The history of any good Aston starts with the original service voucher book being with the car and this Vantage X Pack is no exception and the original Certificate of Ownership notes the original purchase of the car on 4th July 1987 and its delivery by Aston Martin Sales Ltd of London to its first owner, Mr. Hemmingson of London SW7.
The first owner retained the car all the way up to April 2002 when it was sold to a Simon Master of London SW1 who owned it until purchased by the current owner in October 2005 – so this is a car with just three owners from new with two of those owners – the first and the current owner’s stewardships accounting for over 30 of its 34 years of existence.
And that shows in the comprehensive service and maintenance: it is a history of consistent care, local and immediate checks like MOT’s combined with regular service by Aston Martin Specialists and that really shows in the presentation and performance of this lovely car.
In the current owner’s almost 16 years stewardship, the car has performed faultlessly during many long-distance tours throughout the UK and France, never requiring the services of a tow truck or roadside assistance. It has been exhibited at many car shows, always drawing much admiration.
We had the pleasure of collecting the car from the owner and driving the 60 odd miles to the store and she performed perfectly, delivering faultless performance and rock steady road holding.
When the car was brand new, the performance was described as follows:
“This is a car that weighs close to 4,000 lbs, yet has a 0-60 time of around 5 seconds and all of this is achieved without the aid of turbo or super charging. This means that the power flow is consistent and flexible. It can be driven at 40 m.p.h. in fifth gear with the engine just ticking over and then take you, in the same gear to the claimed top speed of about 170 m.p.h. – where it is legal to do so.”
The sense when driving this beautiful X Pack is that not much has changed – this is a car to savour!