In January 1986, the AM V8, Volante and Lagonda received the Weber electronic fuel injection system to replace the carburettors in an effort to reduce emissions and fuel consumption.   Yet the Vantage continued to be fitted with the four twin-choke, down draught Weber carburettors. The fuel injection technology of the time could not have provided sufficient power expected of the highest performance car of the range. First produced in early 1986, the final series of the V8 Vantage were fitted with the same 580X engine as previewed in the V8 Vantage Zagato and the X-pack was born.

First view of the X-pack was in the autumn of 1986 at the Birmingham Motor Show. This particularly early example of the X-pack in Chichester Blue still has the front indicator repeaters in mounted in front of the wheels, later cars had these repositioned behind. The wheels, now 16 inch in diameter were of a spilt rim design were made by Compomotive were fitted with 255/50 Goodyear Eagle tyres.

After problems with the original Compomotive wheels, splitting when hitting kerbs, AML initially switched to similar styles by manufacturers OZ Ceres or MSW (see left). Soon after, they then switched to the exceptionally beautiful Ronal with it’s concealed wheel nuts (right). Unfortunately the Ronal wheel is now long out of production and consequently they are of considerable value. A ‘look-a-like’ Ronal is now available from AM Heritage Dealers and is seen on many other AM V8’s as well as Vantages.

The heart of the series 3 V8 Vantage – the V580X (sometimes called X-pack) specification engine. Changes to the previous version include four 48mm Weber carburettors, Cosworth pistons, larger inlet ports and higher lift camshafts. With the air pumps needed to meet EEC emission regulations, peak power is in the range of 410 to 420 bhp. With an optional conversion from Works Service, which included big bore airbox and manifolds, straight through pipes at the back and the carbs meticulously opened upto 50mm, power was increased to 432bhp.

Here is a particularly unusual and probably unique V8 Vantage. This example was built not only without blanking plate over the grille but also lacking the huge front air dam. It could almost be referred to as ‘‘Prince of wales’ specification.

An example of a series 3 V8 Vantage together with a V8 Vantage Volante POW, photographed during early Spring 2001 at Nicholas Mee’s London showroom.

Between March 1977 and December 1989, the V8 Vantage was the only British member of the Supercar club. It may have weighed as much as a house (about 1800 kg actually) but could see off the skimpy Ferrari 512BB and Testarossa plus the Lamborghini Countach with aplomb and carry an extra two passengers.

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

The 58 left hand drive examples were all exported, principally to the USA. Of these cars, 47 had automatic transmission and only 11 had the 5 speed manual transmission. Some of these cars will have had their engines uprated to full Vantage specification and also, it is possible to have the rubber bumpers changed to chrome – although this is quite costly as it needs some extensive modifications to front and rear coachwork.  The cars are a very rare site in the UK and Europe.

Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante cosmetic spec V585, an unusual car that features the fuel injected V585 engine with European spec bumpers

Although this car has European chrome bumpers, it can be seen that this car also has a flat bonnet indicating the non-Vantage tuned 585EFI engine. Although it impossible to be sure, this car could have been subsequently exported to Switzerland or Japan.

Photograph above courtesy of Aston Martin Lagonda

This car is, at least for the moment, exactly as it left the factory – complete with rubber bumpers and 585EFI engine. The owner, who sent me these pictures, is keen to point out that the bumpers are in the process of being switched to the more traditional chrome type which is more involved than you may think. I am told that it is the only 585EFI Vantage saloon built for the North American market.

These cars are not counted within the 27 true PoW cars – and it has been explained to me like this. The V8 Vantage Volantes chassis numbers usually start with V8V….., and true PoW cars start with V8C….. So, you could say that PoW cars started out as V8 Volantes and then had the performance upgrades added during production. Whereas, the flip-tail cars started out as V8 Vantage Volantes but had many of the overt styling features of the car deleted during production. Well that’s how I understand it anyway.

