Good things come to those who wait
Discussion
I've been papped.....
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgwhbaMHUrq/?tagged=va...
(two pics there to scroll through)
So, having bored everyone to death with the common themes to our cars, time to bore you all even more, this time with the individual details pertaining to my car
Although we worked together on so much and have been communicating, it seems, almost daily for many many months, we have also each gone our separate ways to an extent when it comes to spec. But we shared literally everything with each other, so we could learn & get ideas from each other
I was considering going all frosted glass blue with a navy interior, possibly with some orange highlights and also, a deep traditional BRG with a tan interior. possibly with gold or yellow highlights
But in the end, I guess what really swung it was seeing the 'demonstator' V12 at Gaydon, in Halo. It was a manual coupe and I was blown away. I was literally sat next to it whilst discussing these different ideas, some of which reached dead ends for one reason or another. Let's just say having it there kept distracting me ! This was actually a little before the official launch at Le Mans where they showed the same car to the public, so I'm not going to say the LM24 win clinched it because I'd already agreed Halo and much of the smaller ideas at that stage, but winning certainly made me think I'd made the right choice
I also realised that the AMR cars have a huge amount of trim thrown in as standard which are normally either not available or charged for. To start again with a different scheme would work out very poor value - effectively, frosted glass blue for example, would cost the same to put on a standard vantage as on an AMR vantage, but the AMR cars already have special two tone paint jobs as standard. Same idea with the interior which on AMR includes welts, metallic leather, higher quality leather, etc but the same price to put say an all navy blue interior on an AMR through Q as on a standard vantage which has a lower price point starting interior
Essentially I decided to embrace the theme and expand upon it rather than fight it
The pics so far show much of what I did to the exterior
I kept full Halo, added the painted inner CF grille (that was a standard factory option if in the same colour as the stripe, so not through Q) and ordered the AMR wheels in satin black plus the TI exhaust (which comes with a new Cf rear blade), with the wheels & exhaust being items that have to be fitted by the factory
Graham sourced the 'old style' wheel centres in matt that don't have the silver surround and I sourced (with the help of HWM) the black wheel caps, to give the wheels a stealth look
I used Q to paint the 4 lime stripes on the rear fins that come on the CF blade, to highlight the feature, but Q then supplied the blade off the car to be fitted with the exhaust by Wilmslow. We had the common features of AMR foil to the CF side strakes and the Q badges on the wings
I deliberately decided not to go CF mirrors or rear light infills, for a variety or reasons but this post is already too long !
I wanted to get some really unique touches on the outside though. So I came up with the idea of the black painted window surround and the black mirrors with the very wide lime stripe. One reason for painting the mirrors black rather than having CF is to tie in with the window surround. The wide lime stripe is to tie in with the wide stripe on the car and also, to help look like the WEC car mirrors
I like that roof up, the windscreen surround blends in with the black hood and roof down, it keeps all the body colour below the waistline of the car, so gives an impression of the car being lower. I felt narrow stripes on the mirrors wouldnt work on mine (Graham went narrow but that ties in with the narrow stripes on some of his CF elsewhere - I don't have that) and I thought all lime caps would accentuate how large the mirrors are plus, I wanted it to be really unique
I'm overjoyed with the finished look. I'll cover the inside in a different post
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgwhbaMHUrq/?tagged=va...
(two pics there to scroll through)
So, having bored everyone to death with the common themes to our cars, time to bore you all even more, this time with the individual details pertaining to my car
Although we worked together on so much and have been communicating, it seems, almost daily for many many months, we have also each gone our separate ways to an extent when it comes to spec. But we shared literally everything with each other, so we could learn & get ideas from each other
I was considering going all frosted glass blue with a navy interior, possibly with some orange highlights and also, a deep traditional BRG with a tan interior. possibly with gold or yellow highlights
But in the end, I guess what really swung it was seeing the 'demonstator' V12 at Gaydon, in Halo. It was a manual coupe and I was blown away. I was literally sat next to it whilst discussing these different ideas, some of which reached dead ends for one reason or another. Let's just say having it there kept distracting me ! This was actually a little before the official launch at Le Mans where they showed the same car to the public, so I'm not going to say the LM24 win clinched it because I'd already agreed Halo and much of the smaller ideas at that stage, but winning certainly made me think I'd made the right choice
I also realised that the AMR cars have a huge amount of trim thrown in as standard which are normally either not available or charged for. To start again with a different scheme would work out very poor value - effectively, frosted glass blue for example, would cost the same to put on a standard vantage as on an AMR vantage, but the AMR cars already have special two tone paint jobs as standard. Same idea with the interior which on AMR includes welts, metallic leather, higher quality leather, etc but the same price to put say an all navy blue interior on an AMR through Q as on a standard vantage which has a lower price point starting interior
Essentially I decided to embrace the theme and expand upon it rather than fight it
The pics so far show much of what I did to the exterior
I kept full Halo, added the painted inner CF grille (that was a standard factory option if in the same colour as the stripe, so not through Q) and ordered the AMR wheels in satin black plus the TI exhaust (which comes with a new Cf rear blade), with the wheels & exhaust being items that have to be fitted by the factory
Graham sourced the 'old style' wheel centres in matt that don't have the silver surround and I sourced (with the help of HWM) the black wheel caps, to give the wheels a stealth look
I used Q to paint the 4 lime stripes on the rear fins that come on the CF blade, to highlight the feature, but Q then supplied the blade off the car to be fitted with the exhaust by Wilmslow. We had the common features of AMR foil to the CF side strakes and the Q badges on the wings
I deliberately decided not to go CF mirrors or rear light infills, for a variety or reasons but this post is already too long !
