Building the dream... Cut up an Aston
Discussion
Starting a new thread to tidy up a previous thread that started as one thing and then spiraled out of control!..
Ever since I started driving I have wanted to design and build my own car.. This set me on a path through university and on to engineering which quickly saw me working in the engineering teams at Aston Martin, then Jaguar Land Rover, a bunch of design houses in and around Coventry and Birmingham all the while I was aiming to somehow get the tools around me to later allow me to use the same processes as the OEMs to design and build my own creation.
through university I was naively wanting to do a ground up build, chassis, the lot. but, sensible head on after a little experience in the industry I knew this would be an unrealistic proposition to do single handedly and ultimately result in areas being flawed. So having worked at Astons on the V8 vantage I settled on this being a great base for a car.
I have always admired Aston Martins from a young age and still remember being late for a saturday job once as I saw the an old Vantage in a carpark and just waited for the owner to come back so I could hear it fire up. That was the era of Aston Martins being for gentlemen car enthusiasts 'who knew' and the models didnt really shout look at me but could punch you in the teeth, a bouncer in a Savile Row suit I think was the analogy.
I think the last true Aston that did this was the Callum Vanquish, all stance and proportion with no nonsense scoops , ducts and wings etc.. with the exception of the DB9 and V8 vantage I feel the most recent Astons are too in your face, Also I feel nearly all the models have promissed and 11 but often delivered an 8 with a handful of missed opportunities. So there has always been a slight frustration with them (like why is the engine bay in a V8 vantage a display of pipes and mess!? Grrr.
It was during my time on the v8 vantage I doodled over a greyed out print of the the production car, my inspiration was the DBR1.. an open topped roadster. I never threw the sketch out and 20years on I was now in a position to scratch that itch.
this is the original sketch idea:
Having done some 3d sketch models and renderings I didn't feel it was quite the direction I now wanted to go in, I did not want this to be a Aston Martin evolution but rather more my own thing, my own design. The Vantage did however still offer all the ingredients I needed and this is were it all starts...
It was important that end result be of a very high standard and so an excellent base car was purchased. A low milage, full history 2007 V8 was bought.
I drove this for a short while to experience the car warts and all. My summary, great experience, good noise, reverse gear is a ridiculous ratio, too slow, power to high in the rev range, great on empty A and B roads, terrifying on not empty B roads, ruts one side, bin lorry coming at you with poor visibility and very little to understand where the extremes of the car are other than 'using the force'! it often made for an unrelaxing experience... promises an 11, delivers an 8.
Next step was to start the process and the first stage was to document the car as is so this was 3d scanned so I always had benchmark data to refer to and I could start the design properly in CAD.
3d scan of the exterior:
With the design work no started on the CAD i quickly needed more information of the underlaying structure and that meant one thing...... its time to grow a pair, get the saw out and....
...cut the body off!
Ever since I started driving I have wanted to design and build my own car.. This set me on a path through university and on to engineering which quickly saw me working in the engineering teams at Aston Martin, then Jaguar Land Rover, a bunch of design houses in and around Coventry and Birmingham all the while I was aiming to somehow get the tools around me to later allow me to use the same processes as the OEMs to design and build my own creation.
through university I was naively wanting to do a ground up build, chassis, the lot. but, sensible head on after a little experience in the industry I knew this would be an unrealistic proposition to do single handedly and ultimately result in areas being flawed. So having worked at Astons on the V8 vantage I settled on this being a great base for a car.
I have always admired Aston Martins from a young age and still remember being late for a saturday job once as I saw the an old Vantage in a carpark and just waited for the owner to come back so I could hear it fire up. That was the era of Aston Martins being for gentlemen car enthusiasts 'who knew' and the models didnt really shout look at me but could punch you in the teeth, a bouncer in a Savile Row suit I think was the analogy.
I think the last true Aston that did this was the Callum Vanquish, all stance and proportion with no nonsense scoops , ducts and wings etc.. with the exception of the DB9 and V8 vantage I feel the most recent Astons are too in your face, Also I feel nearly all the models have promissed and 11 but often delivered an 8 with a handful of missed opportunities. So there has always been a slight frustration with them (like why is the engine bay in a V8 vantage a display of pipes and mess!? Grrr.
