The Aston Martin V8 1969-2000
RUSSELL HAYES, Palawan Press, £600 and upwards from www.palawan.co.uk
As serial Aston Martin owner Rowan Atkinson writes in the foreword to Palawan’s latest tour de force: ‘The best stories are human stories and this one is helped hugely by its focus on people; almost 40 interviews were carried out with those who lived this history.’
Which is why this monumental tribute to the original V8-powered Astons includes gems like this one, from Lady Tavistock on life with her husband’s ‘wedge’ Lagonda, the first to be delivered: ‘We had to drive it everywhere because they [Aston Martin] wanted us to be seen in it, and we had to have a low-loader follow us wherever we went because you had no idea when it was going to decide to stop.’
OK, so £600 (minimum – the price goes up as the available stock of books diminishes) is hardly small change, but this is a fabulous production. Or rather, two, because besides the main 530-page paving-slab of a book you also get a separate volume containing all the technical specs plus a complete chassis register taken from the factory build sheets. And, if you really want to push the boat out, you can order a bespoke leather-bound edition for £3000 or more.
Needless to say, every possible aspect of this lengthy chapter in Aston’s history is covered in detail. So, obviously, we have not just the production road cars, from DBS through to Virage and 1990s Vantage – Zagatos included – but also the Touring-bodied pointy-nose DBS prototypes (‘When they came over they wanted repainting, and there was filler everywhere,’ recalls engine builder David Morgan), and the many competition cars that used the V8. The latter include Robin Hamilton’s racers, the Nimrods, AMR1s and even the John Pope Special – a Vauxhall Magnum fitted with a twin-turbo V8.
The cars, however, are just one part of the story, and the machinations of the many players who ran, or at least attempted to run, Aston Martin are unravelled in fascinating detail. Again, there are some brilliant quotes. Victor Gauntlett, on seeing the receipt that Peter Livanos had just been given for a 288 GTO deposit on the Ferrari stand at Geneva: ‘Bloody hell! What are we doing messing about actually building cars when you can sell people bits of paper promising to build them!’ Then there are the inevitable what-might-have-beens: Aston’s bid to buy MG in 1980, and – even more intriguingly – the proposal for a tie-up with Lamborghini, so that Newport Pagnell could use its Urraco 2.5- and 3.0-litre V8s in a new, smaller Aston.
As Rowan also observes in his foreword: ‘Goodness, things were done differently then and it’s a joy to be reminded of it.’ Exactly so – and this definitive work is a joy in so many ways.