The Centennial DB9 was to be  limited, as fitting for the occasion to just 100 cars; a mixture of  both coupe and Volante models each finished to an exacting specification. One of the most striking feature of the Centennial Edition DB9 is the use of unique ‘gradiated’ 2-tone paint scheme of Skyfall Silver with inner Meteorite Silver contrast on the bonnet of the car. The unique gradiated paint scheme is achieved by a meticulous process that adds an additional 18 man hours to the painting of the car. The darker inner colour is applied to the panels with a special “mini–jet” spray gun and once applied, the panel is then sanded using a very fine abrasive pad and a fresh coat of lacquer is applied. The panel is then finally sanded and polished to ensure that the line between the light and dark colours is totally smooth to even the lightest touch.

All the Centennial editions receive bespoke sterling silver AM wings badges, to a new design featuring additional rays within the wings visible through the transparent enamel. Numbered sill plaques, individually numbered with an Aston Martin hallmark and also of sterling silver are fitted.

The interior is finished in Deep-soft Obsidian Black Leather, previously only available of the One-77. It is similar to semi-aniline hide but goes through a more labour-intensive and exclusive process and dried naturally compared to normal semi-aniline that is forced dried. This makes the leather much softer and richer in its feel.

Detailed specification of the DB9 Centenary Edition is as follows:-

• ‘Gradiated’ 2-tone paint scheme of Skyfall Silver with Meteorite Silver contrast along the  bonnet and roof
• ‘Gradiated’ 2-tone paint scheme of Dana Point White with Lightning Silver contrast along the  bonnet and roof (China only)
• Also available as single tone Skyfall Silver, single tone Meteorite Silver or single tone Dana Point White (China only)
• Rear diffuser in contrast Meteorite Silver
• 10-spoke Silver Diamond turned Wheels
• Silver Brake Calipers
• Deep-soft Obsidian Black Leather and welt with silver stitching
• Silver thread embroidery of Aston Martin wings in the headrests
• Grey Blend Alcantara Headlining
• Obsidian Black Carpet and Binding
• Piano Black facia
• 1000W B&O sound system
• Customer Presentation Box with gifts

A total of only 35 DB9 Coupe Centenary editions were built and sold around the world making these a rare and highly desirable special edition Aston Martin. 

Images kindly provided by Aston Martin Lagonda

The Cygnet was powered by a 4 cylinder 1.33 litre front mounted engine with peak power of 97 bhp. Incredible that the tiny car actually had usable rear seats although it is described as a 3+1 whereby only one of the rear seats actually has any legroom. Carrying additional rear seat passengers limits greatly the luggage that can be carried and the extra weight of passengers does blunt performance somewhat. Actually relative performance (relative to other city cars) was quite impressive. The Cygnet could reach 106mph and 0-62 mph in 11.8 and 11.6 seconds (manual and CVT respectively). But supercar performance matters little in the city where the ability to nip through small gaps in the traffic and park in spaces that bigger cars drive past is paramount. The Cygnet is the smallest AM ever at just 3078mm long and 1680mm wide. The other performance parameter where the Cygnet excelled was emissions. When fitted with with optional CVT auto transmission, the car emitted only 120g/km of CO2, the six speed manual only 116. Every Cygnet sold helped to significantly lower the fleet vehicle CO2 emissions for AML and thus counter the European legislation foisting almost draconian cuts from each and every significant manufacturer. The other high end automotive brands are part of huge corporations with wide model ranges to share the burden of overall target reduction. Independent Aston Martin could not do this and this was another reason for the existence of the Cygnet. At one point, it was intended that the Cygnet would only be offered only to existing AM owners although this restriction was dropped long before the car reached the marketplace.

Following two years of production, it became apparent that demand for the manual Cygnet was somewhat behind the CVT version. Thus from February 2013, right hand drive cars with manual transmission were discontinued. Left hand drive cars with the manual box were also discontinued shortly after. Sadly, the Cygnet did not appeal to sufficient customers and by September 2013, the car was quietly dropped from the range with no plans for a replacement. Although Dr Bez, Aston Martin CEO would have liked to have seen electric Cygnets running around London during the Olympics in 2012, and also would have liked a supercharged version, neither plans came to fruition.

