Nothing tops off a glitzy car collection quite like a pre-production prototype. In most cases, they look just like the cars that’d wind up in the hands of customers, but many come with small differences and details that set them out as their ‘ordinary’ counterparts. And of course, there’s the historically significant part they played in developing the end product. Naturally, rarity is also part of the appeal but so too is their role in getting a car out to the wider world.
Buying one, however, is far from straightforward. Once a prototype has completed its tour of duty, it’ll either be stored in the darkest depths of a manufacturer’s storage room, stripped for parts or, more often than not, scrapped. The very best examples may find their way into a carmaker’s heritage fleet, but seldom do they wind up in private hands and even fewer remain road registered. This Aston Martin Vanquish is one of the lucky few, and it’s believed to be the only pre-production car of the 22-strong run that’s street-legal.
Not that many of the original prototypes remain extant in any condition. According to the ad, four of the pre-prods were converted to all-wheel drive and served as stunt cars for the James Bond film Die Another Day, three were used for crash testing and another three wound up at the scrap heap. One served as the basis of Bentone’s Jet 2 shooting brake, another for the Zagato Roadster and one apiece for repair and corrosion testing respectively. Finally, chassis 50PP10, the Vanquish that appeared at the 2001 Geneva Motor Show, currently resides at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon. The remaining cars are believed to have been stripped for parts.
However, the Vanquish we have here is chassis 50PP09 which, despite its name, is understood to be one of the very first pre-production mules. The purpose it served as a prototype isn’t clear, although it was likely used as a display car at European motor shows given the steering wheel is on the left-hand side. What we definitely do know is that it sat on display at the British marque’s Newport Pagnell factory for most of its life, with Aston Martin Lagonda its one and only registered owner. And because it’s been parked up for so many years, it’s covered just 666 kilometres (or 413 miles).
Steering wheel on the wrong side aside, PP09 sits pretty closely to the Bond-spec Vanquish in Die Another Day. It’s finished in Skye Silver over a black leather dash with silver highlights on the steering wheel, though 007’s car looked to have had brown leather seats and, obviously, a ridiculous cloaking device. Everything looks to be stock, including the 5.9-litre V12 with 466hp and the Vanquish’s six-speed automated manual gearbox. The seller hasn’t noted any prototype-specific features, and there’s little information on PP09 on the web, but dig around and you’re sure to find the odd difference here and there.
That's no bad thing, because the Vanquish really was brilliant (gearbox aside) and looks just as imperious today as it did barrelling through the ice hotel while being gunned down by a Jaguar XKR. You’ll need £129,999 to get your hands on it, which is strong money for a Vanquish. This low-mile 2003 car could be yours for half the price, while this late-model Vanquish S is available for a smidgen under six figures. But ‘ordinary’ Vanquishes, and while PP09 may look like all the others - you’ll know that it’s something very special indeed.
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