Aston Martin Vantage: Spotted

Forced induction will be back in an Aston Vantage soon, but it will be a very different car to this one!

For the past 12 years, a key selling point of the Aston Martin V8 Vantage has been its 4.3- or 4.7-litre engine; loud, sonorous, exciting and, er, loud, it's an emotional and enjoyable engine, particularly when paired with the manual gearbox.

The replacement car is likely to use the 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 from AMG, a significant change for a car that never saw forced induction in its entire life. Given how well the M177 has been received so far, that is no bad thing, but that does at least proffer the opportunity to look at the last Aston Vantage with forced induction.

Yes, it's the old twin-supercharged tank from the 1990s. This Vantage replaced the Virage in 1993, seeing it off like the later DB7 Vantage did for the standard car. By the time of its introduction this Vantage had benefitted from the input of Ford's takeover in the late 80s, bringing in improvements to the usability and so on.

Crucially, however, the Vantage added two superchargers to the Virage's 5.3-litre V8. Two! The result was 558hp (or 550 imperial horsepower, hence the V550 name), a canyon of torque and a 190mph top speed (the later V600 would allegedly do 200mph). The Vantage added more than 200hp to the Virage and transformed it.

What must this have looked like 20-odd years ago? It's still a big, imposing, intimidating car in 2017, so how would it have appeared in a world of Rover 100s and Citroen AXs? Those six piercing headlights, the broad rear haunches, the sheer size of that bonnet; the whole thing is so menacing. Perhaps it's a little ungainly from some angles - the rear overhang is very large, and the twin pipes are oddly meek - though its presence is quite incredible.

As the last of the Newport Pagnell Aston, the Vantage is becoming ever more desirable. The fact it represents a caddish, almost rude, and certainly unrepeatable period in British sports car history must also appeal. That and they're very rare: it's probably hard to think now, when seeing a V8 Vantage or DB9 isn't anything remarkable, but there was a period of course when Aston was a real niche player. According to this ad just 236 were made, a tiny number.

From those 236 it seems unlikely there will be many better than this one, with just 22,000 miles since 1994 and a fantastic spec of Buckingham Green (repainted from the original Snowdon White, for first owner Adam Clayton) with Fawn leather. It's been meticulously well looked after and, quite frankly, seems absolutely brilliant.

What else might you have? Something like the Ferrari 456 we discussed the other week could appeal, for example, though really there's nothing quite like the old Vantage. It's a long, long way from what we can expect from the next Aston Vantage, but of course for some that will be very good news indeed. What's that, the price? Quite a lot more than the next Vantage will be, put it that way...

ASTON MARTIN VANTAGE V550
Engine: 5,430cc, supercharged V8
Transmission: 6-speed ZF manual (from a Corvette!), rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 558@6,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 550@4,000rpm
MPG: Hahahaha...
CO2: ...hahahaha
Recorded mileage: 22,000
Year registered: 1994
Price new: N/A
Price now: £229,000

See the original advert here.

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Robmarriott

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