Newish owner (with pics and a couple of questions)

Newish owner (with pics and a couple of questions)

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A320martin

Original Poster:

28 posts

72 months

Wednesday 14th March 2018
quotequote all
Evening all! Long time lurker, first time poster!

I purchased my first Aston in April last year. I'd always said I'd have an Aston by the time I was 30, but with three weeks to go until my 31st birthday I thought it was a lost dream. To my amazement my wife said that would never do, and so I went shopping! Originally I wanted Meteorite with a Kestrel Tan interior, but the two that were on the market at the time were both dogs. I looked at both Sportshift and Manuals, coupes and roadsters. Then I found her! She's a 2006 V8V manual coupe, meteorite grey with iron ore leather. I knew the second I saw the car that it was the one I'd end up buying. I'd driven a Sportshift Roadster earlier in the day and I just wasn't a fan of the gearbox, but as soon as I sat in my car I knew I'd be driving her away that evening. At the time it had 54,000 miles on the clock, I've added another 8k since then as it's my daily drive. She drives flawlessly and I enjoy the challenge of becoming a better driver that the car presents. The clutch is still the original and with a full service history the car drives and performs better than some of the cars I tested with 10-20k on the clock. Here are a few pics:





Over the summer of last year I called James Hawkes-Reed and had iPhone mirroring and Bluetooth fitted. It worked seamlessly with my old iPhone 7 Plus, but since I've upgraded to an iPhone X the mirroring doesn't seem to work any more. I now just get a dodgy input like the one in the photo below. I've tried to contact James three or four times now, but I've not had a reply from any of his various email addresses. Does anyone have any good fixes for this issue?


I've also noticed the paint peeling from the rear passenger side alloy (see pic below) any suggestions?


It's my intention to upgrade to a twin plate clutch at some point soon. Other small projects include doing the Jag key swap to avoid the truly horrendous Volvo fob! I intend to do as much of the servicing on the car as I can myself.

Really looking forward to getting stuck in here too, and hopefully I'll make it along to one of the meets at some point.

superlightr

12,842 posts

262 months

Wednesday 14th March 2018
quotequote all
A320martin said:
Evening all! Long time lurker, first time poster!

I purchased my first Aston in April last year. I'd always said I'd have an Aston by the time I was 30, but with three weeks to go until my 31st birthday I thought it was a lost dream. To my amazement my wife said that would never do, and so I went shopping! Originally I wanted Meteorite with a Kestrel Tan interior, but the two that were on the market at the time were both dogs. I looked at both Sportshift and Manuals, coupes and roadsters. Then I found her! She's a 2006 V8V manual coupe, meteorite grey with iron ore leather. I knew the second I saw the car that it was the one I'd end up buying. I'd driven a Sportshift Roadster earlier in the day and I just wasn't a fan of the gearbox, but as soon as I sat in my car I knew I'd be driving her away that evening. At the time it had 54,000 miles on the clock, I've added another 8k since then as it's my daily drive. She drives flawlessly and I enjoy the challenge of becoming a better driver that the car presents. The clutch is still the original and with a full service history the car drives and performs better than some of the cars I tested with 10-20k on the clock. Here are a few pics:





Over the summer of last year I called James Hawkes-Reed and had iPhone mirroring and Bluetooth fitted. It worked seamlessly with my old iPhone 7 Plus, but since I've upgraded to an iPhone X the mirroring doesn't seem to work any more. I now just get a dodgy input like the one in the photo below. I've tried to contact James three or four times now, but I've not had a reply from any of his various email addresses. Does anyone have any good fixes for this issue?


I've also noticed the paint peeling from the rear passenger side alloy (see pic below) any suggestions?


It's my intention to upgrade to a twin plate clutch at some point soon. Other small projects include doing the Jag key swap to avoid the truly horrendous Volvo fob! I intend to do as much of the servicing on the car as I can myself.

Really looking forward to getting stuck in here too, and hopefully I'll make it along to one of the meets at some point.
Its a beauty!!

Love the colour. Pleased to hear its your daily driver. Mine is too (db9)

V12JDC

190 posts

89 months

Wednesday 14th March 2018
quotequote all
Lovely looking car, congrats.

I have Iron Ore too and am a big fan in my manual DB9

Keep posting the updates, id love to see what you do to it

vernierMike

397 posts

93 months

Wednesday 14th March 2018
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Sweet! I really like the colour combo - and normally I'm an understated black interior kinda guy. Although mine is Phantom Grey cos that's jus the one I fancied... Yes, I'm confused too.

Get those miles on, these do love to be driven. In every trip there is a special moment!

telum01

987 posts

114 months

Wednesday 14th March 2018
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What email are you using for James? It should be:
james@astoninstallations.com

Graze01

1,034 posts

91 months

Wednesday 14th March 2018
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Martin

congratulations - good looking car!

