Pre-production Vantage 1/4/2005

[F355GTS]

Posted this over on facebook but thought it might be of interest here too.

I was fortunate to see and be driven in a Vantage very early on it's life. Chris Porrit who at the time was part of the development team was a keen Caterham racer, IIRC he had a bit of an off at Silverstone and needed some parts inc a radiator which I had from a recent rebuild, Chris came round to collect it in one of the (I think 3) pre-production Vantages, he took me for a drive and I remember asking him if the production car would have the awesome sound like this one which he confirmed.

All those Years ago I wasn't allowed to post the pics but here's a couple now, dated 1st April 2005

[EVR]

Nice, why weren't you allowed? And any big differences with the production vehicle? I can't see any form the pics.

[Jon39]

Thank you for posting Mark. An interesting piece of history.

( I saw via your profile page, a wonderful photo of the Morgan Motor Company ancient wood bending device. Famous the world over.)

The concept version of the Vantage was unveiled at the 2003 North American International Auto Show in Detroit and it immediately caused a worldwide sensation.

There was then a delay to the Vantage, while time was allocated to prepare the DB9 for production.
The pre-production car which you rode in, I can see now was first registered from 1st January 2005. A production version was displayed at the Geneva Motor Show and customer deliveries began in late summer 2005.

VX54 OJL does not seem to have tax or MoT now, so what happened to it we may never know.
Development prototypes I think are scrapped after their job is done, but don't know what happens to pre-production cars.
The V8 Vantage has endured the most extensive test and development programme in the Company’s 91 year history during which 78 Prototypes were vigorously tested more than 1½ million miles. In Dubai over 12,000 miles of testing was carried out where ambient temperatures regularly hit 48ºc and the bodywork of the cars reached 87ºc.

Dr Bez spoke at the 2005 launch;
“The V8 Vantage is a significant car for us,“ explained Dr Ulrich Bez, CEO of Aston Martin. “It is now the third model in our range and is the culmination of the first phase of reinvigorating the Aston Martin brand around the world that began in the year 2000".

“The V8 Vantage is a true Aston Martin, built with the same high integrity and passion as all of our cars. This is the more affordable Aston Martin and its design and agility should help to widen our appeal and attract younger customers to our marque.”


Reinvigorating the Aston Martin brand. Attract younger customers. That's funny, it just somehow sounds familiar. -

Edited by Jon39 on Friday 9th August 17:01