This drivable concept car was developed to demonstrate the ability of the factory to produce a supercar for the 80’s. William Towns styled the Bulldog soon after finishing the AM Lagonda and thus created the ultimate wedge shaped sportscar design – with initial engineering work by AML chief engineer, Mike Loasby. When Loasby moved to work for DeLorean in 1979, the work to finish the car was given to Keith Martin who developed the car over the next three years. It was strongly supported by the then Managing Director of AML, Alan Curtis, who named the car after an aeroplane that he flew called the Scottish Aviation Bulldog. Within the factory it was known by the code name K-9, perhaps after Dr. Who’s robotic dog. Certainly the area of the factory that the car was built was known as ‘the Kennel’.The Bulldog is powered by a twin Garrett AirResearch turbocharged 5.3 litre V8 originally with Bosch Fuel Injection from the DBSV8. Power output on the test bed was claimed to be excess of 700 bhp, although installed in the car this would have been in the region of 600 bhp. I have read elsewhere on the web that the theoretical top speed is in the region of 237mph, a think this is a little optimistic; I would guestimate upto 210 mph. During testing at MIRA ‘only’ 192 mph was recorded so Bulldog was the fastest V8 powered AM, loosing out to the AMR1 with a confirmed 217mph. It was however well and truly trounced by the One-77 and the Valkyrie.

Pirelli P7 tyres are used all round fitted to Compomotive split-rim alloy wheels. Around the circumference are fitted wheel disks with blades to direct cooling air to the brakes. This feature was later seen on the successful racing Porsche 956 sportscar. Front wheels are shod with 225/50’s whilst rear wheels have massive 345/35 tyres.

Very serious consideration was given to a small production run of between 12 and 25 examples but the car remains totally unique. When AML changed hands in 1981, the new Chairman, Victor Gauntlett considered the company had more pressing problems and the Bulldog was sold off for a reputed £130,000 to a Middle Eastern Prince.

Of special note were the pair of massive power operated gullwing doors which took the height of the car from just over a metre to nearly two. The mechanism is actually based on that used power the V8 Volante hood mechanism.

This left hand drive car of both great length and width only seats two occupants. Instrumentation was provided by the then ‘state of the art’ LED technology and touch type sensors straight out of the new AM Lagonda.

Many detailed changes occurred in the 40 years that has elapsed from the cars unveiling. The silver over light grey machine was repainted during 1981 to two tone metallic green. The original brown leather of the interior was replaced by stone leather piped in brown. Other additions to the car included (rather bling) gold plated trim to switches and gear stick, roof mounted stereo, ugly but useful rear view mirrors and a TV showing the rear-view of the car.

The black and white 1980 press images below were taken by AML photographer, Roger Stowers back in 1980 and are very interesting to compare to the more recent photographs.

I first photographed this unique car during a very rare public appearance in the AMOC marquee at the 1997 Coys Festival, Silverstone and subsequently at the Stratton Motor Company open day, 1998. Interestingly at this time, the car has lost the fuel injection system initially fitted and had quad Weber carburettors. These were, I think of the side draught type and were paired up within the ‘V’ unlike the down draught type fitted in a line down the centre as would be found in a V8 Vantage. More recently, the Bulldog was one of the star cars at the Aston Martin Centenary Celebration at Kensington Palace in 2013. At this time, the car was still a non-runner but attempts to get it moving under its own power again continued through 2014 to no avail.

Despite being only an engineering exercise, interest in this drivable usable concept car remains extremely high. Up until 2016, the Bulldog remained the only publicly seen fully engineered mid-engined Aston Martin. The mid-engine version of prototype V8 Vantage,  AM305 from 2000 was dropped before ever being seen by the public and the DP-100 Vision Gran Turismo only exists in the virtual world and as a full-sized model. The spiritual successor to the Bulldog announced in 2016 – Aston Martin together with Red Bull Technologies unveiled the mid-engined AM-RB 001, hypercar which went into limited production in 2021.

In 2020, Bulldog was sold to a collector and moved to Classic Motor Cars in Bridgenorth to undergo an extensive restoration. I was extremely fortunate to see the car midway through the first year of the restoration in September 2020. The plan was to bring the car back to 1980 spec with modern fuel injection and for it finally to crack the 200 mph barrier.

By late Summer 2021, the car was about finished and was put on display at the Hampton Court Concours of Elegence.  It was also seen at the 2022 AMHT Aston Martin Festival at Brooklands together with Concorde.

