Good things come to those who wait
Discussion
I hope I am forgiven for the somewhat self indulgent step of creating a thread dedicated to the delivery of three regular contributors' cars, namely myself, IanV12VR & Graham (aka Silverspeed)
The good news is if you aren't interested, these posts won't be hijacking other threads !
Aston's stand in Geneva this week was increased in size significantly, to herald the start of their new era. Despite the size of the stand, it is the first time since DB9 was launched at Frankfurt in 2003, Aston showed not one single model from the outgoing platform/s.
Indeed, with the last of outgoing Vantages (the AMRs) & Vanquishes (Ultimates) being finished at Gaydon over the next few weeks and Vanquish Zagatos (Speedsters & Shootingbrakes) presumably to follow shortly thereafter, I think I'm right in saying the only model you can order today that doesn't relate to the '2nd century plan'/new 7 year cycle is Rapide and other than the ltd ed. forthcoming Rapide AMR & RapideE (the latter of which I think is sold out), can you even order a Rapide any more ?
So it was impeccable timing that on the day the Geneva stand was revealed, effectively drawing a final line under the outgoing 15 year cycle of cars, I received a call from Wilmslow to tell me that my 'new' Vantage had just arrived.
There seems to be an amazing raft of new products in the pipeline at AML and I'm sure some will hold great personal appeal, but I wanted the best of the last of the old era and I believe I now have my imperfect, but perfect for me car
Without wanting to sound too mysterious, there's a limit to how much detail the three of us can share about all our conversations with Gaydon over the last few years, but the short version is all three of us had one of the 101 manual V12V Roadsters which we bought from launch and when a manual version of the replacement, V12VS, was first rumoured three years ago in early 2015, we started discussions between ourselves about replacing our roadsters. When the rumours started to become more or less confirmed in early 2016, we approached the factory about ordering replacements for our '101s'
Having already experienced with our original roadsters, via our dealers, a little of what Q could offer, we were keen that our new cars should be 'full Q cars'. We were also keen that our cars should have some common features unique to our cars but we also quickly established we wouldn't be having three identical cars. We were insistent that our cars would be based on the best/last manual V12 n/a roadsters Aston would make. I don't know if the factory had decided at the stage of our first discussions that outgoing Vantage would be an AMR edition, but if they had, they certainly didn't tell us until well into the process. We had a number of meetings at Gaydon, a lot of phone calls and an outrageous number of emails. We have had a huge amount of support & help from a number of departments at Gaydon, who have been brilliant throughout, albeit at times we have been frustrated, often simply through a lack of patience on our part !
It's fascinating to see on a private whatsapp group some of the other Q spec AMRs coming through which show the full range of what Q has to offer - the department is really taking off and there are some truly special cars. I am taking delivery of my car on March 24th and I imagine Ian's, although built slightly later, will be at a not unsimilar time and hopefully, Graham's is not too far behind ....
Our cars are all dogleg manual, V12 Vantage S, AMR roadsters. All are based on one of the AMR schemes, two in Zaffre and mine in Halo. All have a number of both functional & cosmetic Q features that are common to all three of our cars. All have additional Q features that are unique to our individual cars. And all three of us are like children the week before Christmas right now !!!
We don't plan on revealing full details of our cars until they are all finished but here are a few teasers - they include photos whilst in the planning stage, photos of some parts as they were being tested or finished by Q and just a couple of my car at Wilmslow....
Apologies again for the self indulgent nature of this thread
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The good news is if you aren't interested, these posts won't be hijacking other threads !
Aston's stand in Geneva this week was increased in size significantly, to herald the start of their new era. Despite the size of the stand, it is the first time since DB9 was launched at Frankfurt in 2003, Aston showed not one single model from the outgoing platform/s.
Indeed, with the last of outgoing Vantages (the AMRs) & Vanquishes (Ultimates) being finished at Gaydon over the next few weeks and Vanquish Zagatos (Speedsters & Shootingbrakes) presumably to follow shortly thereafter, I think I'm right in saying the only model you can order today that doesn't relate to the '2nd century plan'/new 7 year cycle is Rapide and other than the ltd ed. forthcoming Rapide AMR & RapideE (the latter of which I think is sold out), can you even order a Rapide any more ?
So it was impeccable timing that on the day the Geneva stand was revealed, effectively drawing a final line under the outgoing 15 year cycle of cars, I received a call from Wilmslow to tell me that my 'new' Vantage had just arrived.
