Tales of a V8V (illustrated)
Discussion
Jon39 said:
I was at Burghley, but failed to visualise the creation of the wonderful picture below. I came away without something, which when I saw Dean's photograph, I wish I had taken a shot like that.
(Note the small artistic details - slight left lock.)
Haha, cheers Jon. I should have set up a little kiosk and for 20 quid shot everyone quickly posed up as they drove past on their way out, what was there, 400 Astons? 8k would have been a good couple of hours work! (Note the small artistic details - slight left lock.)
Here`s the original, taken on a rather good Nokia Lumia 1020. Colours are a bit exaggerated but it was a great camera for a phone.
Slight lock, well spotted. Crucial ingredient. I always cringe a little inside when I see what would have been a nice car shot with a tread pattern front and centre.
Nine weeks into re-ownership, and I washed the car for the first time yesterday, then went for a drive. It was not totally clean when I picked it up and it has stayed that way, collecting more filth, bug splatter and cat footprints for nearly two months. My care factor has been low, but it looked much better after a wash, shining in the sunshine an looking all "Aston-ish." Of course by the time I drove around then found somewhere to park it had clouded over.
Now it`s tucked up in the barn with the car cover on!
Getting back into ownership of the car has been interesting for lack of a better word. In these nine weeks I have only ("only") done around 600km (It just clicked over 80,000km, a smidge under 50,000 miles) and they have been predominantly necessary trips, not just driving for the sake of it. This is partly as I`ve had work gigs to Boston, Paris and Turkey in that time, plus family visiting from New Zealand for four weeks. The other thing has been I have not felt the previous pull to the car and I am not sure why that is. Has anybody else had this re-buying a car? I think it is because the "new car" buzz is not there as you are just getting back into something you know and are familiar with, so it does not seem so special... I still like it very much, it looks great and the new interior touches give it a lift. I`m thinking to do the door inserts with alcantara & white stitching too.
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Driving is also the same as previously, but with one exception, the interim owner removed the 3-way exhaust switch. He said it was not working and was too loud (What??) so had it removed. Now it is in standard factory mode with the valves opening/closing as usual. I liked driving around with the valves open, not accelerating madly, but listening to the burble at normal speeds. Could this be the missing dimension? I have it booked in next week to get the switch reinstalled, and the following day have a trip to Stuttgart so we`ll see...
What is also in the back of my mind is the fun I had last year fanging around the Swiss passes in a 175PS Caterham 7 in a stella shade of Arancio Argos. Totally different to the Aston, but wow, what a thing! While I`ve always loved the classics, and the pre-war single/double seaters, this modern classic was a complete hoot and so engaging that I couldn`t help thinking that an Aston and Caterham would be a pretty ideal combo to have in any garage. Obviously it`s no where near as usable as the Vantage and, I suspect, would not be masses of fun during a torrential downpour, and would probably be garaged for most of the winter, however it is a blast and I need to get out in one again later this summer. It is hard to look at it and think that it is worth more than the Vantage, but for smiles per miles it`s hard to beat!
Now it`s tucked up in the barn with the car cover on!
Getting back into ownership of the car has been interesting for lack of a better word. In these nine weeks I have only ("only") done around 600km (It just clicked over 80,000km, a smidge under 50,000 miles) and they have been predominantly necessary trips, not just driving for the sake of it. This is partly as I`ve had work gigs to Boston, Paris and Turkey in that time, plus family visiting from New Zealand for four weeks. The other thing has been I have not felt the previous pull to the car and I am not sure why that is. Has anybody else had this re-buying a car? I think it is because the "new car" buzz is not there as you are just getting back into something you know and are familiar with, so it does not seem so special... I still like it very much, it looks great and the new interior touches give it a lift. I`m thinking to do the door inserts with alcantara & white stitching too.
Driving is also the same as previously, but with one exception, the interim owner removed the 3-way exhaust switch. He said it was not working and was too loud (What??) so had it removed. Now it is in standard factory mode with the valves opening/closing as usual. I liked driving around with the valves open, not accelerating madly, but listening to the burble at normal speeds. Could this be the missing dimension? I have it booked in next week to get the switch reinstalled, and the following day have a trip to Stuttgart so we`ll see...
What is also in the back of my mind is the fun I had last year fanging around the Swiss passes in a 175PS Caterham 7 in a stella shade of Arancio Argos. Totally different to the Aston, but wow, what a thing! While I`ve always loved the classics, and the pre-war single/double seaters, this modern classic was a complete hoot and so engaging that I couldn`t help thinking that an Aston and Caterham would be a pretty ideal combo to have in any garage. Obviously it`s no where near as usable as the Vantage and, I suspect, would not be masses of fun during a torrential downpour, and would probably be garaged for most of the winter, however it is a blast and I need to get out in one again later this summer. It is hard to look at it and think that it is worth more than the Vantage, but for smiles per miles it`s hard to beat!
