Aston Martin: A Car for Life

Back in the 1990s, Aston Martin used the phrase ‘A Car for Life’ to advertise its cars, however for a number of people, this had been true of the company’s products for a long time before then. In my particular case, it was an example of an obscure model from a turbulent time, in both the company’s history as well as the wider world, that would come to epitomise the very essence of that strapline.

The AM Vantage 1972-1973

The Aston Martin Lagonda Limited company had been sold by David Brown to an investment company called Company Developments in 1972. The company was only manufacturing the AMV8 at the time, however in April the new owners announced that a new model would be introduced alongside it. The curious decision was made to call the new model the AM Vantage, a moniker that had hitherto been reserved for the company’s high performance models, despite the fact that it was to be fitted with the lower specification straight six engine. In so doing, the company created their final model to be fitted with the classic AM hallmarks of: a) wire wheels, (which were no longer suitable for the higher weight and power output of the V8 engine), and b) the Tadek Marek straight six engine. In fact this engine, in one form or another, had been at the heart of all of Aston Martin’s road cars, starting in 1959 with the DB4, to the DBS which ended production in 1972, (after having seen some initial development in the crucible of motorsport, powering the DBR2 and DBR3 sports racing cars between 1957 and 1959).

1972 Aston Martin AM Vantage Press Photo (© Aston Martin Heritage Trust Collection)

The decision to use the Vantage name for the model was inconsistent with its usage up to that time, and would be further compounded by it consequently being used once again for the later higher performance versions of the AMV8. However, it was somewhat prescient of what was to happen in 2005, when the name ‘Vantage’ was adopted for the company’s new ‘entry level’ offering in their ‘V-H series’ of cars. Of course this has now been accepted as the new normal in the world of Aston Martin, as Vantage is the name that has been adopted for the company’s driver focussed, sportscar oriented model.

The AM Vantage was to be a particularly short lived model in the Aston Martin range however, with a mere 70 being produced between May 1972 and July 1973. Essentially the car was a continuation of the DBS, being mechanically the same under the skin, (or at least as much as it can be when considering that it is a hand built British car from a low volume manufacturer). The main differences were mostly cosmetic, as the early AMV8 body was used with its two single 7” headlights in place of the DBS’ two twin 5½” quartz iodine installations. The front of the car was also redesigned, with the shape of the radiator opening being clearly more reminiscent of the DB3S sportscar racer from the 1950s. The 5-speed manual gearbox also ran the same ratios as used in the DBSV8 and AMV8, which were different to those used in the 6-cylinder DBS. Finally the dished steering wheel was leather trimmed, in place of the wood rimmed wheel fitted in the DBS.

Exactly why only 70 were built seems to be somewhat of a mystery, possibly this was all that demand stretched to for the ‘lesser’ 6 cylinder model, at a time when the overall demand for expensive, thirsty performance cars was at a historical low point. After all, the world was in the middle of an oil crisis. However there is an unsubstantiated hypothesis that there may well have been 70 of the straight six engines left at the factory from the DB6 / DBS production days, so instead of letting them go to waste, they were simply fitted into a batch of cars from their current production run. Conjecture perhaps, but there is some circumstantial evidence to reinforce this idea, in that 68 of the 70 production AM Vantages were fitted with the standard ‘Vantage specification’ Weber carburettors, whereas two cars had the SU units as normally found fitted to the standard spec engine. Unless the original owners of these two cars particularly specified the fitment of SU carburettors in place of the Webers, it would seem to me that the factory may have been using up parts from their inventory.

Noteworthy AM Vantages

Chassis No.	Items of Note
AM/6002/RA	Earliest example known to still exist. Used for press photos in period. Currently owned by the Aston Martin Heritage Trust
AM/6033/RA	1972 Earls Court Motorshow car
AM/6039/RA	My car!
AM/6067/L	The only left hand drive examples built and the only ones fitted with SU carburettors
AM/6068/LA
AM/6070/RA	The last 6 cylinder car produced by Aston Martin for 21 years, until the launch of the DB7

AM Vantage AM/6039/RA

1^st Owner (1973 to 1982): Mr. John Millen

This car started life on the 9^th April 1973 at the Newport Pagnell factory and was likely the 39^th car off the line, (assuming that the chassis were produced sequentially from AM/6001/RA to AM/6070/R). She was subsequently delivered to the HWM Aston Martin dealership in Walton-on-Thames on the 11^th July 1973, having been purchased by the first owner, Mr. John Millen, owner of the Millen Machine Tool Company. The car was initially supplied with the registration number RPL 632L, however this was subsequently changed to the private plate 2 MMT by Mr. Millen. Originally painted in the very 70s colour of Cornish Gold acrylic paint, (hence the ‘A’ suffix in the chassis no.), the car was also right hand drive and equipped with a Radiomobile stereo radio, (one of these is the ‘R’ suffix in the chassis no.). She was also originally fitted with the Borg-Warner 3-speed automatic, (or perhaps more appropriately slush-o-matic), gearbox, but more on this later.