I wanted to get some really unique touches on the outside though. So I came up with the idea of the black painted window surround and the black mirrors with the very wide lime stripe. One reason for painting the mirrors black rather than having CF is to tie in with the window surround. The wide lime stripe is to tie in with the wide stripe on the car and also, to help look like the WEC car mirrors
I like that roof up, the windscreen surround blends in with the black hood and roof down, it keeps all the body colour below the waistline of the car, so gives an impression of the car being lower. I felt narrow stripes on the mirrors wouldnt work on mine (Graham went narrow but that ties in with the narrow stripes on some of his CF elsewhere - I don't have that) and I thought all lime caps would accentuate how large the mirrors are plus, I wanted it to be really unique
I'm overjoyed with the finished look. I'll cover the inside in a different post
callevascm said:
Jonby , interested in your thoughts on the Ti exhaust box, I test drove the factory Coupe with the full performance pack and concluded the Ti box would be too intrusive, resonance seemed to be an issue, on the roadster especially on motorways/autoroutes etc with the hood down?
Your car looks fabulous, can’t imagine the level of patience to get that detail right, quite beyond me.
Thanks ! Its a good question on the exhaust. The problem is that it's so difficult to break down the different components to see what changes each one makes to soundYour car looks fabulous, can’t imagine the level of patience to get that detail right, quite beyond me.
If you put to one side BR type solutions which change the header manifolds & decat same, on the V12, I do believe the biggest change to volume in absolute and bang for buck terms is the rear decat
The AMR cars come out of the factory with rear decat as standard - the only other V12s that applies to are GT12, Vanquish S and Vanquish Zagato. The AMR cars also come with revised inlet manifolds, which account for the rest of the power increase
So on an AMR, apart from the CF rear blade which doesn't alter sound, you just get the titanium pipes & backbox as the other elements of the performance pack are already fitted and as I've not heard an AMR without the titanium set up, I'm not at all sure what difference the titanium box makes to an AMR car in terms of sound - anecdotally it would seem it's not that much, but I'm just not sure. I couldn't resist taking the option but I'm just not sure how much I've got in sound terms, for the money
With the AMshift switched on, the noises are insane in my set up when changing gear and the valves are fully open but with AM shift switched off, it's not too obtrusive, particularly when cruising, especially with the valves closed - I have had a simple switch fitted to override the fuse22(or whatever the current equivalent is) so I can leave fully open or closing higher up the rev range
I would have thought your best bet is to fit rear decat pipes (which are pretty cheap - significantly less than £500 and very easy to fit) and see how you find it - perhaps a worthwhile investment when you are contemplating the £15k or whatever it is for the performance pack. If you get on with that, I can't imagine you wouldn't get on with the full system. If you don't, it's not such a big spend to find out before committing to the big investment and you'll surely get some money back on the pipes
callevascm said:
Jonby, thanks for your insight. I have already had the secondary decat and magnesium headers(manifolds) fitted plus the engine remap, I am delighted as in the cirumstances I found myself in, I “missed out” on an AMR allocated slot so, for me I got to as near as I could without it being an AMR replica. The truth is they are all great cars. I don’t think I have the patience to spend all that time with Q, you three are very special in my book.
I hadn't realised you can get the magnesium headers on their own - sounds like a fab car you have !I guess with the number of AMR cars who have taken up the Ti option, you should be able to get a direct side by side comparison to yours which will genuinely show what difference the exhaust will make - I imagine that will be of great interest to AMR owners too. What part of the country are you in ?
EDIT: I see you're in Berkshire. Wrong end of the country for me but sure there are plenty of other owners near you
Edited by jonby on Wednesday 28th March 07:48
Edited by jonby on Wednesday 28th March 07:48
Apologies for the poor quality photos - not my forte !
The first few photos show the new (I think ?) Aston presentation box that holds 2 regular keys and the emergency key, which looks pretty good, plus my custom fobs
There are some AMR fobs available in the new accessories range - as with the AMR bags and one or two other bits, Aston effectively have a small number of items made up in a custom design, but I wanted a fob with all three interior colours rather than just black/lime. Also, I didn't place any value in the fancy box that comes with the 'standard' AMR fobs, so once I went custom, I had the choice. Incidentally such are the nuances of the system, I suspect custom ordering a black/lime fob without a box as a special order may well cost as much as ordering the 'off the shelf option' which comes with a box
Once I was custom ordering anyway, I went for one in all lime too - one for each glass key.....