Well, seems I forgot about the large dip on the left hand side of the driveway and the resulting drag broke the chin scuff guard. This`ll be the second time I`ve had to buy one of these. They really are very lightweight plastic so breaking them is clearly not too difficult. I kind of like the idea of a small, subtle carbon replacement but with my history best I stick with the plastic version!
I have found a replacement on AM Bits for £160, which is about what I paid last time, and with post and import duty I think it ended up around 200. Just for a laugh I thought I`d ask a Swiss dealership what one would cost, £533!
I have fixed the exhaust switch issue, although now it is a more simple 2-way version, standard or loud, with no fully quiet option, which was certainly the least used. The burble definitely brings a missing ingredient back to the car!
My trip to Stuttgart last month went well, despite the many trucks on the road. On the first day I went to visit the Porsche museum, which is rather cool, lots of nice road and track hardware to peruse. The following day I went to the Mercedes museum, which is a much bigger and more historic experience, and the building atrium has a very 1930`s vision of the future look about it. Both museums are well worth a look for a paltry 10€ entry fee.
In both underground carparks the Aston was stared at and photographed while driving the rows and while parking, obviously there`s many car orientated people in these car parks. Drove home in the afternoon, roads again fairly busy but did squeeze 230km/h out of fifth gear. MPG was diabolical.
I`ve been getting out in the car a reasonable amount, as the weather has mostly been glorious, but recently noticed a clicking/ticking sound at regular intervals coming from what seems the front left when turning right, CV joints or one of the myriad of steering/suspension components I guess. Ring any bells?
I have found a replacement on AM Bits for £160, which is about what I paid last time, and with post and import duty I think it ended up around 200. Just for a laugh I thought I`d ask a Swiss dealership what one would cost, £533!
I have fixed the exhaust switch issue, although now it is a more simple 2-way version, standard or loud, with no fully quiet option, which was certainly the least used. The burble definitely brings a missing ingredient back to the car!
My trip to Stuttgart last month went well, despite the many trucks on the road. On the first day I went to visit the Porsche museum, which is rather cool, lots of nice road and track hardware to peruse. The following day I went to the Mercedes museum, which is a much bigger and more historic experience, and the building atrium has a very 1930`s vision of the future look about it. Both museums are well worth a look for a paltry 10€ entry fee.
In both underground carparks the Aston was stared at and photographed while driving the rows and while parking, obviously there`s many car orientated people in these car parks. Drove home in the afternoon, roads again fairly busy but did squeeze 230km/h out of fifth gear. MPG was diabolical.
I`ve been getting out in the car a reasonable amount, as the weather has mostly been glorious, but recently noticed a clicking/ticking sound at regular intervals coming from what seems the front left when turning right, CV joints or one of the myriad of steering/suspension components I guess. Ring any bells?
NickXX said:
I had the ticking on mine which seemed to stump everyone who looked at it. It did go away after I had the geometry adjusted - but never sure what the problem was.
The conclusion was that it wasn't a problem, although did annoy me a bit.
Geometry is a good call, thanks, as I`ve often thought about getting it done, and in this instance they may be able to eradicate the issue or tell me what it is.The conclusion was that it wasn't a problem, although did annoy me a bit.
This is a very good point!I had the geometry checked 10 days ago, and everything is tip top evidently, nothing needing fiddling with. The wheel bearings appear to be the source of the clicking, so sorting them out will now be added to a general service sometime before year end. I have an Exige S driving friend with a BMW "track-b
h" at the Nordschleife and we plan a trip together towards the end of October /November, so I was thinking to book the Vantage in with Valiant-Ecosse who are based up there. Quite a bit closer to home than BR and when tacked onto an existing trip it seems to make sense.
My oldest son is visiting from down-under for a couple of months and last Thursday I took him for a spin through some passes, Glaubenberg, Susten, Grimsel, Furka and Gotthard. It was fair weather, and there were still a reasonable amount of cars on the roads, plenty of motorbikes, quite a few cyclists, and a couple of campers straggling at the back of the summer herd that has since plodded back to Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. In amongst the traffic we saw two Astons, a dark grey V8 Vantage and a silver with black trim DBSS. Both waved. Very civil.
Shortly before a road works red light on the Susten I noticed I had a black 718 Spyder on my tail. When we stopped and engined-off, the driver yelled out in German "Your exhaust is very loud" to which I put my hand out the window and gave the wobbly hand gesture (so-so) to which he yelled out "It`s mega!" The passenger enthusiastically gave the thumbs up.