All but one production Cygent was built to ‘High Line’ specification. One single ‘Low Line’ was built to a lower specification and intended to be sold at a lower price point. For reasons unknown to me, this less expensive Cygnet was never brought to market.

All this makes the Cygnet quite a rare car………..a certain future classic… …collectable………..a cult car even. Without a doubt I would have to agree.

The three unique features of the car are 1/500 front wing badges, 1913 sill plaques and a signed vehicle inspection plaque in the engine bay.

Optional features also offered as part of the package consisted of 16 way electric front seats with memory, heated and ventilated front and rear seats, heated sports steering wheel and a pair of AM designer keys. The owners were also given a signed build book of the car and were invited to regional celebration cocktail parties with AML executives.

This particular car was photographed at Aston Martin Works at Newport Pagnell in late 2020.

The Cygnet Black had a unique Magic Black metallic paint finish offset by twin front to back matt body stripes, matt black bonnet louvers, matt black meshes on the side vents and black enamelled AM wings badges. The door mirrors featured chrome caps and the 16 inch 16 spoke wheels were gloss black painted with the spokes diamond turned.

The interior was finished in a Pure Black leather (even darker than Obsidian Black) with perforated seat inserts whilst the trim on the dash was finished in dark chrome. One point to note is that it was also possible to spec the ‘Black’ with the all white interior of the ‘White’ car  (and vice versa). The launch cars all featured unique ‘swan head’ badging with contrasting eye colour on the door pillar; these badges are intended only to be used on special and limited edition Cygnets. In addition, the Launch Editions came many optional features as standard such as a 5 piece Bill Amberg luggage set, first aid kit, garage door opening rear view mirror and special launch edition sill plates.

The brand new platform chassis was engineered under the watchful eye of Harold Beech. Topping this, the body frame is made up of a cage of small diameter tubes which is covered by hand made aluminium body panels. This method of construction is known as ‘Superleggera’ (Italian for super light) and was, to a greater or lesser used under license by AML from Touring right the way through into the DB6 Mark 2 in 1970. This is why DB4’s and DB5’s (and a few DB6’s have a pair of Superleggera badges on their bonnets.

The DB4 was powered by an aluminium straight six cylinder 3670 cc engine; the work of Aston Martin’s Polish designer, Tadek Marek. When fitted with the standard twin SU HD8 carburettors, the engine was said to produce 240 bhp at 5,500 rpm, sufficient for a dash to 60 mph in 9 seconds and a maximum speed of 140 mph. Nowadays, the declared power outputs from the 1960’s are considered a little inflated and it was probably closer to 200 of todays variety. This was mated to a 4 speed manual gearbox made by the gearbox division of the David Brown Corporation.

These early and desirable Series 1 DB4’s are characterised by simple bumpers usually without over-riders and the rear hinged, front opening bonnet. Only the series 1 DB4 have this feature as the risk with a front opening bonnet is that if the catch was to fail, the bonnet could fly up at speed and obscure the drivers view of the road. The first 50 cars also had no window frames around the door glass (frameless coupe style). This caused whistling at speed and so frames were added on later cars to combat this. Unfortunately for a GT designed for high speed continental cruising, early cars suffered from overheating, a problem not fully sorted until much later in the production run. This problem was eventually cured in much later examples with the fitting of an oil cooler and a much enlarged sump. The Series 1 DB4 was in production from October 1958 to January 1960 (chassis numbers DB4/101/R to DB4/249/L) with a total of just 149 cars completed. Of these 149 cars, 73 were built with left hand drive for export. The improved Series 2 became available from January 1960. Despite the early problems associated with introducing such a revolutionary new car, around 100 examples are thought to still exist with maybe a few more awaiting to be discovered having been locked away in barns and garages for many years.