I do genuinely tour a lot in my car. I wasn't overly happy with the AMR luggage option - it's a small, medium & large holdall which won't all fit in the boot of a roadster at the same time (they will in a coupe, well certainly if you put one behind the seats. I could have bought the set for the small & large bags, then ordered the garment bag & beauty bag via Q, to make up the standard arrangement for a roadster boot (Marcel has come up with a different arrangement that works) but the problem was the way they have applied the three colours to the AMR holdalls doesn't lend itself to the garment & beauty bags - the way the leather is cut just wouldn't quite work
So I went totally bespoke for the full 4 piece set - essentially the black & tan are how you get a 2 colour bag set if you order through Q, but I had the welts done in lime, to replicate the interior of the car. The custom bags come with a leather 'plaque' on each side, so one says Aston Martin and the other side says Q. The lime fobs are stamped AMR.
Then I ordered one additional bag, an XL holdall. You can't use it at the same time as the rest of the luggage, but it holds well over 50% more than the next size down and I know from experience, the large holdall isn't quite big enough for a weekend but the XL definitely is - when I'm travelling alone for a couple of nights, I'd prefer to be able to get everything into one bag. Overkill - yes. But these items will genuinely get used a lot
The first few photos show the new (I think ?) Aston presentation box that holds 2 regular keys and the emergency key, which looks pretty good, plus my custom fobs
There are some AMR fobs available in the new accessories range - as with the AMR bags and one or two other bits, Aston effectively have a small number of items made up in a custom design, but I wanted a fob with all three interior colours rather than just black/lime. Also, I didn't place any value in the fancy box that comes with the 'standard' AMR fobs, so once I went custom, I had the choice. Incidentally such are the nuances of the system, I suspect custom ordering a black/lime fob without a box as a special order may well cost as much as ordering the 'off the shelf option' which comes with a box
Once I was custom ordering anyway, I went for one in all lime too - one for each glass key.....
I do genuinely tour a lot in my car. I wasn't overly happy with the AMR luggage option - it's a small, medium & large holdall which won't all fit in the boot of a roadster at the same time (they will in a coupe, well certainly if you put one behind the seats. I could have bought the set for the small & large bags, then ordered the garment bag & beauty bag via Q, to make up the standard arrangement for a roadster boot (Marcel has come up with a different arrangement that works) but the problem was the way they have applied the three colours to the AMR holdalls doesn't lend itself to the garment & beauty bags - the way the leather is cut just wouldn't quite work
So I went totally bespoke for the full 4 piece set - essentially the black & tan are how you get a 2 colour bag set if you order through Q, but I had the welts done in lime, to replicate the interior of the car. The custom bags come with a leather 'plaque' on each side, so one says Aston Martin and the other side says Q. The lime fobs are stamped AMR.
Then I ordered one additional bag, an XL holdall. You can't use it at the same time as the rest of the luggage, but it holds well over 50% more than the next size down and I know from experience, the large holdall isn't quite big enough for a weekend but the XL definitely is - when I'm travelling alone for a couple of nights, I'd prefer to be able to get everything into one bag. Overkill - yes. But these items will genuinely get used a lot
ds666 said:
jonby said:
callevascm said:
Jonby, thanks for your insight. I have already had the secondary decat and magnesium headers(manifolds) fitted plus the engine remap, I am delighted as in the cirumstances I found myself in, I “missed out” on an AMR allocated slot so, for me I got to as near as I could without it being an AMR replica. The truth is they are all great cars. I don’t think I have the patience to spend all that time with Q, you three are very special in my book.
I hadn't realised you can get the magnesium headers on their own - sounds like a fab car you have !Don't you mean magnesium inlet manifolds ?
LordBretSinclair said:
I've raised it before but what are the views on AML attention to detail????
To me the front stripe looks all wrong with the vents encroaching into it. I know the width has been done to match the badge but to me (being really picky) I'm sure they could have made it look better.
Still can't wait to see them in the flesh though
The issue is also of course that this is the scheme they are mimicking, with an equally wide stripe matching the width of the wings badgeTo me the front stripe looks all wrong with the vents encroaching into it. I know the width has been done to match the badge but to me (being really picky) I'm sure they could have made it look better.