It was during my time on the v8 vantage I doodled over a greyed out print of the the production car, my inspiration was the DBR1.. an open topped roadster. I never threw the sketch out and 20years on I was now in a position to scratch that itch.
this is the original sketch idea:
Having done some 3d sketch models and renderings I didn't feel it was quite the direction I now wanted to go in, I did not want this to be a Aston Martin evolution but rather more my own thing, my own design. The Vantage did however still offer all the ingredients I needed and this is were it all starts...
It was important that end result be of a very high standard and so an excellent base car was purchased. A low milage, full history 2007 V8 was bought.
I drove this for a short while to experience the car warts and all. My summary, great experience, good noise, reverse gear is a ridiculous ratio, too slow, power to high in the rev range, great on empty A and B roads, terrifying on not empty B roads, ruts one side, bin lorry coming at you with poor visibility and very little to understand where the extremes of the car are other than 'using the force'! it often made for an unrelaxing experience... promises an 11, delivers an 8.
Next step was to start the process and the first stage was to document the car as is so this was 3d scanned so I always had benchmark data to refer to and I could start the design properly in CAD.
3d scan of the exterior:
With the design work no started on the CAD i quickly needed more information of the underlaying structure and that meant one thing...... its time to grow a pair, get the saw out and....
...cut the body off!
If your squeamish you may want to look away now...
I managed to sell the entire front end and wheels to an unlucky fellow who had stuffed the front of his but other than that the parts were almost impossible to sell, it seems no one really messes about with Astons.. (meanwhile a mate of mine sold most of a 911 in a afternoon!) I was however not passed the point of no return as I could, in theory, buy all the bit I sold and get it back on the road. If this was going to happen, pushing myself out of my comfort zone was needed.
(reaches for reciprocating saw..)
a cut straight through the roof ought to do it.
...a few moments later...
Fun thing is, the body was picked off (more than a few moments were taken!) but the car is mechanically and electrically untouched so this still runs and drives in this state. Although it does think I have all the doors open and some headlamp bulbs out.
If you know about the Vantages construction you may know its a bonded Aluminium tub in the same process as the Lotus Elise pioneered. Because of this they are un naturally stiff. when I cut the roof it was on 4 axle stands with the slightly uneven floor is was actually only really on 3 of them. Cut through the roof and there was a slight 'dong' noise as the tension of the panel was release and that's all. Inserting the saw blade back into the cut and it was exactly the same thickness of the blade on both sides and still on the same 3 axle stands - nothing even moved!
I managed to sell the entire front end and wheels to an unlucky fellow who had stuffed the front of his but other than that the parts were almost impossible to sell, it seems no one really messes about with Astons.. (meanwhile a mate of mine sold most of a 911 in a afternoon!) I was however not passed the point of no return as I could, in theory, buy all the bit I sold and get it back on the road. If this was going to happen, pushing myself out of my comfort zone was needed.
(reaches for reciprocating saw..)
a cut straight through the roof ought to do it.
...a few moments later...
Fun thing is, the body was picked off (more than a few moments were taken!) but the car is mechanically and electrically untouched so this still runs and drives in this state. Although it does think I have all the doors open and some headlamp bulbs out.
If you know about the Vantages construction you may know its a bonded Aluminium tub in the same process as the Lotus Elise pioneered. Because of this they are un naturally stiff. when I cut the roof it was on 4 axle stands with the slightly uneven floor is was actually only really on 3 of them. Cut through the roof and there was a slight 'dong' noise as the tension of the panel was release and that's all. Inserting the saw blade back into the cut and it was exactly the same thickness of the blade on both sides and still on the same 3 axle stands - nothing even moved!
Montythedog said:
Bookmarked, out of interest what happened to the other thread
Nothing wrong with the original thread except it started out as something else and so the title wasnt really relevant and also it was taking me a while to get to this point so Im starting this to document it a little more concisely and be an easier thing to follow. Edited by Montythedog on Monday 19th December 13:36
Edited by tribetype40 on Monday 19th December 14:42
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff