The Aston Martin DBS is one of those cars that sits perfectly between eras. It was the last of the straight-six Astons, and it was the first step towards the modern Aston Martins that would follow.
This particular DBS is rare in both colour and configuration. I wanted to know more about its history, so I recently reached out to the Aston Martin Heritage Trust (AMHT) to see if there was more of its story to tell.
As it turns out, AMHT has known of this car for quite some time. They knew it had been sold at auction earlier this year, and I was told that it had “been on the AMHT’s radar since the early 1980s”. It’s believed the car spent some time overseas at some point in its life before returning to the UK.
At some stage, the car’s colour was changed, but according to its build sheet, it originally left Newport Pagnell in Azzurro Blue with Dark Blue Connolly trim. AMHT described the car as built to “a nice spec, good colour and Vantage spec engine.”
From new, this was a very well-optioned car, and importantly, it’s a genuine DBS Vantage, not a later conversion. Again, to quote AMHT, “Yours is a ‘real’ DBS Vantage – sweet. Best of the crop.”
The DBS
While some enthusiasts casually call this model the “DBS 6,” that suffix wasn’t actually used when the car was new; it’s something that’s crept in over the years to differentiate it from later DBS variants like the DBS V8, DBS (VH3), and DBS Superleggera (AM7). Officially, though, there is only one DBS that stands on its own, and that’s this one.
A total of 803 DBS models were produced, with 298 built to full Vantage specification. The Vantage cars, like this one, featured the high-performance version of the Tadek Marek-designed 4.0-litre straight-six engine. This had triple Weber carburettors and a substantial power boost over the standard model.
From AMHT’s data, there were only around 150 right-hand drive manual Vantage cars built. What makes this particular car extra special, though, is that only 28 examples were made in this colour and only 11 had this colour and engine combination.
Time to Rebuild
This DBS will obviously need restoring, ideally returning it to its original colour. Obviously, a restoration of this level will be a time-consuming (and expensive) job. However, for a genuine DBS Vantage, it’s one well worth doing.
This project is currently for sale. For more information, contact info@bridgeclassiccars.co.uk
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