Still can't wait to see them in the flesh though
I don't think it looks wrong in the flesh - to me, it more has the image of the stripe being first and the vents sitting on top but I'd agree it's not ideal. It doesn't jar in person
As for other views on attention to detail..... Well some things are done great and others less so. I wasn't so sure about the interior schemes but actually, the more I played around with possible changes, the more I realised how challenging it must have been and how well they did, to have such a complicated scheme where they could keep the basics but change bits and pieces for each car - the schemes all have a pure black base, with a second colour and then a highlight colour. I think with the basic interior schemes, they did really well
They also offer a lot within the AMR cars - lots of stuff in black that is normally charged for, premium leathers, welts, etc
But I think they did a little less well with highlight colours. The various optional brake callipers, the stripes and the interior highlight colours in some instances clash- we all worked hard looking at grahams with the various oranges - the off the shelf scheme with the off the shelf available orange callipers would not, IMO, be anything other than poor given the clashes. But that only affects one or two accent colours - overall as I say, I think they did a really good job and there are a number of really neat details and an awful lot thrown in for free
I think someone dropped a huge clanger in not having exterior AMR branding on the car that launches properly the AMR sub brand
The wheel centre caps should not, IMO, have a silver ring to the edges, hence us sourcing older ones without.
I think there's a strong argument all the AMR DIMs (instrument surrounds) should have been the contemporary/vanquish/gt8 style which we got through Q, as standard
They unfortunately had to drop the black main car wing badges originally destined for the AMR cars - a real shame although I had Union ones as part of Halo anyway
I also think the S tread plates which were in the literature as being for all AMRs, but in fact only appear on the V8s (though I sourced a set for my car) would have been a nice touch on all the AMRs - I suspect it was just a misprint through copy & paste but that's just a guess
There are a few non-AMR specific spec drops on Vantage which I think are a shame but in terms of attention to detail of the AMR schemes, my list above is pretty short and as you know, I'm somewhat OCD, so I'd probably give an 8 or 9 out of 10 to the AMR 'base' specs - that's pretty good in my language
I'd give a slightly lesser mark to the AMR accessories, but that's a different matter :-)
Upperworks said:
AB said:
Undoubtedly a beautiful car, and a lot of love has gone into the specification - the end result is fantastic.
However, do you not worry about spending so much time and money on a model that has been replaced?
having done a similar route, the fact it is being replaced is the biggest reason for this kind of thing. Not slinging mud at the replacement, but there are a lot of people that have strong feelings towards the outgoing model, and the idea of personalising an "ultimate" version is very appealing. I personally think my car will look better and better the older and older it gets. However, do you not worry about spending so much time and money on a model that has been replaced?
There's no logic to be applied to these things though!
We all three were V12VR owners, buying in the belief they would be the last ever N/A V12 Manual Vantage Roadsters (and actually, the last N/A V12 Manual of any model or body shape by Aston)
So we were inspired to replace our cars, once V12VS launched a manual option, with the last/best n/a V12 manual soft top Vantages, which is what we have
We were very aware a replacement was coming soon after - that was the point. In fact we wanted the very last three off the line - that wasn't entertained !
I don't want to get into any specifics, but lets just say we had an idea of what the replacement might look like before we signed off on our cars. It didn't stop us going ahead
However unlike many on here, that doesn't mean we don't like the new car. Personally, I think it looks stunning. I don't have the same concerns about the use of AMG engines that some have. I love the idea of owning one in the future to sit alongside my AMR
But the new car will be developed and refined. Faster, more powerful versions, with better aero, etc will follow one after the other. I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable going to the same level with Q on the starting point in a new range. There will always be a better one to come
But there will never (I don't think !), be another soft top n/a V12 Aston with a manual box. I'm not sure there will ever be another n/a V12 of any description unless accompanied by batteries or some other form of hybrid (e.g. Valkyrie) and I doubt any hybrid car will work with a manual box. There will always be faster cars but that doesn't make them better for what I want
I've got the ultimate version of my ultimate (semi-affordable) car so I'm over the moon. But I'm sure you'll not be the only person to struggle to get to grips with why I've just spent over £200k personalising a car that has just been replaced :-)
silverspeed said:
AB said:
Undoubtedly a beautiful car, and a lot of love has gone into the specification - the end result is fantastic.
However, do you not worry about spending so much time and money on a model that has been replaced?
I’ve started to appreciate new Vantage for what it is in isolation instead of comparing to current Vantage . IMO There’s been a shift change which differentiates the new models and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that . Why did I want an AMR - well I didn’t. I wanted one of the last, bonkers but brilliant , normally aspirated manual Aston Martin V12 Roadsters . It happened to be called AMR and Just because it’s got 595bhp and happens to be clothed in one of the best designs ever is just an added bonus . However, do you not worry about spending so much time and money on a model that has been replaced?
Edited by silverspeed on Wednesday 28th March 16:48
But you did want the last, best, most powerful version once we were spending all this time and money :-)
This is the only time the full fat GT12/Vanq S powertrain has left the factory in a Vantage with a manual box (Dreadnought aside) and the only time with a soft top. Of course I get that you can have that powertrain if you put in the performance pack on a V12VS post delivery, but that to me is just a tad different. As you say, the fact it's an AMR is something that wasn't overly important to us
AB said:
Thanks for the responses, I wasn't being critical, just wondering.
