Dr Ulrich Bez had taken over as Aston Martin CEO during the Summer of 2000 and immediately postponed the V12 Vanquish launch as he was unhappy with certain aspects of the project, especially the interior which had air vents easily identified as coming from the Ford Ka, least expensive car in the Ford range. 

The cutaway car below was built to show the new method of construction, extruded and bonded aluminium sections, together with carbon fibre sections. This cutaway has recently been purchased by the Aston Martin Heritage Trust for display at their headquarters in Oxfordshire.

In the gallery below there are some photographs of the pre-production car (50PP10) taken at the Geneva Salon in 2001. This actual car can now be seen at the British Motor Heritage Museum at Gaydon as part of their collection.

Other pre-production cars were given to Eon, makers of the James Bond films for conversion to special effects cars for the film, Die Another Day. Another pair were sent to two different Italian coachbuilders, Zagato and Bertone, to create the unique Roadster and Jet 2 respectivly.

The Volante closely followed the coupe with carbon splitter, carbon diffuser and the powerful carbon ceramic brakes. Fitted to the red 2009 Geneva Show Car, you will notice though that the wheels were a new 10 spoke design that also became an option on the coupe. The show car featured an interesting colour combination of a new dark metallic red (Magma Red) with Havana Tan leather interior.

The press launch for the DBS Volante was held during Le Mans 2009 with many of the factory demonstrators being driven by AML ‘top brass’. Many were in attendance the AMOC 50th anniversary reception at the Hotel de France, La Chartre-sur-le-Loir, the home to the Aston Martin race team for much of the 1950’s including the year of the only Aston Martin victory in 1959.

When production of the DBS Volante ended in the Summer of 2012, a total of 846 examples had been completed, including Carbon Black, Carbon Edition and Ultimate Special Edition cars. Most were supplied with Touchtronic 2 transmission; the manual DBS Volante is a very rare beast indeed and will become a particularly desirable motorcar in the future.

Inside, owners were greeted to swathes of Obsidian Black leather highlighted with a contrast silver coarse stitch. Lightweight seats formed from Carbon Fibre and Kevlar saved 17 kg over the standard seat although these were only available with the 2+0 seating. The DBS boasted the Bang & Olufsen Beosound 1000W DBS audio system as standard. The price of the DBS Carbon Black was only around 5% more than the base DBS Coupe which actually made it rather good value for money.

Specification of the DBS Carbon Black coupe :-

• Coachwork in bespoke Carbon Black metallic paint
• Manual gearbox as standard with Touchtronic 2 offered as no-cost option
• Obsidian Black leather with a contrast silver coarse stitch
• Obsidian Black alcantara headlining
• Obsidian Black carpet
• 10 spoke diamond turned wheels with gloss black finish
• Magnum Silver bonnet meshes
• Lightweight seats (2+0) – excluding North America or standard 2+2 seating a no-cost option
• Piano Black facia trim
• Polished alloy sill tread plates
• Unique sill plaques based on a carbon theme

Although it was not a numbered limited edition, the Carbon Black was limited to just a single car per dealer, so they are really quite scarce. In addition to the coupe, the DBS Carbon Black was also available with the Volante body style.

Although it was not a numbered limited edition, the Carbon Black was limited to just a single car per dealer, so they are really quite scarce and therefore desirable to enthusiasts.

The roof I believe has been made by the same company that has worked on the Rapide concept roof, but in this instance, it is fully transparent without the ability to turn opaque. I must add that the glass has a heat reflecting coating without which the car would get unbeatably hot in the sunny climate that it will be based. The colour is stunning; a special formulation called Copper Chestnut (base coat of Royal Cherry) – very difficult to photograph accurately but I think that the top picture just about has it right and if I say so myself, more accurately than as captured in AM Magazine.

Externally, the lower nose panel has been modified with the addition of horizontal bright grille bars and hidden front parking sensors; the wings also have the ‘Works Prepared’ badges fitted. Also the fuel filler cap has the ‘HWM’ dealer logo etched into the chrome finish, a garage door opening system has been built into the car and a fire extinguisher built into the interior rear locker.

The body colour is also brought into the cabin for the interior door handle surrounds and interior light housings. The interior upper areas, seat outer faces, instrument panel and luggage-retaining bars are trimmed in Saddle Tan leather with lower areas and seat centre panels in Tan Alcantara. The contrasting Sandstorm Wilton carpet is edged with the Saddle Tan leather. Even the black steering wheel is modified with non-standard perforated leather on the rim.

The car was a closely guarded secret until finally described in the second issue of the official AM Magazine produced for owners and customers. The first public viewing was at the AMOC Autumn Concours at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire in September 2007.

As all Aston Martins have to have a name, an initiative initiated by Kate Martin, wife of Lionel Martin (much like the Violins of Antonio Stradivari) and following suggestions made on the AMOC web forum, the first owner settled on ‘The Copper Kettle’. And as more than one special roof was made at the time, it is not surprising that the conversion of more cars has taken place. The whereabouts of a further two cars is known.

We would like to thank the extremely proud first owner of ‘The Copper Kettle’ for allowing me unrestricted access to this unique and fitting tribute to the AM ‘Tickford Works’ in Newport Pagnell.

Touchtronic 2 transmission was fitted as standard with manual only available on request; only one Volante was eventually built with a manual box. The cars were built during October 2010 and were priced approximately 12% Higher than the standard car. The unique specification of the UB-2010 was not finalised until a few months after the Geneva Salon, where a 2010.5MY example was exhibited, so some of the details below are were not on this, the first UB-2010.

