RE: Ex-Brunei Aston Martin Vantage V550 for sale

[cwoodsie2]

My FiL was doing very well for himself in the 90's and built a good relationship with a prestige dealer near his office. He'd often swing by on a Friday afternoon and offer him a car for the weekend hoping to make another sale. After various high end Mercs, Ferraris and Porsches he was offered one of these (or maybe a 600) for the weekend approaching Christmas. As others alluded to not sure if it was the naff tyres, ridiculous power or lower temperatures but i think he lasted less than 15 minutes taking it for a test drive on the Saturday as he claimed it was the scariest car he'd ever driven and just wanted to throw him off the road! Apparently made a great noise though.........

[Fallonator]

drpep said:

One of the least attractive Astons ever built IMHO.

Anyone know what the rear suspension setup was for these? I wouldn’t be surprised to learn it was live axle and leaf springs.

Lastly, in this case in particular, why would one want an auto ‘box on such a car. Surely rowing your own gears is part of the appeal?

Hard pass on many levels. Trading on brand cachet alone.

Only just joined PH. Sorry for not replying earlier. Suspension question has been partially answered in later posts but the track has been increased by 75mm in addition to the Vantage spec.
The modifications were originally done in 2000 and with approximately 1200lbft the manual box wasn’t really an option though I prefer the automatic now. It’s been heavily upgraded.
Attraction? Eye of the beholder. This doesn’t have the stance of a standard Virage.. you really need to see it out on the road to really appreciate it.

[Fallonator]

NGK210 said:

Lovely.
Shame about the former keeper.
Shame a wee bit of the £50k recommissioning budget wasn’t allocated to replacing the dustbin lid-style steering wheel.
How much to instal a 6-speed Tremec?

What dustbin lid steering wheel.
6 speed Tremec would be very unlikely to last

[RK22]

I have had the 6 speed manual box model for 12 years. No issues with reliability. Not the nicest box to drive. Aston Works offered me some kind of “shorter shift” upgrade for a few hundred pounds a few years back which improved the smoothness of the change. The are not sporty cars but the sense of occasion when you drive one is awesome!

[V8LM]

Absolutely. Can't change gear quickly, but don't need to. Part of the reason why the V600 can do 0 - 60 in 3.9 secs is the change to the diff from 3.54 to 3.31, so can do it in 1st gear. My Le Mans has a different clutch cylinder which makes changing gear much easier.

Edited by V8LM on Saturday 29th June 08:03