David Brown Speedback GT
David Brown Speedback GT £750,000 approx.
WE SAY: WANT SOMETHING NONE OF YOUR OTHER BILLIONAIRE FRIENDS HAVE? STEP THIS WAY, SIR...
Remember David Brown Automotive? The company emerged four years ago with the Speedback GT, an Aston Martin DB5 pastiche built around the underpinnings of a Jaguar XKR. With wire wheels and chrome bumpers it was, shall we say, an acquired taste. Now we have the Silverstone Edition: de-chromed, de-bumpered, stealthier and cooler. Inside as well as out. It’s cohesive – a very steady design hand has been at work here – although it hasn’t managed to improve the 2006 infotainment. Shudder.
The supercharged V8 develops an extra 90bhp, but don’t go thinking it’s a track car. It’s a refned GT, with a hint more athleticism than before. This is a relaxed car to drive, and that’s quite refreshing when most modern GTs are rigidly controlled and stif. The cabin is very quiet, the suspension is soft and, although there’s a bit of kickback through the suspension and the chassis isn’t the most rigid, there’s a nice feel to the way it goes down a road.
It’s a car that consumes miles with ease – imagine, if you can, something midway between a Jag and a Bentley. The Silverstone Edition doesn’t come with rear seats (though you can put them back in if you want), instead supplying a couple of storage lockers. Behind them, a long 502-litre load bay stretches far and fat enough to provide all the suit/gown space you might need. And there’s a trick – a split tailgate, the lower half of which contains a fip-out boot seat. Just the thing for those stately-home picnic-and-proms events.
But it’s £750k. You have to appreciate the value is not in the speed or dynamics, but the craftsmanship, especially the hand-rolled aluminium body. Then remember that of the 100 Speedback GTs planned, only 10 will be the Silverstone Editions, and for the typical buyer this is not an ‘instead’, but an ‘as well’ purchase. They might only use their Sportback GT for two picnics and a polo match each year, but it gives them a diferent experience to anything else they have in their collection.