Cornish Gold AM Vantage

Not much else is known about the early days of the car’s life with her original owner, apart from the service history, as documented via the original service booklet;

Service History 1973-1981

Date of Service	Mileage	Details of Service
28/08/73	00953	500 miles service
28/08/73	00953	1000 miles service
17/01/74	03120	2500 miles service
08/06/74	05780	5000 miles service
05/10/74	07460	7500 miles service
21/02/75	09388	10000 miles service
06/10/75	12700	12500 miles service
01/04/76	16080	15000 miles service
20/12/76	17930	17500 miles service
03/06/77	19614	20000 miles service
14/10/77	21565	22500 miles service, car resprayed in Cricket White
05/01/79	26359	25000 miles service
09/07/79	28040	27500 miles service
02/04/80	30070	30000 miles service
11/04/80	34690	32500 miles service
26/08/80	39782	35000 miles service
10/03/81	45410	Total engine rebuild
23/07/81	51950	5000 miles service, suspension rebuild
27/10/81	54710	Mini-service, exhaust replaced (stainless steel system)

2^nd Owner (1982 to 2001): Mr. Graham Everington (my dad)

The car seems to have spent its first eight years in Middlesex, so it is unknown exactly what led to her ending up at a used car dealership in Leicestershire in 1982, where my late father traded his pride and joy, a Triumph Stag that he had rescued from a barn and had restored to his specifications, for the Aston. During this time, the car had lost its 2 MMT registration, presumably having been retained by the first owner, and instead gained the plate MVC 5. As I was 4 years old at this time, my recollection of the details of when my dad first got the car are not too good. However I do recall going with him to collect the car, (which ranks as one of my earliest memories), and the impression that this made on my young consciousness was indelible. That was how I was first introduced to the Aston Martin marque, and from that moment on it was to become my lifelong favourite.

Dad with his Triumph Stag (and my brother Tony’s) on tour through France – Early 1980s

The Robin Hamilton Connection

The original gearbox was not in good shape when my dad first got the car, and so he arranged for the car to go to the renowned AM specialist Robin Hamilton to have a 5-speed ZF manual gearbox fitted in place of the original 3-speed auto, an upgrade that I remain eternally grateful for. Robin Hamilton had a great deal of experience with these cars, having raced a heavily modified DBS V8 called RHAM 1, or “The Muncher” due to its appetite for eating through brakes when it raced at Le Mans in 1977 and 1979. This is also where the car got the ‘Nimrod’ window sticker in the rear windscreen, as Robin Hamilton was also involved in the development of the Aston Martin Nimrod Group C sportscar racer that would compete in the 1982 running of the 24 hours of Le Mans.

Aston Martin Nimrod - October 1982

Robin Hamilton's DBS V8 RHAM 1 "The Muncher"

The 1982 AMOC Summer Concours

In the summer of 1982, the car was entered into the Newcomers Class at the Aston Martin Owners Club (AMOC) Summer Concours event, which was held at the Newport Pagnell factory. Clearly the condition of the car suitably impressed the judges, as she scored highly enough to be awarded 2^nd place in the class. Unfortunately there were pine trees overhanging the driveway of the house we lived in at the time, which had resulted in a collection of pine needles collecting in the fuel filler cap wells. These had not been cleared out prior to the event and apparently that led to points being lost and ultimately resulted in 2^nd place. The car still wears the plaque commemorating this accomplishment on the glovebox lid to this day. These days I tend to get my enjoyment from driving the car rather than fastidiously cleaning and meticulously maintaining her in an ‘as original’ condition, and so even matching this result in such an event now is highly unlikely.

AMV at the AMOC Spring Concours Newport Pagnell - July 1982 (© Aston Martin Heritage Trust Collection)

AMOC Summer Concours Results 1982

Making Childhood Memories

Beyond these specific events, my memories of the car during my formative years mostly involve riding around in the, (surprisingly useable), back seat whenever my dad chose to get the Aston out, which was not as frequent an event as I would have liked! I have to say that, whilst I would never recommend riding in a car without a seatbelt, I did manage to survive doing so, as to this day the car does not have any rear seatbelts fitted.

AMV at home on the driveway (gathering pine needles!) - Summer 1980s

For some reason I remember always particularly liking the way that the orange coloured interior downlights above the stereo and bank of rocker switches in the centre console stack looked whenever we were driving with the headlights on, hence I quite looked forward to travelling at night.

The strangely appealing orange glow of the centre console

I also distinctly recall that because my dad didn’t really drive the car regularly enough, the engine was always reluctant to start. The rule of thumb that I worked out over time from witnessing my dad’s attempts to start the car, was that as soon as the engine coughed for the 1^st time after cranking over for a while, then it would tend to start on the next attempt… or sometimes the time after that! The jeopardy was whether this would happen before the battery gave out. Needless to say my dad had to make frequent forays into the boot to wrestle with removing the battery box lid and attaching a battery charger. I also remember him having to change the battery quite frequently. (These days I use a battery conditioner to maintain the battery and have also had a high-torque starter fitted).

