The V8's were in production for much longer than anyone
would have expected. The replacement car had a very difficult task in bringing
Aston Martin into the 90's. And the car chosen to do this became the Virage. The
four seater GT was unveiled in 1988 at the Birmingham Motor Show to almost
universal acclaim. Despite the huge £135,000 price tag, the order book soon
filled up as customers had waited so long for a totally new Aston Martin. The
revised V8 engine, developed together with Reeves Callaway, still retained the
familiar 5340cc capacity but now had 4 valves per cylinder and Weber electronic
fuel injection.
Soon after the coupe was in full production it was
joined by the convertible Volante version, initially shown with just two seats
it was soon developed to carry four people in comfort. Finally, the mighty
Vantage was unveiled in the Autumn of 1992; almost all of the panels were
changed to create the most muscular Aston ever. The V8 was developed to produce
a almost unbelievable 550 bhp assisted by twin Eaton superchargers.
Gradually the Virage was phased out and the
standard car was restyled with many styling cues from the Vantage and called
simply the V8 coupe. Later, the Volante also received the six headlights and 'Jaffa'
grapefruit tail lights of the Vantage and had it's wheelbase lengthened to give
more space for the rear seat passengers; a real 4 seater family Aston
Works Service during the 1990's offered optional
enhancement packages for the V8's. These have ranged from wide bodies, 6.3 litre
engine conversions and on to full shooting brakes, 4 door supercharged saloons and the ultimate 600bhp V600 package for the Vantage.
The final
version of the Virage, the V8 Vantage Le Mans, was made to commemorate the 40th
Anniversary of the famous Aston Martin victory at Le Mans in 1959. Production
was limited to just 40 cars. But even this was not quite the end; just 8 Vantage
Volante's, built on the standard length chassis were completed in November
2000. These are now considered the pinnacle of coachbuilt V8 production.
Back on the other side of Tickford Street, Works Service
were also busy building cars too in almost total secrecy. Only recently have AM
even hinted at such special coachbuilt cars built at huge expense for extremely
wealthy, Royalty and Heads of State. The full story was finally told in the book
Aston Martin: Power, Beauty and Soul by my good friend, David Dowsey. I have now
given official access to the photographs of all of those special cars.
Throughout the 1990's, the Aston Martin 'V' cars
were considered to be dinosaurs when compared to such cars as the Ferrari 456GT
and 550. But the handbuilt V8's were so very exclusive, beautifully crafted,
supremely powerful and especially the supercharged cars, extremely fast. An era that lasted for over 30 years had
come to an end - traditional handbuilt cars were about to be replaced by the
most advanced supercar ever built by Aston Martin, the V12 Vanquish.