By June 2023, the car was prepared to break the 200 mph barrier.

These photographs have been generously provided by Roos Engineering

For more Lagonda’s – please visit www.astonmartinlagonda.net

All of the Weber e.f.i. cars had the attractive BBS cross spoke wheels, which have a resemblance to wire wheels although some later examples have the Ronals from the X-pack V8 Vantage. Before the final withdrawal of the V8 in late 1989, 216 examples of the e.f.i. V8 Volante had been produced.

Above are a few images of later V8 Volante fitted with the rather ugly 5 mph impact bumpers, fitted as standard to US market cars. Rather than fitted just for safety, they were used to protect the bodywork from low speed crashes upto 5 mph in order to reduce the cost of body repair covered by insurance companies. Again, it is not uncommon for US cars to be converted to Euro style chrome bumpers although is a very expensive and complex process.

US cars were fitted with a lead free version of the V8 with a lower compression ratio and catalytic convertors. Power output from these engines is down about 50 bhp from those in a European state of tune.

The Swiss Aston Martin specialist, Roos Enginerring was first although, Dutch Lagonda enthusiast, Harry Kielstra, believed not only could he match the Swiss car, he would ensure it could carry loads more stuff! Built in his own garage at a fraction of the cost, the Kielstra car is clearly designed with carrying capacity in mind.

This page has been made possible with the kind assistance of Harry Kielstra

This particular 5 speed manual car was destined for South Africa but I believe it never actually got exported. The AM Heritage ‘Ronal like’ wheels are a recent addition as the car would probably have had BBS cross spoke wheels originally. I caught up with this ultra-rare car at the AMOC St. George’s Day parade in Windsor in 2005.

It must also be said that a number of Volantes have been converted to Vantage specification by either the factory of AM specialists following initial build.

The true V8 Vantage Volante, first shown at the 1986 Birmingham Motor Show (see below), was distinctly more than Volante with powerful Vantage spec engine. The powerful convertible was visually distinguished by a huge front air dam, extra wide wheel arches, massively flared sills and a smart flip tail. The styling was unique to the Vantage Volante and was not generally made available on the closed Vantage although a few modified example exist.

As well as dark blue, the colour combination of Suffolk Red with magnolia piped red was popular on the V8 in the late ’80’s. AM cognoscenti now refer to such cars as ‘Lipstick Specials’ and are often found keenly priced by dealers. Twenty five years later, it is extremely rare to see such a bold colour on a new AM.

With a maximum speed in excess of 160 mph, these were the fastest four seater convertible cars of their time. Indeed even a mid 90’s Virage Volante couldn’t keep up with one of these – although a 6.3 Volante would come close. The Cumberland Grey car below is, believe it or not, approaching 160mph on the runway at RAF Cottesmore during an AMOC meeting in 2007.

Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante in Cumberland Grey

Below is I think my only photograph that shows a standard V8 Vantage Volante in the company of a PoW specification Vantage Volante. Essentially the same car but so different in attitude.

A much coveted car in it’s day (it was the late 1980’s after all), yet during much of the 1990’s the Vantage Volante was seen by some as somewhat overt and lacking in good taste. Certainly the excess of bodywork add-ons weren’t really necessary for aerodynamic performance but did lend the car real road presence. Twenty years on and there is something of a 1980’s renascence, the V8 Vantage Volante is coming back into vogue with prices edging upwards towards £100,000 again. During a production run of just 3 years, a total of just 167 examples of the V8 Vantage Volante were built. Of the 167 cars, 58 left hand drive examples were exported (principally to the USA) with the less powerful Weber Marelli Fuel Injected engine (see the next page). In the late 1980’s, is was perhaps Aston’s most popular model even though the price had jumped to an enormous £135,000 in 1989.

So this leaves a total of 109 true V8 Vantage Volantes with the full ‘580X-pack’ 400+ bhp engine of which 30 are automatics and 79 manuals. 33 of these cars were left hand drive (principally for the European market) and 76 with right hand drive for the UK market.

One of my all time favourite Astons………….

Once Prince Charles had taken delivery of his rather special car, other customers began to ask for something similar. Thus AML began offering to those special people the new derivative which has become known as the V8 Vantage Volante Prince of Wales or PoW for short. Each subsequent car had their own unique features and thus no two are alike. Needless to say that the  PoW is now considered as the pinnacle of the V8 range and featured below are a number of these wonderful cars

This car was photographed at Stonor Park during the AMOC concours in May 2000. By coincidence, that this was a location for the James Bond film, The Living Daylights, where Timothy Dalton drove a V8 Volante (with a Vantage engine) very similar to this car.

