Vantage X Pack on Collecting Cars

[V8V Quadcamboy]

Gorgeous, that is all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB34dHauBFc

[BiggaJ]

I watched this earlier today. What a gorgeous car, ex Jay Kay so probably led a pampered life.

[LTP]

I hate these videos. This type of Aston was the hero car of my youth, I got to drive a friend's one when I was in my 30's (fastest gentleman's club in the world - better imho than an SZ Bentley Turbo. Just picked itself up and hurled itself at the horizon on a wall of torque)

And I want one. So badly. You can keep your Ferraris (yes, even a 250 GTO - I couldn't drive one anyway), you can keep your McLarens and your Porsches. Father Christmas just keeps disappointing me, along with my bank manager, and apparently I can no longer sell my wife into slavery. Better keep buying the lottery tickets, then

Also, anyone else noticed that Chris Harris is looking like a diminutive prop forward these days? Even the stance and the swagger.

[TR4man]

These Astons were my dream car when new and I’d still love one now.

Unfortunately they only ever have and will be a dream.

Agree about CH though - I sometimes watch his videos and think he is only just able to see over the steering wheel. But what a skilled driver, I love watching anything he does.

[Beckson]

that video could have been 15 min longer i think!

[thegreenhell]

Absolute peak Aston.

These sales preview videos are slightly frustrating because he can't, understandably, drive them more than completely gingerly. Harry did a much more in depth review of a modified one a few months ago, and was able to drive it a bit more spiritedly in better weather conditions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amccMGe3ehs

[Calinours]

It’s great to see so much love for these old Hectors, not just coming from this corner of PH, but from all quarters. To the astonishment and disbelief of Mrs Calinours I bought mine a few years back as values had already been silly for years. The man maths said that the costs might get paid back by a bit of appreciation….

If anyone really wants one, you can get into them without paying hundreds of thousands.

I started a little thread about it, here:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

They are old tractors, you just don’t hoon them through the twisties so much, it doesn’t feel right, there was little point in CH thrashing it. When driving one, most of the time, you simply enjoy being in it, which is what Chris did. Post putting in a DB7 manual 6-speed, I reckon I get 99% of the pleasure out of mine as I would the last of the line x-pack, and prefer the interior of my 1979 car which does have a proper thin rimmed wheel. The reactions from other road users are just incredible. I once had a grown man even offer to ‘guard’ it for us when I once parked it in a town centre car park

[OLDBENZ]

Might I suggest that anyone still unconvinced take a look at the Kidston 'short film' "power corrupts".

http://kidston.com/films/power-corrupts/

[LTP]

OLDBENZ said:

Might I suggest that anyone still unconvinced take a look at the Kidston 'short film' "power corrupts".

http://kidston.com/films/power-corrupts/

The sound of that car.....hang on a minute - I think I've got something in my eye

As an aside I had a quick look through the car's MOT history. It had a number of advisories for "Exhaust noisy (7.1.4)". No st, Sherlock

[Jon39]

1986
"Our new Aston Martin is so powerful, we have blanked out the grille, to provide better aerodynamics."



2024
"Our new Aston Martin is so powerful, we have fitted a gigantic grille, to provide sufficient cooling."

[Calinours]

Jon39 said:

1986
"Our new Aston Martin is so powerful, we have blanked out the grille, to provide better aerodynamics."



2024
"Our new Aston Martin is so powerful, we have fitted a gigantic grille, to provide sufficient cooling."

It’s just two eras of fashion John. Both looks can perhaps be considered as silly as each other, with the early cars blanking being extreme silliness from a cooling perspective - But hey, it created a ‘look’ that worked, which btw was much earlier than 1986.

AM developed and fitted these early aero mods to increase top speed and reduce frontal lift for the new ‘Vantage’ variant of the V8, launched in Feb 1977. They discovered that the blanking (bonnet and grille on the early S3 based Vantage) had an ‘acceptable’ impact on cooling. The needle only went up by 10C... (cue slap of braces, that’ll do lads, job’s a good ‘un, all by JC doing a brummie accent..)