There was one occasion where I remember going on holiday with my mum somewhere in the UK, (I forget exactly where), with my dad following on and joining us later after he had finished work for the week. He elected to bring the Aston for the trip but had recently had some Pirelli tyres fitted, which were softer than usual compound. When he eventually arrived at the hotel, he was in a very bad mood, as he had managed to pick up not just one, but two separate punctures enroute! He never fitted Pirelli tyres to the car again.

Another time when my dad had picked me up after school, I convinced him to take me for a longer drive in the car rather than just driving straight home. During this particular drive my dad elected to (safely) pass a line of slow moving vehicles on a well sighted section of road, just before we noticed a blue flashing light following us. Soon after pulling us over, it became clear that the policeman was more interested in having a closer look at and finding out some more about the car than he was concerned about the burst of speed that had been employed. In fact the reason he gave for pulling us over wasn’t excessive speed, rather that he was concerned that there was a hole in the exhaust due to the noise that the car had been making. Once my dad explained that was unlikely as the exhaust system was made from stainless steel, he let us go on our way.

Touring the Newport Pagnell Factory – August 1993

In 1993, my passion for all things Aston Martin also gave me the inspiration for a suitable subject for the special project that I needed to do as part of my GCSE Design course. I decided that it would be a good idea to compare and contrast the processes, techniques and products of a bespoke, traditional hand-built car manufacturer with those of a mass-production manufacturer, which thanks to the efforts of an enthusiastic and co-operative teacher, ended up being the Ford factory at Dagenham. Naturally I felt that my father’s long-term ownership of the car gave me the perfect rationale for choosing Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd. as the small volume manufacturer, and hence provided the introduction to a letter to the company requesting a tour. Fortunately my letter found its way to a gentleman called Roger Stowers, who had been at Aston Martin for many years and worked in the capacity of official company historian. It was only later that I was to learn just how legendary of a figure Roger was within the company, and how immensely fortunate I was to have had this amazing opportunity.

Needless to say, he was happy to arrange a tour of the Newport Pagnell factory and Works Service department for me. I think I must have managed to make a suitably good impression on Roger, as he seemed to be impressed by my ability to identify all of the cars that were being worked on in the Works Service department at the time. I distinctly remember that he asked me about one particular car, which I identified as a DB4 GT Zagato, to which he was gracious enough to concede that I was partially correct. Roger then proceeded not only to enlighten me that it was in fact a DB4 GT Zagato ‘Sanction II’, but also how to distinguish between it and an original example. Sufficed to say that I have never forgotten this vital piece of information, (it’s to do with the geometry on the rear, right hand side suspension setup in case you were wondering). Many years later, thanks to the fantastic work undertaken by the enthusiastic and helpful staff at the Aston Martin Heritage Trust, I discovered that Roger had actually photographed AMV at the AMOC Summer Concours event at the factory in 1982. What was even better is that they were able to get prints made up of those photographs from their archive for me to have.

The factory tour was no less spectacular, or informative, than the Works Service department had been. Roger was the most engaging and informative tour guide that anybody could ever hope for and seemed to be friends with every individual who worked in the factory. My overriding memories are of the, (very loud), sounds of aluminium panels being hand beaten into shape by the craftsmen on the shop floor, before ultimately being assembled to form the Virage Volantes that were being built on the line at the time. Then, after this painstaking process had resulted in a complete body taking shape, it was coated in white spirit, put under a set of bright spotlights and subjected to the expert eye of the final inspector. He then proceeded to mark every tiny imperfection that he could see in the body panels, resulting in any marked panels being removed and reworked until it was deemed to be fit for purpose. To me this was the ultimate example of the incredible craftsmanship and individuality that formed such an integral part of every one of the cars that came out of the Newport Pagnell factory.

I was also fortunate enough during my visit to see both examples of the V8 Vantage (V550) that existed at the time. This was much to my delight, as this car had already made a significant impression on me after having consumed all of the information I could find on it, (long before the internet became the inexhaustible resource that it is now). Not only that, but I was also lucky enough to get the opportunity to have a thorough look around Project NPX, (the prototype DB7 and the single example of the model in existence at the time), which was being prepared for a forthcoming appearance at a motorshow event. By way of a tenuous link to the AM Vantage, the DB7 was also fitted with a straight six engine, albeit this time with the addition of a supercharger. A powerplant that hadn’t been seen in a production Aston Martin for 21 years.

The V8 Vantage press car heading out for a drive from the factory - August 1993

The DB7 Prototype (Project NPX) at Newport Pagnell being prepared for a Motorshow – August 1993