Quentin Willson charts the rehabilitation of the Aston DBS V8, marvels at the bargain that is the Rolls-royce Camargue and champions Rover’s rare P6 Estoura

Quentin reckons the lesser-loved V8 Aston DBS and Rolls Camargue could be about to boom, and that the Rover P6 Estate’s eccentricity may herald a bright future

The six-pot DBS is fast becoming the poster boy for classic Astons in 2017 but everybody is ignoring its much rarer successor – the ill-fated DBS V8. The Series 1 V8 has a significant place in Aston history as the car that sent the company to the wall. A new Bosch injection system modified at the Aston factory plagued the car with a shadow of unreliability that it’s never really lost. Even the fabled yellow DBS V8 used in The Persuaders suffered a six- cylinder engine because the new V8 wouldn’t run properly. In 1971 the press department lent two V8 test cars to influential magazines Autocar and Motor (XBH 8J and SKX 11J), and both cars disgraced themselves royally.

A normally polite Autocar headlined its test with faint praise – ‘Fast, expensive, heavy’ – complaining of poor running and stalling. Motor’s test car broke down on a trip to Modena with a blown water pump gasket, and an unusually frank three-page feature describes it being ignominiously repaired at a local Italian garage. American sales were tiny (32 cars) because of emission issues and

‘Specialists have now sorted the notorious fuel injection, and today the car that sank Aston Martin looks like an undervalued piece of Newport Pagnell’s history’

only 405 DBS V8s were sold between 1970 and 1972. In February 1972 David Brown sold Aston Martin (and its mounting debts) to Company Developments Ltd for a nominal £100. A door had closed on an era’s end.

But specialists have now sorted the notorious fuel injection and, running well, a DBS V8 is a massively quick car that can better 160mph. Chelsea Cars in Wandsworth has a restored 1971 example in burgundy for £135k while Stratton Motor Company in Norfolk has a very original 1972 car in Pacific Blue with 73k and history for £175k. I expect DBS V8 prices to climb further given their historical significance and surprisingly low survival rate. The DVLA has only 79 on its mainframe – probably because even in the boom years of the early Nineties an average DBS V8 was still only £10k.

The car that sank Aston Martin charts an important moment in Newport Pagnell’s history. It is also rare, undervalued and a bit of a secret. Rolls-royce Camargue Can the Camargue ever be cool? For years values of Pininfarina’s slab- sided Roller have hardly moved at all; and despite the healthy market of the past 12 months auction prices have averaged just £27k. Last year Bonhams sold a 1979 left-hook 16,000-miler for £27,600. But dealers have started pricing Camargues bullishly and most seem to start at £40k.

Could Crewe’s wallflower finally be beginning to bloom? Maybe the perpendicular Seventies brutalism that caused so much criticism has finally caught our eye, or the bulk and girth of the modern Rolls-royce Phantom has changed our view. In 1975 this was the world’s most expensive production car, costing twice as much as a Silver Shadow, and by its demise in 1986 had ballooned to an enormous £83,122 – the equivalent of £400,000 today.

If you want absolute one-upmanship and rarity (only 531 were made) this is one of the most exclusive R-RS ever. Each Camargue took six months to build, final fettling took place in R-R’S Special Assembly Department and with so many bespoke options available no two were ever the same. Overbrook Garage in Gloucestershire has a 1977 car in Ice Blue with 54k for £39,950, while Boss Motors in Buckinghamshire has a 1985 lhd in Silver Sand with just 16,000 miles for £69,950, originally supplied to Bentley in Munich. But while the trade is pricing high, auction results are more patchy. Last year H&H didn’t sell a 1980 in Larkspur Blue with 67k despite a keen £24k-£28k estimate; nor did Barons dispatch its 62,000-mile Mistletoe example in June 2016. Watch the auction catalogues carefully in 2017 and you should be able to bag a nice Camargue for under £30k.

And at that money, I think they’re value. The first 60 cars had SU carbs before R-R changed to a four-barrel Solex, there was the Shadow II rack-and-pinion steering revision in 1977 and in 1979 the Camargue got the Silver Spirit’s rear suspension. Don’t expect more than 11mpg, and regular servicing is a must. But if you can put up with those contentious lines and can find a well-loved low-miler this is one of the few under-appreciated classics on the market right now – and one that can genuinely boast tons of show- stopping street presence.

Rover P6 Estate

Back in 1970 if you were slightly deranged and had nothing better to do with eight hundred quid you could convert your Rover P6 into an estate. The Estoura was a joint effort by FLM Panelcraft and Crayford Conversions that was officially sanctioned by Rover and sold by HR Owen. Most conversions were done on already registered examples to avoid purchase tax and due to the high price (nearly half the list of a new P6), most of the 160 estates built were 3500 V8s. Given the tiny numbers of aftermarket estate or shooting brake conversions usually sold, shifting 160 Estouras in five years was seen as a solid success. But Rover never had the budget for a proper factory version.

A surprising 70 examples survive and are highly regarded in P6 circles. Back in 2012 a private seller in Derbyshire sold a yellow 1972 3500 for £6000 and the last to be auctioned was in June 2015 by Brightwells, knocked down for £4000 as a tidy running project needing recommissioning. It’s now with USP Vehicles in Chipping Campden for £8450. A blue 1973 car, it’s the ultimate spec based on a 3500S manual model with 14,000 miles and desirable black leather. P6s may be rusters but parts are cheap and widely available so restoring an Estoura won’t be that difficult or expensive. And there’s every reason to think that such a hugely rare eccentricity will hold its value well. I can see a good V8 Estoura being worth £20k-plus before long. Finding one may prove the biggest hurdle of all. Quentin Willson will talk about his latest Smart Buys recommendations at the London Classic Car Show (February 23-26). More details: thelondonclassiccarshow.co.uk

‘Rover P6 Estouras found homes with well-heeled tweedy types and looked quite glam at country sporting events’