These two examples are absolutely typical of the POW cars; subtle and restrained yet bursting with presence. They are the most highly sort after variant of the V8 with the combination of convertible coachwork, subtle yet elegant lines with tremendous performance. Spotting the POW’s are difficult as they are so similar to the series 1 Volantes. All I can suggest is to look for the subtle front air dam, large flared wheel arches, flat boot without a lip, 16 inch (usually Ronal) wheels, Vantage bonnet bulge with the late spec wing mirrors and side indicator repeaters behind the front wheels. Just to make things even more difficult, there are some standard Volantes converted to appear like POW’s – and I’ve been fooled more than once.

The AML/Brooks auction in May 2000 saw two ‘POW’ Vantage Volantes on sale. This car, presented in Rolls Royce Graphite Gray, features a Burgundy Hide interior and sold for almost £100,000. A really decent car in an interesting and unusual colour combination.

The interior of the POW specification cars typically features a leather covered central arm rest, walnut covered oddments box, recessed switches and a wood rimmed Nardi steering wheel. The oddments box replaces the ashtray and cigar lighter, as Prince Charles is a non-smoker. Not all POW cars feature these specific features. These are pictures of the interiors of two different cars. For more information and pictures of the exclusive POW cars try www.v8vantage.com POW gallery

The above Windsor Blue PoW V8 Volante is unique in so much that it was the only example of the model built with automatic transmission.

From 1986 to 1989 a total of 27 cars were built. Of these, 22 were full spec right hand drive cars, all for the British market, the other 5 were LHD destined for North America. The US cars should actually be described as ‘cosmetic’ PoW as they were not built with a European tune Vantage engine but instead received the much lest powerful Federal emission controlled fuel injected engine. These cars do feature the smart Ronal wheels, wider wheel arches and stiffer Vantage suspension. Sadly they were also fitted with the ugly black 5 mph impact bumpers.

Exterior and interior details of the V8 Vantage Volante PoW

Exterior features of the V8 Vantage Volante Prince of Wales

Interior features of the V8 Vantage Volante Prince of Wales

It has to be mentioned here that as every PoW is unique, not all of them have all of the features shown above.

Prince Charles must have really enjoyed his PoW as by 1995 he had covered 46,000 miles in it. It was auctioned by Sotheby’s in December 1995, the entire sale price of £100,000 was donated to the Prince’s charity, The Prince’s Trust.

A higher ‘Stage 1’ state of tune, otherwise occasionally known as the V8 ‘S’ engine appeared in the Weber Carburettor AMV8 saloon during 1977. An even higher output ‘Stage 2’ engine when installed into the V8 produced the mighty V8 Vantage. The 170 mph projectile shot to fame as the fastest production road car in the world and is now universally accepted as Aston Martin’s and indeed Britain’s first ever ‘Supercar’.

Oddly, the development of the powerful Vantage engine can be traced back to the 1976 wedge shaped Lagonda. The Lagonda due to it’s low nose used a smaller, flatter airbox and modified inlet manifold robbed both power and torque. So as an aid to getting the power back, the Lagonda was given new heads with significantly larger valves. The upshot was that with the newly developed big valves coupled with high lift cams and larger 48 IDF Weber carburettors with revised inlet manifolds, larger diameter trunking and hotter spark plugs, the engine was able to deliver around 375 bhp. Thus the V8 Vantage engine had been created. Initially this ‘hot’ engine was fitted to a V8 mule, indistinguishable from a regular AM V8 and tried out right under the noses of AMOC members race meetings throughout 1976.

The production ready V8 Vantage together with it’s signature aerodynamic enhancements was announced in February 1977 with a modified 1976 AM V8 saloon, V8/11470/RCAC, painted Tankard Grey and carrying the factory AMV8 numberplate. Externally the car featured the trademark Vantage front air dam and three piece blanking plate to the grille and twin Cibie driving lights. The aperture in the bonnet was plugged with a shaped piece of aluminium and the headlights apertures were covered with clear Perspex. On the boot lid was mounted an additional bolted-on aluminium spoiler. The aerodynamic additions to the V8 Vantage were actually developed in the wind tunnel alongside the 1977 Robin Hamilton Le Mans car, RHAM/1 so the similarity between two cars is not a coincidence. The suspension was stiffened, ride height lowered and larger 255/60 Pirelli tyres fitted to standard GKN wheels with spacers to widen the track.

