During the post-War years, this small town in the Californian desert grew into Hollywood’s unofficial amusement park: Marilyn Monroe lounged at the pool, Frank Sinatra threw bottles of champagne and Steve McQueen found happiness and relaxation. The rich and famous enjoyed not only the golf and tennis facilities, but also the numerous icons of modern Californian architecture – radically designed houses with open-sided living rooms and poolside patios. And since modern-day Palm Springs sounds like the ideal venue for an Aston Martin test drive, we sent Simon de Burton off into the desert to try the new V12 Vantage S.