Tuesday 12th July 2011

Stirling Moss Buys A Cygnet (For His Wife)

Controversial baby Aston Martin gets racing legend kudos by association

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Surprise!

Motor racing legend Sir Stirling Moss has brought a smattering of glamour to the controversial Toyota-in-a-Savile-Row-suit that is the Aston Martin Cygnet.

The car, one of the first Cygnets off the production line, was presented to Lady Moss as a surprise birthday present at the RAC Club in London last night (thank you for making us look bad, Sir Stirling - the best most of us can manage is a slap-up meal at the local Italian and a bunch of flowers).

"Susie is an amazing person and frankly the best wife a man could have," Says Moss. "Since seeing a pre-production Cygnet in January I knew that it was the perfect car for Susie; a proper little piece of British luxury and perfect for our life in town."

Ahhhhh, ain't that sweet? Except for the fact that Aston's city car fails to be sufficiently lean to be exempt from London's congestion charge. But we'll brush over that one, because the Mosses can probably afford it...

And if you think it odd that such an emphatically rapid fellow should pick such a pedestrian Aston, don't forget that he has city transport form; his former Vespa scooter recently went up for auction, and he was famously an early adopter of the first-gen Smart. It's still not quite in the same league as the Aston DBR1s et al he used to race in the 1950s, mind...

Lady Moss: It's lovely, darling, but...

...what have you done with the rest of the car?

[MrDarkBlack]

Hmmm, he used to have taste.....

I can see no logical reason whatsoever to buy one of these. It merely dilutes the Aston brand in my eyes.

Corrected my spelling of Aston as some monkey on here with a sense like Hitler, moaned about it.

Edited by MrDarkBlack on Tuesday 12th July 22:16

[FWDRacer]

Clutching.

At.

Straws.

[anonymous-user]

Questionable.

[matg]

MrDarkBlack said:

Hmmm, he used to have taste.....

I can see no logical reason whatsoever to buy one of these. It merely dilutes the Astron brand in my eyes.

Edited by MrDarkBlack on Tuesday 12th July 10:44

Its all about average emissions. With this there would be no V12's and V8's.

[joe_90]

Plate worth more than car (if a real plate)?

[LuS1fer]

I would be suspicious and suggest that it was a sweetener of a deal to get the SM link and try to kickstart sales in a Pied Piper of Hamlin sort of way. I wonder if Mrs Jackie Stewart will be next...if there is such a person obviously....

[alexpa]

No chance he paid for it. It's promo. I'd imagine he's being paid to have it, for sure.

[g3org3y]

Nothing says I love you like a rebadged Toyota.

AM's marketing team at work? I'd be surprised if he actually paid any money for this.

[budgie smuggler]

I don't mind them, and all the better if they get some of the 'more money than taste' brigade out of their gargantuan lifestyle cars which they can't manage to park properly.

[Court Jester]

Am I an old cynic, or does "bought" have a different definition here, ie massive discount or free? I smell some marketing baloney along the lines of

"we need to get some Kudos to this car if we are going to shift cars, wouldn't it be great if a racing legend 'bought' one for him / his wife so we can say look what he drives when he is not on the track"

Step forward Mr Moss. Bit harsh to give a freebie to your wife as a birthday present though if that is the case!!!

[EDLT]

FWDRacer said:

Clutching.

At.

Straws.

Its.

Actually.

Quite.

Good.

[LuS1fer]

If this car has shorter springs, does that mean you have a lower iQ?

[Rawwr]

My inbuilt sense of cynicism just wked itself into oblivion.

[MarioKart]

alexpa said:

No chance he paid for it. It's promo. I'd imagine he's being paid to have it, for sure.

Definitely this.

[Court Jester]

Ha ha, slow iPhone typing, just saw the 2 comments above and agree!

Having said that it smacks more of a Posh and Becks car to me, but they are already signed to damage another brand aren't they??!

[Rawwr]

To be fair, if I was going to drive around in a Cygnet, I'd want someone to pay me for it, too.

[hornetrider]

MarioKart said:

alexpa said:

No chance he paid for it. It's promo. I'd imagine he's being paid to have it, for sure.

Definitely this.

I would tend to agree.

[lost in espace]

I bet that is a gift from Aston. Or heavily subsidised.

[LuS1fer]

Court Jester said:

Ha ha, slow iPhone typing, just saw the 2 comments above and agree!

Having said that it smacks more of a Posh and Becks car to me, but they are already signed to damage another brand aren't they??!

From James May's review, they failed to do that.

[kambites]

MrDarkBlack said:

Hmmm, he used to have taste.....

I can see no logical reason whatsoever to buy one of these. It merely dilutes the Astron brand in my eyes.

I can see no logical reason to buy anything more plush than a Mondeo. Car buying isn't particularly logical.

If I was rich and I had to drive in cities a lot, I'd have one. I can't think of anything else that would provide the same level of comfort whilst still being as easy to drive in a crowded city.