• 2011MY DBS Volante, 2+2 seating configuration
• Touchtronic 2 transmission (manual on request, one only built)
• Azurite Black coachwork
• 20 inch 10 spoke diamond turned wheels with Azurite paint finish
• Atlantic Blue hood
• Blue brake calipers
• Carbon Fibre rear light infills and door mirror caps
• Magnum silver mesh pack
• Bronze Metallic leather with woven leather seat inserts
• Cryptic Titan facia trim
• Obsidian Black Rokona headlining
• Bitter Chocolate carpet with metallic bronze leather binding
• Leather steering wheel
• Sill and engine plaques signed by Dr Bez
• Front seat headrests with embroidered with Dr Bez signature
• Metallic bronze luggage set

The Volante version of the UB-2010 was priced with a 12% premium over the standard Touchtronic 2 equipped car. Only 13 examples of the UB-2010 Volante were ever built.

Touchtronic 2 transmission was fitted as standard with manual only available on request, which so far as is known, no manual coupes were built. The cars were built during October 2010 and were priced approximately 12% Higher than the standard car.

• 2011MY DBS coupe with 2+2 seating configuration
• Touchtronic 2 transmission (manual on request although non built)
• Azurite Black coachwork
• 20 inch 10 spoke diamond turned wheels with Azurite paint finish
• Blue brake calipers
• Carbon Fibre rear light infills and door mirror caps
• Magnum silver mesh pack
• Bronze Metallic leather with woven leather seat inserts
• Cryptic Titan facia trim
• Bronze Metallic (inner) and Obsidian Black (outer) leather headlining (coupe only)
• Bitter Chocolate carpet with metallic bronze leather binding
• Alcantara steering wheel (coupe only)
• Sill and engine plaques signed by Dr Bez
• Front seat headrests with embroidered with Dr Bez signature
• Metallic bronze luggage set

The coupe version of the UB-2010 was priced with a 12% premium over the standard Touchtronic 2 equipped car. The UB-2010 DBS is an expreamly rare car with only 10 ever built.

Photographs courtesy of Stratstone Aston Martin Hagley

The Bi-xenon headlamps with LED side lights / indicators have already been used on the 4 door Rapide and the new grille was inspired by the one used on the One-77 where the five horizontal vanes have an aerofoil profile. The side strakes were the longest ever used on a production Aston Martin and ran above the grille aperture for the first time rather than the traditional middle line. A new innovation in windscreen wipers was made with the Virage which used a ‘beam blade’ wiper design, incorporating Bosch Aerotwin wiper blades. Not only was it claimed to work better than conventional wipers, they also looked neater too. At the rear, the body coloured diffuser stretched almost the full width of the car.

The interior followed that of the DB9 and DBS, complete with the wonderful glass buttons fitted as standard but it was also given a new contrasting pinstripe welt throughout the cabin. The Virage, like the DBS could be spec’ed with either regular 2+2 seating or 2+0 which used the AM lightweight carbon fibre and Kevlar seats. The 2+0 car wasn’t available in North America and is actually quite rare. AM made special note of the complete new SatNav system from Garmin using a larger 6.5 inch screen replacing the previously used Volvo unit. Shortly after the Virage introduction, the Garmin unit was also be made available on all the other models in the range too. Particular attention was given to making the Virage more refined than the DB9, especially drawing on experience with the Rapide. One of the ways this was achieved was with additional sound insulation on the front and rear bulkheads. Another was a revised version of the adaptive damping system, developed with Bilstein as also used on the DBS but tuned for a GT rather than a sportscar as in the DBS. On start-up, the ADS is in ‘Normal’ mode but also the system offers a ‘Sport’ mode which moves the dampers to their firmest setting.

The V12 engine, still with a displacement of 5935 cm2 but with an improved output of 490 bhp (neatly between the 470 bhp of the DB9 and 510 bhp of the DBS) was mated to the familiar Touchtronic 2 transmission: there was no manual transmission option. Part of the reason for the increase in power was the use of a new inlet manifold, distinguished by being painted in black. The brakes were based on those already in use on the DBS with cross drilled Carbon Ceramic Matrix discs. 

The Virage lasted in production for only a single year with 1044 examples built (656 coupes and 388 Volantes) and as such is one of the rarest of the Gaydon VH Aston Martins. It was replaced by the ‘new Gen 4’ DB9 which is best described as a Virage complete with the Vanquish AM11 spec engine and revised front crash structure.

The special or unique features that distinguish the Carbon Edition are

• Ceramic Grey, Flame Orange or especially formulated AML Carbon Black
• Optional satin lacquer paint finish
• Black meshes (bonnet and side strakes), silver mesh was a cost option
• Black front grille, bright grille was a no-cost option
• Smoked rear lamps with carbon fibre infill
• Carbon fibre mirror caps
• Zircotek coated black finish to the tailpipes
• Optional black window surround (DLO – day light openings)
• Choice of thee optional wheel finishes (black/diamond turned, reverse black painted /diamond turned – unique to the Carbon Edition and full painted black).
• Obsidian Black, Sahara Tan or Madagascar Orange semi-aniline leather
• Obsidian Black or Sahara Tan carpet
• Black quilted leather headlining and black alcantara cantrails
• Carbon fibre upper facia and piano black centre console
• Carbon fibre sill plaques with laser-cut ‘carbon’ logos
• Anodised black B&O speaker grilles
• Carbon fibre trimmed paddle tips (instead place of leather on the standard DBS)
• Black brake calipers with optional gold, grey, red and yellow

The Flame Orange example below was photographed on the factory stand at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show. Flame Orange was not popular with buyers attracted to the subtle and predictable AML Carbon Black and Ceramic Grey offerings.