Initially the V8 Vantage was to be offered as an after market upgrade, not unlike the 6.3 Virage or V600 Vantage and a second car in period Lonsdale Yellow was converted to ‘V8 Vantage’ spec before the V8 Vantage became a proper regular production model. Both of these cars have survived, V8/11470/RCAC now carrying UMJ71R repainted with Tourmaline Blue coachwork and V8/11563/RCA carrying RYK1R, still in period  Lonsdale Yellow can be seen occasionally at UK events. The Lonsdale Yellow car also had distinctive slightly smaller 5 inch driving lights and one piece blanking plate only subsequently used on four other production cars.

More information on the development of the V8 Vantage is covered in Kean Rogers website, V8Vantage.com which is our principle source of information on the V8 Vantage.

A second car in period Lonsdale Yellow was converted to ‘V8 Vantage’ spec before the V8 Vantage became a proper regular production model

The name ‘Vantage’ had previously been applied to cars with an optional uprated engine beginning with the DB2. There have also been occasional discrete models called Vantage such as the DB4 Vantage and AM Vantage. But the V8 Vantage became a distinct model line in it’s own right and was a significant upgrade of the standard V8 saloon. 

Principle to the huge performance leap of the Vantage was a significant upgrade to the V8 engine which in the contemporary AM V8 was struggling to achieve 300 bhp. The carburettors were changed to the larger 48 IDF Weber which were fitted to revised inlet manifolds. Together with  larger valves, revised exhaust manifolds, revised camshafts and a higher compression ratio, once run-in, the engines were capable of giving 375 to 380 bhp although at the time, the power output was described by AML as ‘adequate’. The chassis was also stiffened with adjustable Koni dampers, shortened springs and a larger front anti-roll bar. Wider 255/60 VR15 Pirelli CN12 tyres were fitted together with spacers to widen the track.

External modifications were aerodynamic in nature. The V8 Vantage was easily distinguished for the standard AM V8  by the front air dam, twin Cibie H4 driving lights within the blanked off grille (cooling air for the radiator being drawn in from beneath the bumper) and a boot lid spoiler at the rear. All of these aerodynamic additions were essential to reduce lift and also drag. Another feature was the use of a sealed bonnet bulge to cover a larger airbox above the down draught carburettors.

The first group of 16 cars have two distinctive and unique features. Firstly, the rear spoiler was added to the car after the body was built. Also, the bonnet bulge opening is sealed with a separate bolt on cover. Sometimes these very early cars are called the ‘Bolt-on’ Vantage. For the remaining 23 V540 Vantage production cars, the spoiler was made integral to the body and the opening in the bonnet bulge was welded shut during manufacture. These later cars are known as ‘flip tail’.

The Oscar India V8 Vantage, offered from October 1978, shared the less pronounced integral spoiler and neater bonnet of the AMV8 Oscar India saloon.

The important car on the left was in fact the second production V8 Vantage, the first sold to a customer (Gordon Procter) and the first ever to be raced in anger at an AMOC race meeting in 1977. Over time, it has lost many of the original features of the early cars. When first built, the car had Perspex covers over the headlights, smaller 5 inch driving lights and bonnet with bolted in cover. The car now runs on non-standard 16 inch Gotti wheels in place of the 15 inch GKN‘s, probably to enable the use of wider, low profile tyres. It’s featured prominently one this page for two very good reasons. Firstly, it was the first Aston Martin I ever drove, but more important than that, is that it’s first owner and subsequent owner became firm friends of mine who I have been truly fortunate to meet through the Aston Martin Owners Club.

An early production V8 Vantage from 1977, one of only four built with the smaller 5 inch driving lights

The term ‘series 1’ is a classification from the AMOC register, strictly speaking, these first examples of the V8 Vantage should be called ‘V540’ as used by the factory – 540 comes from the prefix to the engine number.

The V8 Vantage pages have been written with the kind assistance of Kean Rogers of the Kangaroo Stable. For more detained information, please visit www.v8vantage.com

What is unusual and unique about his particular car is that, unlike many of the PoW cars, it wasn’t painted British Racing or Hunter Green, but originally the lighter metallic Burnham Green. At some time in the 1990’s it was re-painted to a darker green, but during restoration by Works Service, it gone back to the original shade. The condition of the PMoK car is concours right down to the hidden ‘panic buttons’ than a VIP would use to to alert the security forces to an attack.