With the light green I continued on with the 718 barrelling along behind me for a few more minutes, then pulled over at a small gravel spot where I wanted to take some photos, and the Cayman pulled in behind me. The driver was from Hamburg and often travelled through the Swiss passes. He told me his route and I gave my recommendations so in consultation with his partner decided to take my advice. They were thrilled with the noises my car was making, and also couldn`t believe it, saying he had recently been stopped and quizzed exhaustingly by German police and his car, while tweaked and switchable, was still fairly tame, he felt. He revealed he had previously owned an V8 Vantage with SSII, but said he could never get along with it especially as a daily with quite a bit of city driving so moved it along, but still thought they were the most beautiful car.
Whilst parked up on an unofficial side road (see photo with rock tunnel) taking photos, a car came driving toward us. The occupants were a young Israeli couple on holiday and the man was agape, "Astun Martun?" he half asked, half exclaimed as he pulled up next to me. His English was limited, but the girl spoke quite well and asked if he could take a photo of the car and then sit in it. I was quite happy to oblige, and she told me he was living his dream and judging by his facial expression throughout, this was quite accurate. I love the effect this marque has on people, never a bad experience.
It`s always a great drive around these roads, & I`ll be back at it in less than three weeks with a couple of friends. Can`t wait!
Typically, here are some photos from the day!
h" at the Nordschleife and we plan a trip together towards the end of October /November, so I was thinking to book the Vantage in with Valiant-Ecosse who are based up there. Quite a bit closer to home than BR and when tacked onto an existing trip it seems to make sense.My oldest son is visiting from down-under for a couple of months and last Thursday I took him for a spin through some passes, Glaubenberg, Susten, Grimsel, Furka and Gotthard. It was fair weather, and there were still a reasonable amount of cars on the roads, plenty of motorbikes, quite a few cyclists, and a couple of campers straggling at the back of the summer herd that has since plodded back to Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. In amongst the traffic we saw two Astons, a dark grey V8 Vantage and a silver with black trim DBSS. Both waved. Very civil.
Shortly before a road works red light on the Susten I noticed I had a black 718 Spyder on my tail. When we stopped and engined-off, the driver yelled out in German "Your exhaust is very loud" to which I put my hand out the window and gave the wobbly hand gesture (so-so) to which he yelled out "It`s mega!" The passenger enthusiastically gave the thumbs up.
With the light green I continued on with the 718 barrelling along behind me for a few more minutes, then pulled over at a small gravel spot where I wanted to take some photos, and the Cayman pulled in behind me. The driver was from Hamburg and often travelled through the Swiss passes. He told me his route and I gave my recommendations so in consultation with his partner decided to take my advice. They were thrilled with the noises my car was making, and also couldn`t believe it, saying he had recently been stopped and quizzed exhaustingly by German police and his car, while tweaked and switchable, was still fairly tame, he felt. He revealed he had previously owned an V8 Vantage with SSII, but said he could never get along with it especially as a daily with quite a bit of city driving so moved it along, but still thought they were the most beautiful car.
Whilst parked up on an unofficial side road (see photo with rock tunnel) taking photos, a car came driving toward us. The occupants were a young Israeli couple on holiday and the man was agape, "Astun Martun?" he half asked, half exclaimed as he pulled up next to me. His English was limited, but the girl spoke quite well and asked if he could take a photo of the car and then sit in it. I was quite happy to oblige, and she told me he was living his dream and judging by his facial expression throughout, this was quite accurate. I love the effect this marque has on people, never a bad experience.
It`s always a great drive around these roads, & I`ll be back at it in less than three weeks with a couple of friends. Can`t wait!
Typically, here are some photos from the day!
Edited by Mr.Tremlini on Thursday 8th September 17:20
Penrhyn said:
Just noticed the end of your number plate 007 , neat. And of course your final picture from Goldfinger.
Just one iffy picture, by the lake , a quick glance and it looks like you are on the looo
Please keep us updated
Dodgy seafood, seems to be sorting itself out... Just one iffy picture, by the lake , a quick glance and it looks like you are on the looo
Please keep us updated
Actually it`s my son in all these photos, a few visual souvenirs for him to to take back to Australia. He was schooled in the Bond classics at an early age, so was happy to visit the Furka.
Mr.Tremlini said:
so I was thinking to book the Vantage in with Valiant-Ecosse who are based up there. Quite a bit closer to home than BR and when tacked onto an existing trip it seems to make sense.
Highly recommended. Alister works very well, he is especially meticulous, his knowledge of these cars and his diagnostic skills are remarkable and he is also a very honest guy with very fair prices.Not only that, he makes the process of taking the car there a full experience, which is also very nice.
Rubber. Not really considered interesting stuff, but when it`s circular and on four corners of a car, interest levels increase dramatically. I`ve always been happy to pay the price to put good rubber on my cars. Right from an early age I learnt that those four contact patches are the most important safety features you have and should also be inline with the vehicles performance. Brakes are right up there too. Many an accident has occurred because hair-brained individuals have not considered the advantages of traction.