I'm not in the position to give anything like this any consideration so I'm not sure how I'd be thinking.
Be as critical as you like ! :-) No offence takenI'm not in the position to give anything like this any consideration so I'm not sure how I'd be thinking.
As I mentioned, I think it's a legitimate question and certainly not the route for everyone.
It's an interesting more general question - take the new vantage - do you buy a launch car to have the latest car on the market, or wait til a higher power version comes out which will be faster but not as new a concept/shape, or get the send off version in 6 or 7 yrs time, which will presumably be the most desirable, sophisticated and fastest vantage of this new shape, but will be replaced shortly after purchase by a new new model, albeit in base form probably slower than the flagship of the outgoing range. No right or wrong answers for sure
Of course if it was a 911 or V8 mid engined Ferrari, much easier in relative terms to keep changing every year or two as depreciation is less of an issue. Lets just hope Aston pricing moves in that direction - it helps the sale of new cars of course if deprecation is less. If the market changes so that its harder to get a new one and discounts become non existant, that's actually great news for everyone, given that it's the difference between what you pay and what you sell at which impacts owners more than discount when buying
But with outgoing Vantage of course, there is seldom such a huge shift in terms of shape & engine change, on so many levels, particularly given that the outgoing model is often voted amongst the most beautiful shapes of all time
Edited by jonby on Thursday 29th March 12:58
AdamV12AMR said:
jonby said:
But I think they did a little less well with highlight colours. The various optional brake callipers, the stripes and the interior highlight colours in some instances clash- we all worked hard looking at grahams with the various oranges - the off the shelf scheme with the off the shelf available orange callipers would not, IMO, be anything other than poor given the clashes.
So poor:In fact, I’m going to take it back!
From memory, the issue was the orange body stripe (which you don't have), which had a clash with the other oranges, especially on the roadster with hood down. I'm sure Graham can clarify one way or the other - I remember Graham looking at lots of orange samples including gulf & CP to be sure it all matched.
I don't think anything Aston make easily fits behind the seats. You can get the smallest holdall squeezed in between the back of the seat, sort of on the mini ledge, but it's not ideal
I personally think the 'standard' 4 piece set works really well in the roadster boot but it's worth looking at Marcel's 'alternative' set up which he has found works well for him
Behind the seats, I tend to put small soft items like shoe bags, toiletries, etc (on the floor) then messenger/man/hand bags on the little ledges
I personally think the 'standard' 4 piece set works really well in the roadster boot but it's worth looking at Marcel's 'alternative' set up which he has found works well for him
Behind the seats, I tend to put small soft items like shoe bags, toiletries, etc (on the floor) then messenger/man/hand bags on the little ledges
malcolmbinns said:
This looks like a car worth waiting for:
http://www.reepyorkshire.co.uk/aston-martin-vantag...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8NkhbDCnKY
Malcolm
interesting - can't imagine there will be many cars with the AMR aero kit but not the AMR wheelshttp://www.reepyorkshire.co.uk/aston-martin-vantag...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8NkhbDCnKY
Malcolm
I can't wait to see it in the flesh when we get together Ian - a totally unique colour combo and it really does look fab - be interesting to see how much you take out flugplatz now. The gearbox is so improved from the dogleg car we all drove at Gaydon however long ago it was and with the rear de-cat and new inlet manifolds, the engine begs to be taken to over 5k revs- only problem is even in 2nd gear, that requires some fairly high speeds.....
Well now that Ian has his car and Graham's is not far behind, you'll have noticed from some of the photos that whilst we have a number of Q Bespoke common items across all three cars, they are also very different to each other, both in the obvious (one is based on Halo and two on Zaffre but one with yellow and one with orange, instead of the red standard contrast on AMR Zaffre cars) and in some of the bespoke items
Those who have the patience of a saint may have read all the pages on the spec - to recap in brief, all are manual V12 roadsters with lightweight seats & satin black AMR wheels plus a few 'standard Aston option's' eg metal fuel cap, then via Q:
Foil AMR side strake inlays
GT8/12 CF doorcards
zip up bags to the front of the seats
ONE77 steering wheels (in two of the cars only)
'good things come to those who wait'/edition number/AP signature around the gearstick
CF plates to the area between the armrests and the bottom of the waterfall
Q badges on the front wings
additional glass switches
Q logo to utility (ashtray) lid
Vanquish/GT8 DIM
We also have a couple of 'extras' that aren't quite ready yet
We all have custom painted mirror caps - in my instance, the caps were painted jet black, then a very deep lime stripe was painted on.
