA)

Edited by Ninja59 on Wednesday 17th January 12:33

[ChilliWhizz]

dinkel said:

Sorry. Post me 5 pics of a Golf R that ooze more style please.

Another whoosh parrot here please

To complement dinkel's excellent pics here's a pic my daughter took a few years back at/on her way to Le Mans...

[dinkel]

I have a zillion snaps and quite a few are Astons.

A Jag seems to be faster on track. But wow, an Aston just has it. The Project cars are achingly stunning.

[OLDBENZ]

I understand that one significant difference between the originals and recreation cars which the article gets wrong is that the recreation cars do NOT have hand formed bodywork (ie chap with a leather apron starting with a sheet of aluminium forming the panels over a wooden former with a hammer in the old-school manner). Instead they are made with pre-formed panels that are 'hand adjusted' to fit (in the manner of the original Aston Martin Vanquish).

I believe the stated reason for this is that there is insufficient expertise left at the factory to make the bodies for a small production run the traditional way and that the craftsmen that they do have are needed for the restoration/repair of the old pre-Vanquish cars at Works Service that they do not subcontract.

[thegreenhell]

Europa1 said:

Ian-27xza said:

As an FYI - I seem to recall an interview by Lord March stating that he wouldn't be allowing these cars to race as part of The Revival meet.

He certainly said it regarding the continuation Jaguar E-Types. Coincidentally the documentary about those cars was repeated the other night on one of the Channel 4 spin off channels.

Yes, his famous "We don't allow replicas to race at the Revival" quote. And yet probably half the cars that race there are replicas, clones and 'continuations'. I guess the distinction is that they are kept very hush-hush, whereas everyone knows that these Jaguars and Astons are brand new cars. At least these new cars were built by the original manufacturer.

The other quote in that Jaguar documentary that made me chuckle was the owner of an original car who said these new cars shouldn't be allowed to race because they'll be so much faster than the old cars. Well the new cars are built to the original drawings and don't have 50 years of development on them. Neither have they been 'optimised' in a wind tunnel by Adrian Newey, unlike certain other successful 'original' cars.

[RobDown]

OLDBENZ said:

I understand that one significant difference between the originals and recreation cars which the article gets wrong is that the recreation cars do NOT have hand formed bodywork (ie chap with a leather apron starting with a sheet of aluminium forming the panels over a wooden former with a hammer in the old-school manner). Instead they are made with pre-formed panels that are 'hand adjusted' to fit (in the manner of the original Aston Martin Vanquish).

I believe the stated reason for this is that there is insufficient expertise left at the factory to make the bodies for a small production run the traditional way and that the craftsmen that they do have are needed for the restoration/repair of the old pre-Vanquish cars at Works Service that they do not subcontract.

You might be right but I don't think you are. Anyone who has done the tour of Works Services can see that they have all of the old presses etc from the factory and when they do a restoration of a car (£400k anyone?) its basically taking it down to the frame (and even sometimes not keeping that) and then rebuilding it from scratch using the expertise they have there.

I got the sense that that's exactly the reason why Works Services wanted to do this; when they restore a car they are effectively building a new one. And yes, they are thinking of what to do next beyond the DB4

[OLDBENZ]

RobDown said:

OLDBENZ said:

I understand that one significant difference between the originals and recreation cars which the article gets wrong is that the recreation cars do NOT have hand formed bodywork (ie chap with a leather apron starting with a sheet of aluminium forming the panels over a wooden former with a hammer in the old-school manner). Instead they are made with pre-formed panels that are 'hand adjusted' to fit (in the manner of the original Aston Martin Vanquish).

I believe the stated reason for this is that there is insufficient expertise left at the factory to make the bodies for a small production run the traditional way and that the craftsmen that they do have are needed for the restoration/repair of the old pre-Vanquish cars at Works Service that they do not subcontract.

You might be right but I don't think you are. Anyone who has done the tour of Works Services can see that they have all of the old presses etc from the factory and when they do a restoration of a car (£400k anyone?) its basically taking it down to the frame (and even sometimes not keeping that) and then rebuilding it from scratch using the expertise they have there.


I got the sense that that's exactly the reason why Works Services wanted to do this; when they restore a car they are effectively building a new one. And yes, they are thinking of what to do next beyond the DB4

I am pretty certain - as in I would put money on it - that the panels for the recreations are pre-formed and then hand finished. I know the factory borrowed a number of the original DB4 GTs for digital measuring and used the mean measurements for the new panels. FYI none of the original panels were pressed. They were all knocked out by hand. It is a labour intensive and highly skilled process that takes ages. Yes, when a car goes into Works Service for repair or rebuild it is rebuilt the traditional way. There is a long waiting list for a rebuild and it takes a couple of years. There is not the spare expertise knocking about to push out 15 cars with hand rolled panels in relatively short order.

This is what Aston Martin are hinting at when they say about the Continuations on their website, "To improve the accuracy and consistency of the panels, the continuation cars' bodywork uses state of the art digital technology, before being hand-finished in time honoured tradition."

I am certainly not knocking the Recreations - quite the reverse. They renew interest in the DB4 GTs and help keep some of the old skills alive which must be a good thing.

[Gus265]

Absolutely love it - stunning. Also loved the E-type lightweight continuation. My massive issue is the fact they can’t be road legal - that is too gutting for that money.

And totally agree with other sentimentts about Lord March comments - these are probably more original than sone of the Revival cars - I could see carbon weave on one E-Type!!