Tuscany in our DB9 Volante
Discussion
Our DB9 is painted in one of the original pale greens then and now used by AM as their racing colour. To heighten the impression, we recently had it detailed with a yellow stripe across the body, yellow mirrors and a broad yellow strip around the grille mouth.
You may imagine our pleasure then, when in the flea market in Arezzo on Sunday, we came across a Solido die cast model of a DBR9 painted in the same colour scheme !
Not only that, but the same stall also had a three foot long scale model of a Mercedes Benz
1938 K504 drop head tourer in black. This was complete with air horns, spot lights, opera irons, double duck hood and cream leather upholstery. All fixed on a polished wood base and under a Perspex display case. Hubby was mesmerised. It was utterly,utterly beautiful !
What was it doing on a stall in a Tuscan flea market ? It should have been in M-B's own museum !
At 1000 Euros, we wanted to buy it, but were thwarted by the difficulties of shipping it back to England.
You may imagine our pleasure then, when in the flea market in Arezzo on Sunday, we came across a Solido die cast model of a DBR9 painted in the same colour scheme !
Not only that, but the same stall also had a three foot long scale model of a Mercedes Benz
1938 K504 drop head tourer in black. This was complete with air horns, spot lights, opera irons, double duck hood and cream leather upholstery. All fixed on a polished wood base and under a Perspex display case. Hubby was mesmerised. It was utterly,utterly beautiful !
What was it doing on a stall in a Tuscan flea market ? It should have been in M-B's own museum !
At 1000 Euros, we wanted to buy it, but were thwarted by the difficulties of shipping it back to England.
Pics of our DB9 ? We didn't take any of the Merc model. Hubby was too distraught at not being able to buy it due to the shipping difficulties, he doesn't want to be reminded of his loss............and he's never had a Mercedes. He does have , though, a beautiful scale model of a 1934 Hispano Suiza made out of tulip wood, copper and brass. The Hispano model is about the same size ( approx one metre ). The two would have made beautiful corner pieces to his Georgian partners desk ! I had to go and buy a gold Dunhill lighter and fifty Romeo y Julieta cigars, plus a bottle of sixteen year old Lagavulin to console him !.....not easy to do in Florence.
IanV12VSRs said:
The DB9 of course. This is the Aston forum 
OK, but we are presently staying in a hotel in the centre of Florence. The hotel manager, upon seeing our car, decided that it would be sensible for the Aston to be valet parked in a secure car park nearby ( this also happened in Arezzo when we were there ). We can see our Aston at all times via cctv on the tv in our room, but have no plans to visit it until later this week.We'll take some pics then.
Incidentally, we had major problems in getting to our hotel in the centre of Arezzo. It was the weekend of their jousting tournaments held in the main square, and most of the roads were closed. We rang the hotel using our mobile and the receptionist gave us perfect directions through a maze of medieval alleys. A police Alfa Romeo ( a two litre Guilia ) stopped us but then provide an escort. The female driver kissed my husband when we told her we owned a rare Guilia Quatrofoglio ( the 200 MPH version of the Guilia ). The crowds were ecstatic over seeing the Aston. We could barely move forward for all the back slapping and applause, let alone hundreds of pictures being taken. Hubby had a similar thing happen when he drove his drop head "E" Type through Sienna back in 1985. It's really quite moving.
I mentioned in the Alfa Romeo section yesterday about our seeing an AR Guilia Quatrofoglia being used on location here in Florence for the forthcoming Michael Bay film
"6 UNDERGROUND " starring Ryan Reynolds. Upon our arriving in our DB9 here on Sunday, we were overwhelmed by the attention paid to the Aston when we drove through the city centre. We were also a bit concerned about two pretty girls who followed us on a Vespa scooter to our hotel.
They were taking many pictures whilst doing so.
We have just received a phone call from an assistant producer offering us 5000 USD for a couple of hours use of the Aston for some static ( but with the engine on ) film footage with Ryan Reynolds at the wheel. It will be blue screen work with the car being trailered to a film studio tomorrow afternoon, with dinner paid for the two of us. We can be with the Aston at all times. The moolah won't pay for our holiday, but it'll help !
"6 UNDERGROUND " starring Ryan Reynolds. Upon our arriving in our DB9 here on Sunday, we were overwhelmed by the attention paid to the Aston when we drove through the city centre. We were also a bit concerned about two pretty girls who followed us on a Vespa scooter to our hotel.
They were taking many pictures whilst doing so.
We have just received a phone call from an assistant producer offering us 5000 USD for a couple of hours use of the Aston for some static ( but with the engine on ) film footage with Ryan Reynolds at the wheel. It will be blue screen work with the car being trailered to a film studio tomorrow afternoon, with dinner paid for the two of us. We can be with the Aston at all times. The moolah won't pay for our holiday, but it'll help !
IanV12VSRs said:
The DB9 of course. This is the Aston forum
Here is a pic of the Aston just having its detailing done last month. We'll take some better ones later this week, probably outside the Alfa Romeo Museum in Milan.Last night here in the Piazza Della Republicca, Florence we found a brilliant guy who does airbrush portraits of cars. We have ordered pics of three of our cars, the DB9, my Quatrofoglio
and our Bentley Continental GTC. Hubby ordered one of a Ferrari Dino 246 he owned before I met him, and this was done whilst we had dinner nearby at a fabulous Argentinian steak restaurant. There was a slight delay in getting suitable pics for copying purposes on his smartphone ( Hubbie's 246 had non standard Cromodora alloys, and we wanted to get the Aston's Californian Sage shade just right ) but we have every confidence in his attaining perfection. When our Lagonda DHC is fully restored, we'll email him pics.
El Toro said:
Well done Ratana & hubby - truly living La Dolce Vita.
You may think so,amigo,but the 5000 Euros we earned from loaning our DB9 to the Michael Bay film crew, was blown away by today by Hubby buying a 36,000 Euro Panerai Radiomir Oro Rosso " 1940" edition chronometer. What is it with men ? They've only got two bloody wrists ; why do they need so many watches ?Rosanne said:
You may think so,amigo,but the 5000 Euros we earned from loaning our DB9 to the Michael Bay film crew, was blown away by today by Hubby buying a 36,000 Euro Panerai Radiomir Oro Rosso " 1940" edition chronometer. What is it with men ? They've only got two bloody wrists ; why do they need so many watches ?
It sounds like you are having my dream holiday. It doesn't get much better than driving around Italy in an Aston buying watches.Bobajobbob said:
It sounds like you are having my dream holiday. It doesn't get much better than driving around Italy in an Aston buying watches.
There is one fly in the ointment. The Tuscan roads are not like they were fifteen years ago when we last toured in our V12 DB7 Volante. It's harder to find the dreamy,open roads anymore. The roadworks are everywhere, the surfaces are like tank traps and the quantity of heavy lorries are a bloody nightmare.............in other words just like the U.K. Mind you, the sunshine is fabulous !You are right about the watches, though. My favourites are those made by Raymond Weil.
Hubbie's feeling a tad guilty about buying his Euro 36,000 Panerai yesterday, so a local jeweller is bringing a selection of RW's to the hotel for me to choose from later today.
Ciao.
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