Beyond that, we then each added are own unique touches. For mine:
jet black painted windscreen surround
lime hand painted accents to the fins on the CF rear blade that comes with the Ti exhaust
painted lime rotaries
lime gaiter
lime lining to glovebox
lime inserts to ONE 77 steering wheel
custom fobs (one in tan/black/lime, the other in all lime - the standard AMR fobs are black & lime)
custom luggage, in all three colours, with AML, AMR and Q branding - one 4 pc set and one XL holdall
pure black arm pad (believe it or not, the now optional highline console has no arm pad as standard despite it's price)
and that bit I'm most pleased with, the bit most personal to me, which is an embroidered Hamsa you can see on some of the early pages of this thread
The interesting thing is that the bits other people spot (and this car certainly attracts attention) are effectively the big wodges of lime which mean the car turns heads 10x more than my previous Astons. However the custom bits I'm most pleased with, which most people won't even spot, are the black windscreen surround, the additional glass switches, the embroidered hamsa - the small but personal things
However I haven't posted much about my car recently because I've been busy enjoying driving it, which is when the custom elements become pretty meaningless :-)
I've done about 700 or so really fun miles so far but I'm ultra excited with my upcoming Summer, starting tomorrow ! This car is for driving - that's why you buy a 600bhp manual n/a V12 version of an outgoing model - more than anything else, to have fun in it !!!
So....deep breath !
Tomorrow night head down to Folkstone, then on to Germany for the N24 weekend where I'll be meeting up with one of the other 2 owners in their car (fancy joining us Graham ? :-) ) in AMR hospitality
On Sunday, leaving the car in Germany and flying home
2 weeks later, fly back to Germany, pick up the car, drive to Champagne, meet a mate in his DBS who's driving over from Manchester, then spend a couple of days driving down to Valbonne in South of France, staying the night in Reims & Lyon on the way
4 nights in Valbonne at a mate's holiday home, with a few other friends who are flying out to join us
Leave the car in South of France, fly home
Ten days later, fly back to the South of France, pick up the car, spend two days starting on Route Napoleon driving to Le Mans
Meet up with the usual crowd I go to LM24 with and have 4 nights there, following which I drive the car home to Mcr
Then a couple of weeks later, for the first time, all three cars will be getting together for a really special day out !
As I say, can't wait and will be using the car for what it's really meant for - special miles on special roads with good friends !
Those who have the patience of a saint may have read all the pages on the spec - to recap in brief, all are manual V12 roadsters with lightweight seats & satin black AMR wheels plus a few 'standard Aston option's' eg metal fuel cap, then via Q:
Foil AMR side strake inlays
GT8/12 CF doorcards
zip up bags to the front of the seats
ONE77 steering wheels (in two of the cars only)
'good things come to those who wait'/edition number/AP signature around the gearstick
CF plates to the area between the armrests and the bottom of the waterfall
Q badges on the front wings
additional glass switches
Q logo to utility (ashtray) lid
Vanquish/GT8 DIM
We also have a couple of 'extras' that aren't quite ready yet
We all have custom painted mirror caps - in my instance, the caps were painted jet black, then a very deep lime stripe was painted on.
Beyond that, we then each added are own unique touches. For mine:
jet black painted windscreen surround
lime hand painted accents to the fins on the CF rear blade that comes with the Ti exhaust
painted lime rotaries
lime gaiter
lime lining to glovebox
lime inserts to ONE 77 steering wheel
custom fobs (one in tan/black/lime, the other in all lime - the standard AMR fobs are black & lime)
custom luggage, in all three colours, with AML, AMR and Q branding - one 4 pc set and one XL holdall
pure black arm pad (believe it or not, the now optional highline console has no arm pad as standard despite it's price)
and that bit I'm most pleased with, the bit most personal to me, which is an embroidered Hamsa you can see on some of the early pages of this thread
The interesting thing is that the bits other people spot (and this car certainly attracts attention) are effectively the big wodges of lime which mean the car turns heads 10x more than my previous Astons. However the custom bits I'm most pleased with, which most people won't even spot, are the black windscreen surround, the additional glass switches, the embroidered hamsa - the small but personal things
However I haven't posted much about my car recently because I've been busy enjoying driving it, which is when the custom elements become pretty meaningless :-)
I've done about 700 or so really fun miles so far but I'm ultra excited with my upcoming Summer, starting tomorrow ! This car is for driving - that's why you buy a 600bhp manual n/a V12 version of an outgoing model - more than anything else, to have fun in it !!!
So....deep breath !
Tomorrow night head down to Folkstone, then on to Germany for the N24 weekend where I'll be meeting up with one of the other 2 owners in their car (fancy joining us Graham ? :-) ) in AMR hospitality
On Sunday, leaving the car in Germany and flying home
2 weeks later, fly back to Germany, pick up the car, drive to Champagne, meet a mate in his DBS who's driving over from Manchester, then spend a couple of days driving down to Valbonne in South of France, staying the night in Reims & Lyon on the way
4 nights in Valbonne at a mate's holiday home, with a few other friends who are flying out to join us
Leave the car in South of France, fly home
Ten days later, fly back to the South of France, pick up the car, spend two days starting on Route Napoleon driving to Le Mans
Meet up with the usual crowd I go to LM24 with and have 4 nights there, following which I drive the car home to Mcr
Then a couple of weeks later, for the first time, all three cars will be getting together for a really special day out !
