First Drives - You Only Live Twice – David Brown Speedback GT 2014 (Part 3)

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 F1 teams use, which cut down on the amount of work needed to be done once the clay model had been produced.

Wire wheels complete period charm

‘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 shut lines 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.

Union flags ahoy! A very British vibe on David Brown Sportback GT

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.

More Union flags inside Speedback

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.