A blisteringly hot day in central London and a stunning display of Aston Martins in Kensington Gardens, a stones throw away from where it all began, back in 1913.
101 cars in an almost century long chronological timeline including some real rarities, plus a big display of Bond movie cars, a Salon Prive dedicated to Allan Simonsen with some truly stunning Aston Martin racers, a further collection of notable cars nearby (more of those in a moment) and, of course a full line-up of the highly impressive current range.
Thousands came to look at no fewer than 150 Aston Martins of note (plus the hundreds in the dedicated Owners Club car park nearby) and all in all there was a real buzz around he latest event staged to celebrate the centenary of one of the most famous marques in automotive history.
There were examples of just about every model and variant of the company’s long, long history, starting with the oldest surviving car, the 1922 A3.
But there were some oddballs too, including this writer’s first ever sight of the amazing, and now amazingly dated, Aston Martin Bulldog, this ‘80s hypercar was designed to kick-start a new era for the company, despite making it onto my bedroom wall it didn’t manage that!
Just a little earlier in the timeline was the evocative mustard coloured DBS which would be familiar to many kids of a certain age – The BS1 license plate identified the car as the weapon of choice for Roger Moore from the TV show The Persuaders, Moore may never have driven an Aston as James Bond but his 70’s fashion excesses provided the foil for Tony Curtis’ Ferrari Dino mounted streetsmarts.
Then there’s the Ogle designed DBS V8 ‘Sotheby Special’ of 1971, another car that lit the flame of schoolboy passion with its then cutting edge styling – Another car that this writer had never before seen in the metal.
Looking for historical strands you’re spoilt for choice with a century to choose from but the link between a number of different Italian styling houses and this most English of sportscar makers – Pininfarina, Ghia and Bertone have all weaved their magic on Aston underpinnings, indeed Bertone’s work was on display both from the this gorgeous 1954 DB2/4 Competition through to the very slickly converted Rapide Shooting Brake, dubbed ‘Jet 2+2’ by Bertone.
Touring of Milan were responsible for both the sublime Aston Martin DB4 and DB5 and for countless teenage dreams of Astons to come.
The daddy of them all though, and a relationship that has carried on to this day is with Zagato.
The relationship began in 1960 with the creation of the lightweight DB4 GT Zagato, 20 cars were built originally with several factory sanctioned replicas following much later – The original car was a supercar of its day, capable of 154mph from its 3.7 litre straight 6.
It would be over a quarter of a century before the factory and the styling house worked together again, 1986 saw the beginning of a programme that would see 52 Zagato designed and built bodied coupes and further 37 convertibles created on the then current Aston Martin V8 chassis.
It wasn’t as long again before the next collaboration saw the light of day – 2002 saw the wraps taken off the DB7 Zagato, the car based on a shortened chassis version of the DB7 Vantage. 99 were sold.
Fast forward to the following year and enter the DB AR1 (American Roadster) an open topped version of the car designed for the American market, this time based on a standard length DN7 chassis though and with no convertible roof. – Again 99 were sold.
2011 saw the next car in the line revealed – The V12 Zagato started as a styling concept based on the V12 Vantage, with a Marek Reichmann designed body translated into the metal by Zagato craftsmen.
The car would see racing action at the Nurburgring with a pair of cars (Zig and Zag) raced by the factory team – 150 road cars began to be delivered in summer 2012.
The latest addition to the famous line are a pair of unique, custom built cars, unveiled for the very first time at Kensington Gardens ahead of delivery to their lucky new owners.
The DB9 Spider Zagato Centennial and the DBS Coupe Zagato Centennial are destined to be one-offs – But who would bet on these being the last two Aston Martin cars to feature the infamous chromed Zs on their flanks.
Whilst there were VIP areas, most of this show was stone cold free to view and it seemed that everywhere I turned there was a family listening to dad, grandad, or in more than a few cases mum, telling an Aston-related tale.
Well done all at Aston Martin – the perfect show for a summer’s day
GG