When the temperature drops and the snow starts threatening the PS4s traction, the Pirelli Sottozeros I`ve been running since winter 2015/2016 have proved to be a capable tyre. They never got fitted last winter as the car was vacationing elsewhere, but I put them back on last December and immediately noticed that they felt a bit harder, gave a bit rougher ride, and occasionally lost rear traction with not even stupid, low-gear pokes on the accelerator. They just didn`t feel right. While they still had legal tread it seemed the compound had done its dash so I looked for a new set, and as I am prone to do, I searched around to see what else was on the market that maybe stacked up in comparison and that came in the correct size and load rating.
The end result was that rather than Pirellis, I bought a set of Korean tyres, the Hankook Winter i*cept evo3. They are an extremely well reviewed performance tyre, made with sports cars in mind, and coming out ahead of the Sottozeros in most areas, especially snow and wet categories... winter, duh. In recent years I have been ordering my tyres online and having them delivered, which works well and saves a few shekels. What saves more than a few shekels is that they are about 20% cheaper than the Sottozeros.
They arrived a couple of weeks ago and I had them fitted on Friday at garage 2km from home. Yesterday afternoon with the temperature hovering around 0°c I took them out for a bit of bedding in and to get a feel for them and as there has been plenty of snow around still, so I was eager to try out the traction on the white stuff.
I did a 20km loop around home (we are lucky to live in an area with some nice roads) and then down to a gas station to check tyre pressures, all of which were over-inflated, so after adjusting that I did the loop again to feel any difference, and then drove off in another direction. Roads were a combination of dry and wet and the tyres felt good in both conditions, turn-in was precise, traction was decent, they are grippy but felt a little more compliant under acceleration than the previous rubber. The only thing which I felt from a negative perspective was a that there was a little more road noise than previously, but not overly so. I think too because I was driving with the tyres in mind, I may have just been more tuned in. We`ll see as time goes on.
After about 100km I found myself up a couple of snowy mountain roads, and here the traction impressed, yeah they spun up on the ice but with snow they gripped well and confidently. Slip was measured and predictable. I did close to 130km by the time I pulled into the garage at home. I have never kept track of how many km I do in winter, I would guess 2000 to 3000km, but first impressions would indicate these Hankooks are up to the task here in Switzerland and similar climes, and are a shrewd purchase to boot.
When the temperature drops and the snow starts threatening the PS4s traction, the Pirelli Sottozeros I`ve been running since winter 2015/2016 have proved to be a capable tyre. They never got fitted last winter as the car was vacationing elsewhere, but I put them back on last December and immediately noticed that they felt a bit harder, gave a bit rougher ride, and occasionally lost rear traction with not even stupid, low-gear pokes on the accelerator. They just didn`t feel right. While they still had legal tread it seemed the compound had done its dash so I looked for a new set, and as I am prone to do, I searched around to see what else was on the market that maybe stacked up in comparison and that came in the correct size and load rating.
The end result was that rather than Pirellis, I bought a set of Korean tyres, the Hankook Winter i*cept evo3. They are an extremely well reviewed performance tyre, made with sports cars in mind, and coming out ahead of the Sottozeros in most areas, especially snow and wet categories... winter, duh. In recent years I have been ordering my tyres online and having them delivered, which works well and saves a few shekels. What saves more than a few shekels is that they are about 20% cheaper than the Sottozeros.
They arrived a couple of weeks ago and I had them fitted on Friday at garage 2km from home. Yesterday afternoon with the temperature hovering around 0°c I took them out for a bit of bedding in and to get a feel for them and as there has been plenty of snow around still, so I was eager to try out the traction on the white stuff.
I did a 20km loop around home (we are lucky to live in an area with some nice roads) and then down to a gas station to check tyre pressures, all of which were over-inflated, so after adjusting that I did the loop again to feel any difference, and then drove off in another direction. Roads were a combination of dry and wet and the tyres felt good in both conditions, turn-in was precise, traction was decent, they are grippy but felt a little more compliant under acceleration than the previous rubber. The only thing which I felt from a negative perspective was a that there was a little more road noise than previously, but not overly so. I think too because I was driving with the tyres in mind, I may have just been more tuned in. We`ll see as time goes on.
After about 100km I found myself up a couple of snowy mountain roads, and here the traction impressed, yeah they spun up on the ice but with snow they gripped well and confidently. Slip was measured and predictable. I did close to 130km by the time I pulled into the garage at home. I have never kept track of how many km I do in winter, I would guess 2000 to 3000km, but first impressions would indicate these Hankooks are up to the task here in Switzerland and similar climes, and are a shrewd purchase to boot.
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