It was at the Detroit show 15 years ago that Aston first showed the AMV8 Vantage concept, and two years later when the largely unchanged production car was shown at Geneva. Then, as we all know, it spent more than a decade on sale as perhaps the prettiest new car in existence. It was quite some achievement.
There was nothing revolutionary about the Vantage's design, but it so perfectly finessed the compact, front-engined, rear-drive sports car that it didn't matter one jot. It was more aggressive than the earlier DB9, prettier than a contemporary 911 and has arguably aged better than the Ferrari F430 of the same time - the Vantage really was a highpoint for Aston design.
Now, though, its time is done, drives of the replacement Vantage are taking place very soon; the car we've come to know and (mostly) love will be consigned to Aston history. To mark the occasion we're dedicating Pic of the Week to the iconic Vantage, with perhaps the most desirable version of them all: the V12 Vantage S manual.
As the world moved to automatic, turbocharged sports cars, Aston's reintroduction of a manual V12 Vantage looked like a shrewd piece of business. The resulting car was fantastic, too, described on these pages as "brimming with charisma". Fortunately enough for POTW as well, Aston's pics for the car are brilliant, scenery and vehicle as stunning as each other. So if you're sad at the mighty Vantage's demise, you know what to do - a new wallpaper is below!