David brown Speedback GT
Mercedes-Benz C-class estate VW Scirocco r BMW 2-series active Tourer Aston
Martin Vanquish
The use of new and old skills can be seen
in the long, sinuous bodywork, which is the most successful element of the car:
part-DB5, part muscle car, with a brilliantly worked Range Rover split tailgate
and seat for sitting and watching polo, or poor people, from.
The
use of new and old skills can be seen in the long, sinuous bodywork, which is
the most successful element of the car: part-DB5, part muscle car, with a
brilliantly worked Range Rover split tailgate and seat for sitting and watching
polo, or poor people, from.
Much of the shape and aerodynamic styling
was worked out using the same computer modelling that Fi teams use, which cut
down on the amount of work needed to be done once the clay model had been
produced.
‘It makes such a huge difference,
especially in time, because we could see the airflow through things such as the
radiator and the effect of the vent on the bonnet,’ says Brown.
‘It
makes such a huge difference, especially in time, because we could see the
airflow through things such as the radiator and the effect of the vent on the
bonnet,’ says Brown.
The hand-built skin of the car is
beautiful, and the shutlines as consistent as a robot might manage. This is
because the bucks have been digitally produced on a CNC machine, so that when
taken from the digital image, each side is perfectly symmetrical. As a result,
when the aluminium is rolled by hand on an English wheel and then beaten to the
exact shape, there are no anomalies; no eccentric disparities from one side of
the body to the other that classic car restorers spend so much time losing hair
over. There’s a deep richness to the chrome of the Speedback, which tends to
glow expensively rather than sparkle like cheap jewellery, because Brown felt
the first efforts were too gaudy, so has had each piece covered in a thin layer
of copper first, then chromed. The thick-metalled repeaters are like something
a Soviet assassin might stab a spy with, while the front lights are
mesmerising. Done the hard way, in that Brown didn’t just grab units off the
shelf and try to disguise them, the LED ring shines across the complex mirrored
surface to create a liquid yet angular translucent effect straight from the
start of Doctor Who. It’s classy and striking.
If you’re one of those people who finds a
Rolls-Royce Wraith a bit common and a Ferrari FF a touch on the flashy side,
then the retro shtick of the Speedback might be for you. It’s a very personal
car for a very personal state of mind and a bulging personal bank balance, and
Brown intends to make only 100 to keep it suitably exclusive. That six have
already been sold before it has barely turned a wheel suggest a desire for this
sort of thing among the mega-rich. There is still work to do on the cabin, but
the finish of the elegant body and the zeal of David Brown suggests this is no
rich man’s folly, but a fanfare for the best of British engineering.
If
you’re one of those people who finds a Rolls-Royce Wraith a bit common and a
Ferrari FF a touch on the flashy side, then the retro shtick of the Speedback
might be for you.
