Vantage

IF YOU’RE A REGULAR READER you’ll know that this is my opportunity to bid you a warm welcome to the latest issue of Vantage. When we launched this magazine back in 2013 we secretly wondered if there would come a time when we simply ran out of things to write about. Once you’ve had a chance to sit down and read it, I hope you’ll agree that this issue proves we needn’t have worried, for the unfolding story of Aston Martin remains as riveting and unpredictable as ever. Sadly it’s a story we won’t be able to share with you, for it is my sad duty to announce that this issue of Vantage will be the last. At least in its present quarterly format. None of you will need reminding…

NOTHING EXPRESSES the rapid and far-reaching changes that have taken place at Aston Martin since Tobias Moers’ arrival better than Valhalla. First announced as a concept in 2019, the dramatic ‘Son of Valkyrie’ was planned to be a continuation of the close technical partnership between Aston and Red Bull Advanced Technologies. With plenty of input from Adrian Newey and a bespoke, clean-sheet, turbocharged 3-litre V6 supplemented by hybrid electric, it was to command an asking price of £1.2 million and be built in limited numbers. Then events overtook it: the impact of Aston’s troubled IPO, strained finances, a new cadre of investors, the formation of a factory Aston Martin F1 team and a new management team led by Moers resulted in a rethink. And Valhalla v2 is a very different…

THERE HAVE been three significant departures from AML in the past few months, with Miles Nürnberger (director of design), Matt Becker (chief engineer, vehicle attribute engineering) and David King (vice president and chief special operations officer) all leaving Gaydon for pastures new. None was available for comment as we went to press, but as all three have been featured in Vantage many times over the years it seemed appropriate to mark their exits and acknowledge their contributions. Of the trio, King (above right) was by far the longest serving, having joined Aston Martin back in 1995. A hugely experienced engineer, he was key to the development of many of Aston’s most successful series production models, right back to the DB7 Vantage. He was also instrumental in the marque’s motorsport activities,…

RICHARD STEWART WILLIAMS, who has died at the age of 75 after a long illness borne with great dignity, was one of the best-known figures in the Aston Martin world. His Aston connection began in 1960 when, as a 15-year-old school leaver, he secured an apprenticeship at the Feltham works, quickly gravitating towards the engine build shop. After transferring to Newport Pagnell, he met film star Peter Sellers, who offered him a job looking after his fleet of cars, including a number of Astons, which Richard did for the next six years. In 1968 he felt confident enough to set up his own workshop as RS Williams underneath a railway arch in Brixton, to restore, race and sell Astons. Thus was born a business that would go on to become…

IT IS NOT a stretch to say that, without Rex Woodgate, Aston Martin would not exist today. Born in Cricklewood, London, Rex was immersed in motor cars from an early age, having visited Brooklands and met Prince Bira. The lure of cars continued after the war, and at Prescott in 1947 he met Stirling Moss and became one of Moss’s first mechanics, the two forming a lifelong friendship. He had a stint at HWM and with an F2 Alta team, including a spell as a driver, but it was working on Reg Parnell’s Ferrari that led to Rex meeting John Wyer and in 1955 joining Aston Martin. He starting working on DB3Ss before moving on to DBR2s, heading out to the States in 1958 to run a DBR2 for Elisha…

ANY LINGERING DOUBTS about the resilience of the top end of the market in the Covid era were put to bed during Monterey Car Week: between them, RM Sotheby’s, Gooding & Co, Bonhams, Mecum and Russo & Steele sold $347m worth of cars. For context, that is a 37 per cent increase on the total from the 2019 Car Week auctions, and is more in line with the average haul achieved between 2013 and 2018 ($363m). Some cars came to the block with no reserve, and perhaps some bidders came to Monterey in high spirits and with cash to burn after a year of being stuck at home, but the overall sell-through rate of 80 per cent – 21 per cent up on 2019 – can largely be attributed to…