Interestingly, while of course less powerful at around half the power of the new car, like any period comparable car the classic Aston would be far less thermally efficient, it will be gulping down twice the fuel per mile and as a result, in certain circumstances would need to reject even more heat than any modern stuff - and yet, back in t’day, even that slurping 12mpg 5.3litre V8, did not require anything remotely equivalent to the basking shark look. Now as then, fashion is a key driver for the looks. If they want to sell cars they have to provide what the market wants/expects. Cue lots of comments about stuff not being comparable and ‘hot V’ turbos needing more airflow etc….

Relax, it is OK to just ‘like’ the big yawning chops, I used to have a real thing about Julia Roberts..

On my own car I made and often fit the blanking plate for the mean Vantage ‘look’ - like so many do. It absolutely isn’t a permanent thing, it’s just a painted aluminium plate, as it was from the factory.



being mechanically sympathetic, it gets taken off and replaced with the open grille in summer… I can swap them over in about half an hour now, lights and bumper off etc.

Edited by Calinours on Friday 1st March 14:59

The Simon Kidston solution of the side number plate to let in more air through the valance is a good one, once the engine blows and is upgraded, I will do that assuming it doesn’t cause me any grief with the Gendarmes.. ‘They were all like that monsieur, ne c’est pas?’ - regardez-vous la ‘youtube’ video….

Edited by Calinours on Friday 1st March 16:13

[Jon39]

Calinours said:

It’s just two eras of fashion Jon. Both looks can perhaps be considered as silly as each other, with the early cars blanking being extreme silliness from a cooling perspective -

Yes, I do know the game, Calinours.
My posts often leave bits out, in an attempt to create light heartedness.

How far might this giant grille fashion go ?
We had the compact economical three box cars and Smart city cars, to both reduce congestion and 'save the planet'.
That soon gave way to an outbreak of massive two box, SUVs weighing 2 tons (much more profit in those).
Now once more back to 'save the planet' (supposedly), with 3 ton battery SUVs.

[Jon39]

Beautiful condition Calinours.

I hope that you do not mind, but as you are an engineer, I looked at the MoT history.
As expected, an almost exemplory record, but the naughty exhaust system has given you some grief.

[Calinours]

Thanks Jon - those fails years ago weren’t down to me, I bought in 2020 so only the MOT history after that might reflect on me. First thing I did was get it registered as historic so no MOT needed but it’s crazy not to do it anyway. People so often don’t use the MOT for what it really is - a very low cost way to have key safety-critical systems of the car dispassionately and non-commercially inspected. Take pretty much any car for MOT then for a ‘service inspection’ at a specialist or main dealer to see the difference. Of course an MOT is the lowest possible threshold, I wouldn’t drive any car these days that couldn’t pass an MOT.


It needed a good carb tune when I bought it. it kept fouling plugs.

[v8vantage]

"Both looks can perhaps be considered as silly as each other, with the early cars blanking being extreme silliness from a cooling perspective - But hey, it created a ‘look’ that worked, which btw was much earlier than 1986.

AM developed and fitted these early aero mods to increase top speed and reduce frontal lift for the new ‘Vantage’ variant of the V8, launched in Feb 1977. They discovered that the blanking (bonnet and grille on the early S3 based Vantage) had an ‘acceptable’ impact on cooling. The needle only went up by 10C... (cue slap of braces, that’ll do lads, job’s a good ‘un, all by JC doing a brummie accent..)"

Sorry to debunk this urban myth but the temperatures actually came down compared with the standard V8. The blanking plate, spoiler and bonnet plug were to improve the aerodynamics, the byproduct was the cooling became more efficient at speed as the hot air was not being trapped in the engine bay. The only time cooling became an issue was when driving slowly in traffic in high ambient temperatures and humidity.

