Vehicle Description
-Norfolk Red with Black leather interior and Black carpeting, 8,000
KMs/5,000 miles from new, 5,340cc DOHC Twin Supercharged V8
producing 550bhp at 6,500rpm, 6-speed manual, One of 239 V550's
produced and One of approximately 70 Left Hand examples, Extremely
rare.
A whole four years was to pass between the introduction of the
Virage model designed by John Greenley and John Heffernan and the
high performance Vantage. It was John Heffernan who continued on to
create the much improved V550 Vantage, in his own admission stating
that he was never quite happy with the original Virage styling.
Thus, the V550 Vantage took shape. It was quite a bit different
from the antiquated Virage with only the roof and the doors being
carried over from the Virage and its original styling.
Changes to the Virage based body may be extensive, but that's
nothing compared to the engine. The original 5.3 liter V8 now
housed twin superchargers and thus the engine now produced 550bhp
and 550 lb.ft of torque. This power plant was at the time, the most
powerful production powerplant in the world. The braking system
utilized massive 362 mm diameter ventilated discs with four piston
AP Racing calipers, the largest brakes fitted to any road car and
certainly enough stopping power for this 550bhp Aston. The power
propelled the V8 Vantage to 0-60 mph in 4.6 seconds with an
official AMLs top speed of 186 mph, although a figure of almost
200mph was recorded in testing. 'Brutal' was a word used more than
once to describe the fastest Aston Martin ever on its introduction
in 1993, but as the Vantage had no less than 550bhp available to
propel its two tons, the choice can only be judged as a fair
comment.
In its day, it was the fastest Aston Martin road car ever. This
interior was sumptuous but functional as always as befitting any
Aston Martin motorcar. A real Aston Martin, big, very beautiful,
very fast, a very expensive GT when. It has so much appeal and
purpose behind it that it is more an experience than mere
transport.
By February 1998, production had topped the 200 mark during five
years of production, and when production ended, a mere 239
'standard' examples had been produced (1/3rd of which were LHD)
making this an exceptionally rare and exclusive Aston. Once
production of the V8 Vantage ended in late 2000, the days of hand
built-coachbuilt Astons were truly over for good.
This Left Hand Drive V550 Vantage was first delivered new to
Johannesburg, South Africa and sold to its first registered owner,
Mr. G.A. Forrest, Sandhurst through local Aston Martin franchise
dealer, The House of Sports Cars. Shortly thereafter, the Vantage
was shipped to Belgium to be used and enjoy in Continental Europe.
Sold to Aston Martin collectors ownership in 2010, this V550
remained in the collection until only last year when imported and
purchased by a West Coast Aston enthusiast. Since its purchase, the
Aston has been completely serviced throughout.
This is an opportunity to purchase a rare V550 Vantage with
extremely low mileage from new and which was the end of of truly
bespoke hand-built Aston Martin Newport Pagnell coach-built
era.