The Vanquish blended craftsmanship
with audacious, cutting-edge technology. We get a culture shock
If ever there was a car that separates the
values and ideas of the old car company that was Aston Martin from the more
ambitious, less traditional, infinitely more contemporary ‘brand’ that Aston
has become today, it’s the Vanquish. Not the new 2012 edition, but the original
Ian Callum-designed car of 2001.
In 1998, when the V8 Virage was still
Aston’s most exotic creation and the workforce at Newport Pagnell was still
crafting its cars together lovingly by hand, the Project Vantage Concept must
have seemed like a machine from outer space. When it made its audacious debut
at that year’s North American Auto Show in Detroit, you could almost feel the
traditionalists shudder. Because here was an Aston that was constructed mostly
from aluminum and carbon composites, and which had not a hand-built V8 beneath
its bonnet but a V12 whose origins could be traced indirectly to Ford Motor Co.
Aston
Martin Vanquish
Worse still, it featured a paddle-shift
gearbox and an electronic fly-by-wire throttle system, neither of which had
been seen (or wanted) in an Aston previously.
But when the Vanquish eventually landed as
a full production car three years later, Aston Martin’s fans – even the more
stubbornly antiquated among them were a very long way indeed from being displeased.
Despite its 21st-century design and engineering ethos, it was instantly
regarded as The Real Thing.
It was a true-blue, big hairy Aston and,
flappy-paddle gearshift aside, it became the very obvious successor to the
original V8 Vantage – the biggest and hairiest Aston of them all – pretty much
overnight.
‘There’s a unique atmosphere inside –
a delicious smell of leather with a whiff of oily heat’
It was quick, too. Very quick. Although its
kerb weight was still an inexplicably hefty 1835kg (more than 4000lb!), power
from the 5925cc V12 was a rousing 460bhp at 6500rpm, with torque rated
officially at 400lb flat 5000rpm. This was sufficient to send the Vanquish to
60mph from rest in a mere 4.4 secs, to 100mph in 10.5 secs, and on to a claimed
top speed just four miles per hour shy of the magic 200mph.
‘There’s
a unique atmosphere inside – a delicious smell of leather with a whiff of oily
heat’
Yet it was the car’s styling and the noise
it made that elevated the Vanquish to a position whereby it could look its
equivalent Ferrari of the day squarely in the eye, and then simply wait for the
Prancing Horse to blink. Callum wanted his creation to look powerful and
strong, as well as elegant, and in the event he went to town and provided the
car with a quite extraordinary level of road presence, never replicated in an
Aston before or since.
And as for the noise, it didn’t matter one
iota that the V12’s engineering roots emanated from a design from across the
pond. It sounded utterly fantastic, largely as a result of a natty engineering
solution that kept various flaps in its exhaust system closed in order to
satisfy the noise police, which would then open at higher revs to allow the
Vanquish to release its full fury.
Yet
any faults there may be inside the Vanquish are largely obliterated the moment
you thumb the big red button in the center of the dash marked ‘engine start’
Since then, of course, every supercar maker
worth its salt has developed a system similar to that of the Vanquish. But even
today, the sound of this car’s V12 under load, beyond 3000rpm, remains as
distinctive a noise as anything that Ferrari (or Aston Martin) has produced
since. It was also the reason why I could hear the Vanquish long before I could
see it when it arrived on location for our photo-shoot because it’s a noise you
don’t ever forget.
Currently on offer with marque specialist
Nicholas Mee, this particular example has been uprated to something approaching
Vanquish S specification by the fitment of bigger brakes, Yokohama tires and
various other modifications. It’s done 20,000 miles and is priced at $97,500,
which is at the top end of the scale; there are plenty for sale on or around
the $75,000 mark.
But it’s a genuinely immaculate example
and, bearing in mind that the original list price was an eye-watering $237,000 and
that Aston made just 2593 of them between 2001 and ’07 – the idea of the
Vanquish becoming an investment in the future is probably not that far-fetched.
Not when you consider that it was a last-of-an-era moment as far as Newport
Pagnell was concerned, before Aston’s Gaydon factory became the new company HQ.
Aston
Martin Vanquish side
Climb inside and there’s a unique
atmosphere, a delicious smell of leather mixed with a whiff of oily heat. The
driving position is low-slung and laid-back; the dials white and vaguely
antique in their appearance. On the center console sits a bank of switches for
the air-conditioning and so on that are lifted straight out of a Jaguar XK8 –
as are the door handles, the column stalks and much of the rest of the
switchgear. It’s a curious, though not beguiling, mixture of modern, not so
modern and downright odd components, all of which meet to produce one
unmistakable interior.
Yet any faults there may be inside the
Vanquish are largely obliterated the moment you thumb the big red button in the
center of the dash marked ‘engine start’. Once the mildly embarrassing burst of
revs dies away, the V12 settles to a smooth but still rousing idle. One prod on
the accelerator sends a wave of energy through the body that manifests itself
in a lovely rocking motion, almost as if the car is lifting a cheek gracefully,
as one might in church.
Select first gear by pulling back the
right-hand paddle and there’s a faint mechanical click felt at the fingertips,
alongside a distant clunk as the gear goes in. No clutch is required, instead
you just open the throttle smoothly and you’re away, a slight judder from the
transmission confirming that this is indeed an electrically automated manual
gearbox, and not just a regular automatic with paddles.