The series grouping of the DB4 from series 1 to series 5 was not actually devised by the factory at all, but was retrospectively devised within the Aston Martin Owners Club for use in the Register of Cars. It is a useful way to describe the evolution of the DB4 and has been universally adopted by the all including AML themselves.

Below is a rather unusual early DB4 which ended up being the special personal project car for the works engine designer, Tadek Marek. Eventually this car featured a DB4GT nose, DB4GT dash, a five speed gearbox and an experimental  4 litre Vantage engine with triple Weber carburettors probably producing close to a true 300 bhp. Marek was a smoker so even the rear quarter lights were electrically operated to extract his cigarette smoke.

One point to note is that it was also possible to order the all black interior of the ‘Black’ car even if the car was painted Snow White. The launch cars all featured unique ‘Cygnet head’ badging with contrasting eye colour; these Cygnet badges are only used on special and limited edition cars, not on the regular production versions. In addition, the Launch Editions came with a number of options as standard

• Magnum Silver bonnet louvers
• Magnum Silver meshes on the side vents
• Unique all white enamelled AM wings badges
• 16 inch, 16 spoke wheels, gloss white painted with faces of the spokes diamond turned
• Chrome caps on the door mirrors
• 5 piece Bill Amberg luggage set
• First Aid Kit
• Garage door opening rear view mirror
• Special launch edition sill plates

The picture above was taken in the VIP customer area of the AML stand at the 2011 Geneva Salon.

But, AML had also decided upon a new 170mph 2 seater sportscar to be unveiled at the 1967 London Motor Show, and again, Touring was invited to style the new vehicle, codenamed MP226. Two chassis were built, based on the DB6 chassis, but with de Dion rear suspension and capable of taking the forthcoming V8 engine. Unfortunately by mid 1966, the economy had taken something of a downward turn and demand for the DB6 had dipped considerably. So it was decided that one way to stimulate sales was to bring the new car to the Paris and London Motor Shows in September and October 1966 – one whole year earlier than initially planned. Needless to say, Touring had to work flat out so that an acceptable rolling shells could be displayed for the shows. Initially, as the car was intended to be sold alongside the DB6, plans were made for limited production – but this would have needed much more development time and would have affected development on the important four seater DBS. Another problem was that the long 6 cylinder engine could only have the cylinder head removed with the engine out of the car – it had to be fitted so far back that it was hard against the bulkhead. So the Touring cars were cancelled – and a short while later, Touring of Milan ceased trading. Two cars were completed; the car shown here is the second example (LHD) and was photographed in the reception at Works Service ai Newport Pagnell.

Initially, when the cars was first shown, they were called ‘DBS’. When the true production DBS was shown a year later in 1967, the Touring prototypes were re-named as DBSC to avoid confusion.

Whilst there were many minor modifications on the series 2, many of these were under the skin. Maybe the only easy way so separate a Series 1 from a Series 2 is the adoption of opening rear quarter lights made with flat glass rather than curved. Also if a DB4 Series 2 is displayed with the bonnet up, it is clear that it is hinges from the front, a feature that was used right through to the end of production of derivatives of the Virage in 2000. The risk of a front opening bonnet is that if the catch was to fail, the bonnet could fly up at speed and obscure the drivers view of the road. The series 2 car also was fitted with uprated front brake callipers.

In order to aid vital engine cooling the sump was enlarged from 14 to 17 pints and the oil pump was also uprated. The much needed oil cooler was only an optional extra (indicated by a scoop under the front bumper) and was only fitted to a small number of cars at the time, although many have had them retrofitted more recently. Other options offered was overdrive and electric windows. Both Series 1 and 2 cars were fitted with the same rear Lucas light clusters as the DB Mark 3. These originated from the Humber Hawk but were also used on the Alvis TD21 and some special bodied Rolls Royce and Bentley motor cars. For some reason, this design are sometimes known as cathedral rear lights.

In total 349 of the Series 2 DB4 were built until the Series 3 was introduced in April 1961.

These are the specifications for the JWW Edition – two versions

• Q Lennox Green Metallic coachwork
•