- 2007 Aston Martin Vanquish S
- Rare special-order colour of Berwick Bronze
- Only 38,089 miles from new
- Extensive service history
Presented in the eye-catching special-order colour of Berwick Bronze, this Vanquish S is a cherished low-mileage example of Aston Martin’s handsome GT car.
First registered on 22 January 2007 – the final year of Vanquish production – it features a two-tone Bitter Chocolate and Sandstone interior, including a two-tone steering wheel. The service history has been diligently maintained, with the car being entrusted to main dealer Stratstone – which had originally supplied it – between 2007 and 2013, by which time it had covered almost 33,000 miles.
Although three owners were listed on the V5 by 2014, in reality the Aston Martin had only a single keeper. It was transferred into the name of the original owner’s business partner shortly after delivery, then back again during 2012, and was always kept at the original owner’s home in Yorkshire.
The car has been used sparingly over the past few years, and in 2016-17 it was maintained by marque specialist Christian Lewis in Bedford. Now being offered for sale at The Classic Motor Hub with just over 38,000 miles on the clock, this Aston Martin Vanquish S is a low-mileage example of this attractive Ian Callum design that benefits from all of the upgrades that were applied to the S model.
Model history
The Vanquish was born from the ‘Project Vantage’ concept that Ian Callum oversaw for Aston Martin at TWR. That car was shown at the 1998 Detroit Motor Show and Aston Martin boss Bob Dover was soon tasked with making the budgets work so that it could be turned into a production reality.
The team managed to do just that and the Vanquish was unveiled at the 2001 Geneva Motor Show. Beneath Callum’s muscular lines was an updated version of the 6-litre V12 engine that had first seen service in the DB7 Vantage. It produced 460bhp and drove through a six-speed paddle-shift automated manual transmission, and was mounted in a bonded aluminium composite chassis that was developed with Lotus.
Callum was reportedly less impressed when Lotus was also tasked with designing the interior. Fortunately Richard Parry-Jones – who was Ford Europe’s engineering chief – agreed with him, and the cabin was reworked before the car went into production.
Although the Vanquish won plaudits for its styling, and for the noise from the V12, most road-testers felt that, handling-wise, it was not a match for the Ferrari 575. The revised Vanquish S model was then introduced at the 2004 Paris Motor Show and boasted all of the features from the previously optional Sports Dynamic Package. Those included stiffer suspension and larger brakes, while power was boosted to 520bhp – enough to push the Vanquish S to 200mph thanks to revised gearing, and from 0-60mph in 4.6 seconds.
‘This, finally, is the definitive front-engined two-seat British super GT,’ said Chris Harris when he tested the revised model for Autocar. ‘It would be a delight to wake up every morning with a Vanquish S on your driveway’.
The original Vanquish was built until 2007 and was the last model to be produced at Aston Martin’s historic Newport Pagnell premises. By the time the second-generation Vanquish came along in 2012, Ford had sold the marque to a private consortium led by David Richards and it had relocated to its current facility at Gaydon.