These ‘flip-tail’ Vantage Volantes are also sometimes referred to as the ‘Ecurie Ecosse’ cars. The first two of three cars were built for the McCaig brothers; their Ecurie Ecosse Racing Team was a feature of the Aston Martin AMR1 Group C sportscar in 1989.

This ex-McCaig ‘Ecurie Ecosse’ Vantage Volante POW initially featured a blanked off grille, although this has recently been replaced with a black mesh type (one picture above was taken outside the AML factory offices in Newport Pagnell)

Another flip-tail POW cars, with contrasting stainless steel mess grille, photographed in 1999 at the Coys Historic Festival, Silverstone. The car is finished in Brunswick Green with green leather upholstery piped in red.

The main photograph is an outstanding V8 Vantage Volante was photographed during to preparation for the 1999 Parade des Pilotes at Le Mans. The crackle finish black cylinder heads indicate a Factory original (Works Service) 6.3 litre engine conversion. In this case, the engine is tuned to provide 470bhp with 479lb/ft torque at 2,750 rpm (i.e. set up for maximum acceleration). As with many other cars on this site, the owner is a visitor to this site and has kindly provided additional information.

In the gallery is an example of a later series 2 BBS Vantage but fitted with an RSW 7.0 litre conversion based on the 580 X-pack engine. The 7.0 litre usually have the cam covers painted in a green crackle finish. Also cars sometimes have badges with a logo ‘SEV8N’. Although this car is a V580 BBS example, it currently has Ronal wheels, more typical of the X-pack V8 Vantage.

Also in the gallery is an example of a V8 Volante with an RSW 7.0 litre conversion, this time tuned to suit the automatic gearbox. The RSW engine is also available with fuel injection – an example is shown on the V8 Vantage Zagato page.  Needless to say, if you were to take advantage of any engine performance enhancement, you would be wise to consider the suspension, brake and cooling upgrades also available.

More recently, RSW have also introduced a 5.7 litre conversion for the AMV8.

So, at the start of the film, we see our hero, played for the first time by Timothy Dalton, driving ‘B549 WUU’ a V8 Volante with Cumberland Grey coachwork and upholstered in black leather. This car was in fact the personal transport of Victor Gauntlett, the Chairman of AML. This car, even without visiting Q branch, was a bit special as it was ‘claimed’ that it came with a Vantage engine which might have been a bit of a fib. I eventually saw this particular V8 at the AMOC Horsfall race meeting in 2007, participating in the 007 track parade. During the film, and whilst in Volante form, the V8 did not display any particular ‘special features’.

A little later, we again see the Volante, this time in Q’s workshop, where it appears to be receiving a hardtop. The script describes the car as being ‘winterised’. The result is a V8 Saloon; an Oscar India car that you are expected to believe is the Volante with a closed roof – this is of course impossible – but hey, it’s only a film. In reality, the factory used a pair of second-hand V8’s which were refurbished and modified for filming the stunt work in the mountains of Austria although much of the plot was set in Czechoslovakia. They do have visible ‘Vantage’ badges, but these I guess were fitted as they would have been seen on the Volante; to all intents and purposes, the car was an ‘Oscar India’ V8 and not a Vantage as is often said.

Below are also some B+W press pictures that were released by the producers of the Bond film in 1987. Clearly, the Jet booster is a working effect. Notice that once the front tyre was blown off, the wheel has a metal disc which indicates that the skis couldn’t actually support the heavy V8.

Just like the DB5 before it, the V8 had many gadgets

• Jet engine booster rocket, behind the rear number plate
• Ice tyres with spikes emerging through the treads by compressed air
• Retractable outriggers for use on snow and ice, which emerge from the sills
• A pair of heat seeking missiles concealed behind the fog lights
• Laser beams built into the front hubcaps
• Heads-up display form targeting the missiles
• Police band scanner radio
• Self destruct system – thankfully only a fibreglass replica was exploded in the film

Such were the demands of parts for the filming, there was apparently a shortage of bumpers and windscreens at the factory for a short while afterwards.  The V8 Saloon is still, I believe, jointly owned by AM and Eon Productions, and is occasionally displayed at public events. I have been able to photograph the car at 1986 British Motor Show, 1998 Coys Historic Festival, Silverstone, 2005 AMOC St. Georges Day Windsor event in 2005 and the 2013 Aston Martin Centenary Celebration, Kensington Palace. I believe a engineless fibreglass special fx replica from the film also still exists which features some actual operating effects.