Many years of enjoyment to come i'm sure

Graeme

rovcallum

535 posts

142 months

Wednesday 14th March 2018
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Welcome - what a lovely looking original Vantage.
That exterior paintwork looks really well finished.
Shame the lacquer on the wheel seems to be peeling. Best thing to do is get it refinished. Nothing else for it, I'm afraid. Quick job, less than £100.
Looks like "a good 'un" otherwise. Enjoy it to the max!

NeinFondue

860 posts

155 months

Wednesday 14th March 2018
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Love Iron Ore. Looks stunning. Congrats cloud9

Rappa

625 posts

269 months

Thursday 15th March 2018
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Another Iron Ore fan.

Great car. Sorry I can't help with the phone thing, my option was to stick to an older phone. (Smiley Face).

I'm away at the moment missing it, so your photos are soul food.

Sean

mhurley

823 posts

132 months

Thursday 15th March 2018
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The old Vantage shape just gets better and better

dbs2000

2,681 posts

191 months

Thursday 15th March 2018
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NeinFondue said:
Love Iron Ore. Looks stunning. Congrats cloud9
Indeed, when I set out on my AM mission it was my must have - before I saw lightning silver and being told it was only on the later cars. Nice to see someone whos not scared of adding the mileage, enjoy every one of them!

David87

6,648 posts

211 months

Thursday 15th March 2018
quotequote all
Hi and welcome. Car looks great and I love the interior colour.

Regarding that wheel, it looks like the paint is coming away from the wheel quite badly. Almost certainly down to a previous poor refurbishment effort, and the only proper solution will be to have it stripped back to the metal and completely repainted. Should be somewhere local to you that would be able to do it for £100 or so.

M5MarkM

1,534 posts

170 months

Thursday 15th March 2018
quotequote all
Congratz on your purchase and welcome to the fold!

Jibberingloon

848 posts

199 months

Thursday 15th March 2018
quotequote all
You are 3 doors down from me wink im just up the road on the right smile

Oh and I saw you at the Shell Station getting it washed yesterday......

Have sent you a PM (edited) i cant as your profile doesnt accept emails (You can change this on your profile if needed)

Regards

Mark

Edited by Jibberingloon on Thursday 15th March 09:52

A320martin

Original Poster:

28 posts

72 months

Thursday 15th March 2018
quotequote all
Thanks for the very warm welcome everybody! James got in touch last night with a possible solution to the iPhone mirroring issue.

Mark! What are the chances?! I've enabled the email option, so drop me a line. What a small world!

Project for today is to try and sort out the drivers side headlamp washer. The cover went missing on a drive last month, so I recently bought a replacement from astonmartinbits.com. The only issue is that the whole washer unit now seems to have come loose. Bugger.

Any recommendations for wheel refurb specialists in Oxfordshire? I've also managed to curb two of them in the last ten months!

Edited by A320martin on Thursday 15th March 10:06

Jibberingloon

848 posts

199 months

Thursday 15th March 2018
quotequote all
I have a set of 4 normal wheels if you want!!! wink

But there is a place over the road that use to do them behind the car sales place (Think they may have moved over christmas tho)

tonycordon

284 posts

229 months

Thursday 15th March 2018
quotequote all
Hi, on the headlamp washer issue, I have a similar situation, except that I haven't lost the cover. Apparently the plastic moulding that carries the washer unit becomes brittle with age and snaps. I have spoken to Steve at McGurks, he says that they have a cure. They use a 'special' glue to rebuild the mounting and remount the washer assembly. It takes about 2 hours he says, so about £200ish.
I intend to get mine done but haven't found the time yet....it's bugger being retired...no time for anything!
Car looks good BTW.

A320martin

Original Poster:

28 posts

72 months

Thursday 15th March 2018
quotequote all
Thanks Tony, I'll have a look into that. For now I'm just turning the lights off when I use the washer fluid. Tempted to just remove the fuse and be done with it, but I understand that can affect the MOT.

Shnozz

27,423 posts

270 months

Thursday 15th March 2018
quotequote all
My headlamp washer cover was lose and I attempted to bond it back on but then lost it (en route to McGurks ironically) so I had to have a new assembly which McGurks fitted. I don't have the invoice to hand but can dig it out tonight if you want to know the complete cost for them to simply replace?

Shnozz

27,423 posts

270 months

Thursday 15th March 2018
quotequote all
I also did the Jag key fob swap (see the other thread) - couldn't stand the Fisher Price Vulva key. Never thought I would be fussed about a bloody key, but that original is dogsheet.

Be interested to hear what you have had done re the iphone mirroring? How did you achieve this, who did the work and what was the cost? Would far rather have the screen display whats on my phone than the crap sat nav (even with updated discs that I bought).