As I say, can't wait and will be using the car for what it's really meant for - special miles on special roads with good friends !
avinalarf said:
Tough couple of months Jonby....but as the saying goes .....someone's got to do it ! 
I keep telling myself it's sensible and not that extravagent because I'm only away for 9 or 10 working days, I'm saving miles & time by not driving it to and from Europe for each trip, etc.......but just thinking about the next two months gives me goosebumps ! Another long post coming following a truly special 24 hours incorporating a day at Gaydon ......I really don't know where to start
In some ways, the delivery of my car (2 months ago) seemed like more of a relief and certainly for all three of us, an end to a project that took up so much of our lives. But in many ways, yesterday which should perhaps have really felt like an end, felt to me like the start - the end of the production journey but the start of the true enjoyment of the cars (albeit I've done 4k miles in mine !), the final item (samples box) collected (although there is still a build book to come) and another renewed feeling of love for and affinity to the brand
We had, as alluded to above, ordered bespoke samples boxes via Q - these were the one items where we took something of a leap of faith as we agreed a price without really agreeing a spec. Yesterday's visit was about collecting the samples boxes and also, at the factory's instigation, a sort of handover of the cars in the atrium which they cleared for our cars, lots of photo opportunities in particular for the factory to record our journeys as we had such an unusual story.
We (The three AMRigos) met at a nearby hotel the night before, when some people from the factory came to join us for dinner which was much appreciated. Richard Tipper (Perfection Valet) came to the hotel very early the next morning to give the cars a clean, then we headed to the factory for what you could almost describe as a day of pampering. Although the photo shoot in the atrium and the samples boxes handover was pre-arranged, the rest of the day was dealt with ad-hoc, partly based on what we wanted to do - I can't begin to get across how great everyone was with us
We had a factory tour when we focussed on areas of particular interest as it would be embarassing to try to count the number of times we have done a tour between us all. It was pointed out to me when we went past a sample stitching board that I must have walked past half a dozen times in the last 5 years, that the lords red diamond stitch sample was actually taken from my last V12V Roadster. I'm not sure what I liked more - the fact it was up there or the fact that someone from the factory saw the sample and immediately knew to say it was from my car (or as wadders thinks of it - 'from one of MY customer's cars')
I'll not talk too much about the tour - perhaps of interest, lots of vantages, plenty of DB11s, the odd Rapide (not AMR) and in the trim shop (although I didn't notice any on the main lines) a lot of DB11 signature/halo seats with the lime stripes being upholstered
As those who can be bothered to read my posts will know, in particular from going off at a tangent on the DBS thread, I'm really not a fan of the way AMR (road cars) is being handled, but for me, whilst some on here feel very differently, I am a big fan of the current core offerings of new Vantage, DB11 and new DBS. Rather like outgoing Vanquish, particularly in darker colours, I think DB11 is a grower and looking better with age. I still don't like the mercified central infotainment controls & screen but the new design of Aston steering wheels is growing on me. For those who want the slightly more conservative, traditional looking ASton, with more traditional Aston performance & handling, DB11 hits the spot
Meanwhile new Vantage & DBS give the more aggressive, forward looking designs. I've loved new Vantage from the moment I was lucky enough to see it at an early stage and straight away, said 'Vulcan' when I saw the nose. Yesterday, there was a Vulcan and a new Vantage parked one in front of the other, both nose forward - the similarities were far more apparent than ever before- for me, a good thing. Meanwhile DBS, whilst also having a huge grille, has a very different look in the flesh, as the grille doesn't slope backwards in the way it does on Vantage and it has much straighter sides then the angled sides of new Vantage grille - together, they make the cars very different
In many ways, I think the various specials/AMRS/ltd eds/etc detract from just how good the base/core cars are. Obviously there will be harder Vantages to come but if there was just a V8 DB11 (and perhaps an S in time), alongside new DBS, with no special or ltd ed for at least a couple of years, I think it would let the focus fall on how good those products are - as it is, there is no time for the dust to settle on one launch before the next happens and I'm really not sure that's a good thing
Anyway, back to our day. It was amazing to see how many induction tours for new employees were taking place which is now a regular occurrance. It was also lovely to see a small group of excited schoolchildren on a tour (competition winners I think), especially so when they gathered round our cars for photos
The samples boxes came out better than any of us dared expect. We have personalised engine build style plaques with our names, VIN numbers and 'edition numbers' on the boxes, the paint moulds have our stripes and also, the 'good things come...' & edition numbers, then we have leather samples, painted rotaries, thread, pouches, full build records & more - they make for stunning momentos
Plus we have our custom build books to come, which will incorporate photos from yesterday
Can't express enough thanks to Pete Coyle, Steve Waddingham & Nick Duckworth who were the guys responsible for yesterday.