But remember that the number plate was the same on all the cars used during filming. The actual number officially stayed on the Volante until 2000 when the car went overseas. Subsequently the registration number was purchased and can now be seen on another V8 Saloon, also finished in the correct shade of Cumberland Gray with matching black leather. Not an original 007 car, but a very convincing replica/recreation how ever you want to see it. The car is illustrated here when it was photographed on a visit to the Aston Martin factory at Newport Pagnell in 2004. Perhaps the only obvious difference to the real thing are the new AM Heritage ‘Ronal like’ wheels instead of the BBS cross spokes seen in the film.

This car really looks the part, a real head turner

Paul Banham and his company, Banham Conversions (Banmoco) became well known for his cabriolet conversions on Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce, Ferrari, Daimler and Jaguar cars. The company also went on to offer interior kits, styling kits and kit-cars and were perhaps most noted for their stylish XJSS conversion on the Jaguar XJ-S. Sadly the company went out of buisness in 2004.

The car above was sold during the Brooks/AML auction, May 2000, for a fraction of the cost of a real Volante at £12765 including commission. At that time, the congnisenti would look down disapprovingly at such a car although the Banham conversions might be gaining some acceptance over time.

Below is a later car based on a series 3 V8. Don’t be fooled by the Vantage bonnet and front air dam, the boot lid shows the cars origin as no real Volante had a boot lid quite like this.

I’m afraid that I have no idea as to the number of V8’s converted, but somewhere between 10 and 20 is my best estimate. Oddly, I did see a series 4 Oscar India based convertible by Banham for sale on the web which is odd as the Volante was already on sale when that particular car was converted.

Below there is a particular image from an advertisement for Specialised Engineering Ltd, London, in an issue of the AMOC magazine, Aston Martin Quarterly, Autumn 1973. The add states that a very limited number of these cars were scheduled to be built in 1973/4 but I don’t know if any were actually built, I suspect not. From this artists impression, it looks like perhaps it was intended to be a targa – something similar to the Triumph TR4A. Interesting concept nonetheless.

What is most fascinating is that the overall weight of the V12 Vantage was a mere 50kg greater than the V8 due to significant weight reduction throughout the car. Fitted with the 510 bhp version of the V12 (equivalent output to DBS spec), the Vantage was claimed able to reach 190mph and 0-60 in 4.2 seconds. The deeper front carbon-fibre airdam, extensive carbon-fibre bonnet louvers, extended sill covers, carbonfibre rear diffuser and larger tail spoiler make it easy to identify the V12 over the regular V8, but I anticipate all that you will need is to hear the exhaust note. The pop-up boot spoiler from the RS Concept didn’t make it into production although subsequently it did feature on the One-77.

The V12 Vantage became available in the third quarter of 2009 with a basic price in the UK of £135,000 and only with the conventional six speed manual gearbox as it wasn’t possible at the time to fit the Touchtronic 2. At launch, the V12 Vantage was  not available in the North America but following a redesign of the crash structure to meet US requirements, deliveries of the 2011MY V12 Vantage began in October 2010.

The final examples of the V12 Vantage coupe were completed in June 2013 by which time only 1199 examples had been built including the Carbon Black, Carbon Black ‘2’ and even a tiny number of Centenary Special Editions. 

The V12 Vantage was replaced by the more powerful V12 Vantage S model which initially came only with the Sportshift III paddle shift gearbox. The V12 Vantage was expected to be the last manual stick shift V12 and as such was seen as very desirable by traditional enthusiasts.