There seems to be an amazing raft of new products in the pipeline at AML and I'm sure some will hold great personal appeal, but I wanted the best of the last of the old era and I believe I now have my imperfect, but perfect for me car
Without wanting to sound too mysterious, there's a limit to how much detail the three of us can share about all our conversations with Gaydon over the last few years, but the short version is all three of us had one of the 101 manual V12V Roadsters which we bought from launch and when a manual version of the replacement, V12VS, was first rumoured three years ago in early 2015, we started discussions between ourselves about replacing our roadsters. When the rumours started to become more or less confirmed in early 2016, we approached the factory about ordering replacements for our '101s'
Having already experienced with our original roadsters, via our dealers, a little of what Q could offer, we were keen that our new cars should be 'full Q cars'. We were also keen that our cars should have some common features unique to our cars but we also quickly established we wouldn't be having three identical cars. We were insistent that our cars would be based on the best/last manual V12 n/a roadsters Aston would make. I don't know if the factory had decided at the stage of our first discussions that outgoing Vantage would be an AMR edition, but if they had, they certainly didn't tell us until well into the process. We had a number of meetings at Gaydon, a lot of phone calls and an outrageous number of emails. We have had a huge amount of support & help from a number of departments at Gaydon, who have been brilliant throughout, albeit at times we have been frustrated, often simply through a lack of patience on our part !
It's fascinating to see on a private whatsapp group some of the other Q spec AMRs coming through which show the full range of what Q has to offer - the department is really taking off and there are some truly special cars. I am taking delivery of my car on March 24th and I imagine Ian's, although built slightly later, will be at a not unsimilar time and hopefully, Graham's is not too far behind ....
Our cars are all dogleg manual, V12 Vantage S, AMR roadsters. All are based on one of the AMR schemes, two in Zaffre and mine in Halo. All have a number of both functional & cosmetic Q features that are common to all three of our cars. All have additional Q features that are unique to our individual cars. And all three of us are like children the week before Christmas right now !!!
We don't plan on revealing full details of our cars until they are all finished but here are a few teasers - they include photos whilst in the planning stage, photos of some parts as they were being tested or finished by Q and just a couple of my car at Wilmslow....
Apologies again for the self indulgent nature of this thread
[url][url]Edited by jonby on Thursday 8th March 10:07
Edited by jonby on Thursday 8th March 10:08
Edited by jonby on Thursday 8th March 10:09
Edited by jonby on Thursday 8th March 10:28
Fantastic !!!! Looking forward to see and hear all the details. Be also keen to hear how the ordering of the different parts went and any challenges, ie yes we can do this , no but we can do this, have you thought about this being like this etc.
Its so special to spec and order your own car full stop but for it to be one of the Greats of AM and then with Q added in I can fully understand the super excitement and anticipation. Be great if you gents have them and are coming to Beaulieu
Its so special to spec and order your own car full stop but for it to be one of the Greats of AM and then with Q added in I can fully understand the super excitement and anticipation. Be great if you gents have them and are coming to Beaulieu
Congratulations, I love some of the details you've shared and look forward to seeing the rest. The cars will no doubt look incredible, your base colour choices are fantastic.
I'm also very jealous of your Q experience, yours was vastly different to mine.
Enjoy the cars when you get them. Looking forward to seeing the finished article.
cheers,
I'm also very jealous of your Q experience, yours was vastly different to mine.
Enjoy the cars when you get them. Looking forward to seeing the finished article.
cheers,
A great summary from Jonathan of the process we have been through. Fantastic, frustrating, elating and uncertain, sometimes all at the same time
Ours is probably a little way behind Jonathan’s and we got to see it in build earlier this week. The support by so many people at the factory has been absolutely brilliant and they have managed to keep us under control, just! As we are away on holiday at the end of March we will probably not collect until we return in April.
It is difficult to describe how wonderful it is to be so involved in the creation of your own car that will result in such a special car that we will be keeping forever. I did take some pictures but will just share a couple at the moment. It shows that the car is a variance on the standard Zaffre and Red combination - and we just love the result.
Another secret leaked - although it was shared with others Q owners who wanted some external AMR badging.
It feels like it is going to be a long wait until we see her finished. Note to self “Good things come to those who wait”
Ours is probably a little way behind Jonathan’s and we got to see it in build earlier this week. The support by so many people at the factory has been absolutely brilliant and they have managed to keep us under control, just! As we are away on holiday at the end of March we will probably not collect until we return in April.
