--Rolls Royce Royal Blue over Parchment hides piped Dark Blue and
Dark blue carpeting, 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. 'Brutal' was a word used
more than once to describe the Aston Martin V8 Vantage
V550. 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. Not only extremely powerful, the V550?s
interior is elegant and sumptuous, but equally as
functional as would befit any Aston Martin motorcar of this era
By February 1998, and after five years production ended
with only 239 'standard' examples having been produced
(1/3rd of which were LHD) making this an exceptionally rare and
exclusive Aston indeed. The V8 Vantage V550 was also the very last
Once production of the V8 Vantage truly hand-built Aston from the
factory?s Newport Pagnell factory works. The true era
of coachbuilt Astons had ended for good.This particular
Left Hand Drive V550 was first delivered new to the Belgian market.
It was later registered in the UK on the 1st of August
2003 when owned by well-known Aston collector HRH King
Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia with total mileage to
date being only 10,127 km - 6,297 miles. At this
time the kilometer specification speedometer was replaced with a
mile per hour specification speedometer (the original KPH speedo
accompanies this 550 to substantiate trip and total mileage.
At this time, this V550 was fully serviced where needed
to keep in superb, low mileage condition throughout.Having been
purchased in 2021 by it?s most previous owner, a gentleman Aston
collector with many V8 era Aston?s within his collection housed
both on Europe as well as his residence in Florida, USA. At this
time, the V550 was returned to Desmond Smail - UK for
servicing (all receipts on file) to keep to in its superb
condition. Once all servicing was completed, the 550 was returned
to the United States and housed within its Florida collection once
again. Since, and within this ownership the V550 has been
used sparingly and has recorded another, mere 1,352
miles. This is
a rare opportunity to purchase a rare Left Hand
Drive V550 Vantage with extremely low mileage from new, a model
that Aston Martin Lagonda Limited had never sold within The United
States and which is once again is truly marked the end of
a truly bespoke hand-built Aston Martin Newport Pagnell coach-built
era.
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