These period press images show all four types of Vanquish Zagato cars, all in the launch colour of Lava Red.
Quite a surprise to see this Vanquish Zagato Shooting Brake in the Q showroom on Park Avenue, New York during May 2024.
The revised DB9 Volante became available from the second quarter of 2008 with a price in the UK of £122,950. These photos were taken of cars at the Geneva Salon 2008 and 2009.
Early in 2010, the Volante, previously denied the Sports Pack option could be specified with a new Premium Sports Pack which consisted of an Adaptive Damping System as first seen on the DBS.
By the time that the 2009MY DB9 entered production, the world was just in the grip of a significant recession that badly affected the general new car market and Aston Martin in particular. Also the DB9 Volante had competition from within the range from the more powerful DBS Volante thus sales and production of the DB9 was in somewhat of a decline. The DB9 of this era are thus quite scarce and downright rare has hens teeth with the six speed manual gearbox.
Although this car is something of a one off, the
Six speed manual transmission was an option for the 2011MY but it appears that only two examples were ever built. Both were sold in the USA.
The stunning luxury super saloon revives the Lagonda ethos of ‘the finest of fast cars’ is to be built using lengthened VH architecture from the existing Rapide S and will be offered exclusively in the Middle East, apparently as a result of ‘specific market demand’.
The new car, perhaps surprisingly, has drawn inspiration from the William Towns-designed ‘wedge’ Lagonda (1976 – 1990) and features many of the same cutting edge engineering techniques seen in current Aston Martin sports cars such as the use of carbon fibre in the body panels. These carbonfibre reinforced panels (CFRP) are ideal for cars with short production runs and will use an Aston Martin patented coating to achieve a flawless and highly polished surface.
The engine will almost certainly be the current AM29 spec V12 already being used in the Rapide S and Vanquish. This should allow the new Lagonda to reach a top speed of around 190 mph; 175 has already been recorded during testing in Oman. The Lagonda has a wheel base of 3189 mm with is an increase of 200 mm over the Rapide thus offering rear seat passengers a significant increase in legroom, perhaps as spacious as a Rolls Ghost or S-class Mercedes.
The return of the Lagonda marque and the as yet formally un-named ‘Project Comet’ follows in the wake of other specialist projects such as the One-77, V12 Zagato and the 2013 CC100 Speedster Concept, a car already regarded as the ultimate Q by Aston Martin car.
It will be hand-built by the finest craftsmen and women at Aston Martin’s modern manufacturing facilities in Gaydon, Warwickshire in a dedicated building previously used for building the One-77 and V12 Zagato.
The first official photos of ‘Project Comet’ were of the Jet Black preproduction car whilst undergoing hot weather testing in Oman during late summer 2014.
The new super saloon will be offered for sale by invitation only to discerning customers who are seeking the ultimate in luxury and personalisation. AM have not revelled the potential asking price but have stated that it will be ‘commensurate with the car’s exclusivity, quality and luxurious nature.’ Or using my vocabulary, this is a classic example of ‘if you have to ask the price, you cannot afford it’. It is understood that solid gold switchgear will be a suitably expensive option.
The Lagonda 2015MY ‘Super Saloon’ shows best the direct influence of the 1976 William Towns ‘wedge’ Lagonda in this side view
Deliveries are anticipated to begin in early 2015 and should be completed before the end of the year. Production is anticipated to be no more than 200 or so examples.
The specific details of the DB9 Morning Frost are below
This particular example was photographed at the 2011 Geneva Salon
There are two distinctive services, Q by Aston Martin-Collection and Q by Aston Martin-Commission. The Q Collection offers a range of exclusive off-the-shelf options that are available when ordering a car and don’t require an additional build lead time. These might be paint and leathers from the exclusive Q collection range, or perhaps an additional carbon fibre tailored detailing. Some carbon fibre parts can also be specified as a Q Accessory after production. This flexible service is extremely popular with customers, with as many as a quarter of the Aston Martin cars featuring some element of Q.
Q by Aston Martin-Commission takes personalisation to an entirely new level. Here, clients can build their very own individual Aston Martin sports car, taking a journey that involves a close collaboration with the design team. These projects are often complex to create and are truly bespoke. Being fully customised, they carry a longer build lead time, but the end results are spectacular.
The Amethyst Red DB9 Volante, pictured above, featured prominently on the Aston Martin stand at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show. The interior was finished in Obsidian Black over Kestrel Tan with Piano Black facias
The Gen4 VH architecture features significant changes to the underbody structure from the early cars which principally includes the lowering the engine by 19mm. This has mainly been done for compliance with the latest European Pedestrian Protection regulation without resorting to the need for complex deployable systems as seen on current Jaguar sportscars for instance. That said, lowering of the engine has contributed to lowering the centre of gravity of the DB9 as a whole improving handling and driver response. The ‘new’ DB9 Volante has a 30% increase in stiffness over the original Volante model, it is also a useful 15 kg lighter too.
As with the later versions of the previous DB9, the Gen4 DB9 Volante is only available with Touchtronic 2 transmission. Manual transmission was not even an option any more.
Production of the standard DB9 Volante ended in the summer of 2015, the car being replaced by the more powerful DB9 GT Volante.