It is difficult to describe how wonderful it is to be so involved in the creation of your own car that will result in such a special car that we will be keeping forever. I did take some pictures but will just share a couple at the moment. It shows that the car is a variance on the standard Zaffre and Red combination - and we just love the result.
Another secret leaked - although it was shared with others Q owners who wanted some external AMR badging.
It feels like it is going to be a long wait until we see her finished. Note to self “Good things come to those who wait”
C997 said:
Congratulations
I'm also very jealous of your Q experience, yours was vastly different to mine.
thanks !I'm also very jealous of your Q experience, yours was vastly different to mine.
I assume yours was a while ago ?
To tie in with some of what superlightr above alludes to, my first experience which was primarily via the dealer rather than direct with Q, involved a lot of 'can't do that', sucking through teeth, etc. This time round, it was much more a case of 'let's price that up' and then if we get a price that makes us fall of our chair, at least they have given us an answer. It's far from a perfect experience and yes there was some steering away from certain ideas, mainly either because of marketing/branding or sheer practicality, but actually relatively little of that overall
Ian's shown the AMR branding on the side strakes - that was something we came up with and it shed an interesting light on the way Q works - they wouldn't give us exclusivity, but as I understand it, they would then only mention it as an option to AMR owners who specifically asked for AMR exterior branding, rather than bringing it up on an unsolicited basis to anyone speccing an AMR car through Q - I believe there are therefore a small handful of cars with this option in addition to our own
Of course there is also very little that can be described as genuinely unique - everything is to one degree or anther, a take on something that has been done before. For example, Red Bull cars had foil inlays on the sidestrakes before ours
Edited by jonby on Thursday 8th March 11:10
jonby said:
superlightr said:
Be great if you gents have them and are coming to Beaulieu
Unfortunately I doubt it. It's a long way from Manchester ! Plus I have a rather important football match to attend the afternoon before. But I'm not ruling it out for sure !
I love to "feel" the passion for your Aston’s in this thread and the way you have made every car unique to your personal requirements ... also slightly frightened by the likely costs via Q, but then again you only live once BIG congratulations to you all. Looking forward to seeing your very special steeds unveiled shorty 
BIG congratulations to you all. Looking forward to seeing your very special steeds unveiled shorty Jonby
i dont know you guys (and being on the other side of the globe may never get to meet you) but am absolutely wrapt that you have embarked on this process & appreciate you sharing (the little you have so far)
I wish all 3 of you the best & can only begin to imagine how excited you all are
well done & congratulations
PS - love the Zaffre colour - looks stunning
Graeme
i dont know you guys (and being on the other side of the globe may never get to meet you) but am absolutely wrapt that you have embarked on this process & appreciate you sharing (the little you have so far)
I wish all 3 of you the best & can only begin to imagine how excited you all are
well done & congratulations
PS - love the Zaffre colour - looks stunning
Graeme
Grant3 said:
I love to "feel" the passion for your Aston’s in this thread and the way you have made every car unique to your personal requirements ... also slightly frightened by the likely costs via Q, but then again you only live once BIG congratulations to you all. Looking forward to seeing your very special steeds unveiled shorty
It's not that bad Grant if you say it really quickly BIG congratulations to you all. Looking forward to seeing your very special steeds unveiled shorty 
Man maths at its very best 
Jon39 said:
I think it was your mention Jonby, of who would be having the very last Vantage.
I understand many people asked for the very last vantage :-)We were told in no uncertain terms that couldn't be done for us !
But Graham may well end up having, if not the very last, certainly one of the last
Mind you, I guess that partly depends on your definition of the last 'vantage'........................
IanV12VR said:
jonby said:
Many thanks for all the good wishes - just as so many of you say you can feel our excitement & passion, I can feel the sincere good wishes
16 more sleeps to go.....
Jonby, that is just cruel 16 more sleeps to go.....
I'm sure Ian has pinched my bodyshell
silverspeed said:
IanV12VR said:
jonby said:
Many thanks for all the good wishes - just as so many of you say you can feel our excitement & passion, I can feel the sincere good wishes
16 more sleeps to go.....
Jonby, that is just cruel 16 more sleeps to go.....
I'm sure Ian has pinched my bodyshell
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