Photos to follow soon
In some ways, the delivery of my car (2 months ago) seemed like more of a relief and certainly for all three of us, an end to a project that took up so much of our lives. But in many ways, yesterday which should perhaps have really felt like an end, felt to me like the start - the end of the production journey but the start of the true enjoyment of the cars (albeit I've done 4k miles in mine !), the final item (samples box) collected (although there is still a build book to come) and another renewed feeling of love for and affinity to the brand
We had, as alluded to above, ordered bespoke samples boxes via Q - these were the one items where we took something of a leap of faith as we agreed a price without really agreeing a spec. Yesterday's visit was about collecting the samples boxes and also, at the factory's instigation, a sort of handover of the cars in the atrium which they cleared for our cars, lots of photo opportunities in particular for the factory to record our journeys as we had such an unusual story.
We (The three AMRigos) met at a nearby hotel the night before, when some people from the factory came to join us for dinner which was much appreciated. Richard Tipper (Perfection Valet) came to the hotel very early the next morning to give the cars a clean, then we headed to the factory for what you could almost describe as a day of pampering. Although the photo shoot in the atrium and the samples boxes handover was pre-arranged, the rest of the day was dealt with ad-hoc, partly based on what we wanted to do - I can't begin to get across how great everyone was with us
We had a factory tour when we focussed on areas of particular interest as it would be embarassing to try to count the number of times we have done a tour between us all. It was pointed out to me when we went past a sample stitching board that I must have walked past half a dozen times in the last 5 years, that the lords red diamond stitch sample was actually taken from my last V12V Roadster. I'm not sure what I liked more - the fact it was up there or the fact that someone from the factory saw the sample and immediately knew to say it was from my car (or as wadders thinks of it - 'from one of MY customer's cars')
I'll not talk too much about the tour - perhaps of interest, lots of vantages, plenty of DB11s, the odd Rapide (not AMR) and in the trim shop (although I didn't notice any on the main lines) a lot of DB11 signature/halo seats with the lime stripes being upholstered
As those who can be bothered to read my posts will know, in particular from going off at a tangent on the DBS thread, I'm really not a fan of the way AMR (road cars) is being handled, but for me, whilst some on here feel very differently, I am a big fan of the current core offerings of new Vantage, DB11 and new DBS. Rather like outgoing Vanquish, particularly in darker colours, I think DB11 is a grower and looking better with age. I still don't like the mercified central infotainment controls & screen but the new design of Aston steering wheels is growing on me. For those who want the slightly more conservative, traditional looking ASton, with more traditional Aston performance & handling, DB11 hits the spot
Meanwhile new Vantage & DBS give the more aggressive, forward looking designs. I've loved new Vantage from the moment I was lucky enough to see it at an early stage and straight away, said 'Vulcan' when I saw the nose. Yesterday, there was a Vulcan and a new Vantage parked one in front of the other, both nose forward - the similarities were far more apparent than ever before- for me, a good thing. Meanwhile DBS, whilst also having a huge grille, has a very different look in the flesh, as the grille doesn't slope backwards in the way it does on Vantage and it has much straighter sides then the angled sides of new Vantage grille - together, they make the cars very different
In many ways, I think the various specials/AMRS/ltd eds/etc detract from just how good the base/core cars are. Obviously there will be harder Vantages to come but if there was just a V8 DB11 (and perhaps an S in time), alongside new DBS, with no special or ltd ed for at least a couple of years, I think it would let the focus fall on how good those products are - as it is, there is no time for the dust to settle on one launch before the next happens and I'm really not sure that's a good thing
Anyway, back to our day. It was amazing to see how many induction tours for new employees were taking place which is now a regular occurrance. It was also lovely to see a small group of excited schoolchildren on a tour (competition winners I think), especially so when they gathered round our cars for photos
The samples boxes came out better than any of us dared expect. We have personalised engine build style plaques with our names, VIN numbers and 'edition numbers' on the boxes, the paint moulds have our stripes and also, the 'good things come...' & edition numbers, then we have leather samples, painted rotaries, thread, pouches, full build records & more - they make for stunning momentos
Plus we have our custom build books to come, which will incorporate photos from yesterday
Can't express enough thanks to Pete Coyle, Steve Waddingham & Nick Duckworth who were the guys responsible for yesterday.
Photos to follow soon
Edited by jonby on Tuesday 3rd July 12:43
Edited by jonby on Tuesday 3rd July 13:05
Edited by jonby on Tuesday 3rd July 13:06
silverspeed said:
I know Jonathan is going to post the photos but I couldn’t resist posting just one teaser photo
You & Ian are welcome to post all the photos you want - I'm sure they are at least as good and probably better than mine ! Although perhaps none will be as good as my photo of Maureen - do you think it's acceptable to post that one in this thread ? (God knows what those who don't know what I'm talking about might be thinking now.....................)
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