[v8vantage]

Calinours said:

It’s great to see so much love for these old Hectors, not just coming from this corner of PH, but from all quarters. To the astonishment and disbelief of Mrs Calinours I bought mine a few years back as values had already been silly for years. The man maths said that the costs might get paid back by a bit of appreciation….

If anyone really wants one, you can get into them without paying hundreds of thousands.

I started a little thread about it, here:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

They are old tractors, you just don’t hoon them through the twisties so much, it doesn’t feel right, there was little point in CH thrashing it. When driving one, most of the time, you simply enjoy being in it, which is what Chris did. Post putting in a DB7 manual 6-speed, I reckon I get 99% of the pleasure out of mine as I would the last of the line x-pack, and prefer the interior of my 1979 car which does have a proper thin rimmed wheel. The reactions from other road users are just incredible. I once had a grown man even offer to ‘guard’ it for us when I once parked it in a town centre car park

Yours may be an old tractor but a properly setup and cared for V8 Vantage certainly isn't. They love hooning through the twisties and enjoy being driven hard with the tail hung out. Best way to experience the Vantage is at 8/10s, save the final 2/10 for the track. As the boys at the factory and service department always said, "the best ones were the ones driven hard out of the box." Having owned seven of them around the world over the years they were always given a good spanking on each drive.

[hornbaek]

v8vantage said:

"Both looks can perhaps be considered as silly as each other, with the early cars blanking being extreme silliness from a cooling perspective - But hey, it created a ‘look’ that worked, which btw was much earlier than 1986.

AM developed and fitted these early aero mods to increase top speed and reduce frontal lift for the new ‘Vantage’ variant of the V8, launched in Feb 1977. They discovered that the blanking (bonnet and grille on the early S3 based Vantage) had an ‘acceptable’ impact on cooling. The needle only went up by 10C... (cue slap of braces, that’ll do lads, job’s a good ‘un, all by JC doing a brummie accent..)"

Sorry to debunk this urban myth but the temperatures actually came down compared with the standard V8. The blanking plate, spoiler and bonnet plug were to improve the aerodynamics, the byproduct was the cooling became more efficient at speed as the hot air was not being trapped in the engine bay. The only time cooling became an issue was when driving slowly in traffic in high ambient temperatures and humidity.

This exactly. The cooling is not an issue. My car was the first RHD V8 Fliptail ever buildt and served as AML company demonstrator and car for homologation (hence the US style side lights together with the indicators). With the help of RS Williams we restored it back to how it left the factory. In addition to the blanked off air scoop also the headlights were covered to improve airflow. A feature that was subsequently abandoned as it proved to be too complicated to fit.

Edited by hornbaek on Friday 1st March 21:46

[v8vantage]

Calinours said:

It’s no ‘myth’.

That’s a very bold thing to say to someone who actually owns one of the cars, has actually seen the difference between plates installed and not, and who is a fully qualified engineer, but hey, you believe what you want to, it’s a free world.

Excuse me, I've owned 7 Vantages, numerous other V8s, written the book on the V8 Vantage and also have copies of all the factory engineering records on the development of the cars. So when I say it's a myth then it is! How many V8 Vantages do you own or have owned, sorry I forgot you have a V8 made to look like a V8 Vantage.

[Jon39]

TR4man said:

These Astons were my dream car when new and I’d still love one now.

Unfortunately they only ever have and will be a dream.

As you intimate Peter, many older Aston Martins now have very high valuations
Quite a few TVR owners, have been seduced by the V8 Vantage.




Prices are far more reasonable and find one of the many that are still in excelent condition, then you will have a great deal of enjoyment and possibly an asset that appreciates in value.

[Phil74891]

Great to see some William Towns designed cars on this forum. His design basically lasted from 1967 to 1990. Mine’s a ‘72 Vantage with the 325bhp (claimed) Weber carbed six from the last DB6. Only 70 of those made between ‘72/73, before the V8 went in. Plenty fast enough if you thrash it Pictured here with my good French friend’s ‘89 LHD V8. Apart from the DB4/5 reissues, the Vantage 6 was the last Aston to leave the factory with wire wheels.