Hi Rennie ,been tempted a few times to buy the just pasted Gen AM V8,number of friends have had them ,just could never warm to one plus few of them excite re the colour combos
I recall seeing press images of this car in 1986. I thought it was hideous. Fast forward 20 years and I spent about an hour going over one in the flesh. I thought it a design masterpiece. In dark blue it had a commanding road presence without being vulgar IMO. It is surprisingly compact as well.
That is a spot on assessment and amazingly in Aston Martin circles, largely forgotten and still not coveted. In my next and final magazine. for the club, I will be doing a in-depth feature on the Aston Martin V8 Zagato.
Astonishing deal or scam at Greg's place: https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/details/2001-aston-martin-db7-vantage-manual/SSE-AD-15773643/?Cr=8
Not astonishing when you compare to a Jag XK8 of the same year. Both cars have the same underpinnings with Ford derived engines. Hard to find a manual XK8 though.
Yes. It's a V12 and manual,nil manual XK8's made. XK8's are plentyfull and half the ask. This is a very rare Aussie low milage car and if I were looking it'd on the short list. I have no idea how they handle,drive etc though.
Simon, The DB7 Vantage is very much like its's XJS underpinnings. There is a brilliant car hidden its its soft set up. If only the Jag XJS/XKR and AM DB7 did what Porsche did with the 911 and built variations of the same car with different suspension and engine tunes to suit a wide range of buyers, these cars would've been viewed differently. It blows my mind that Jaguar and Aston martin didn't do a soft GT version for its regular clients and more hardcore sports version for a smaller niche but with the intent of creating a halo effect for the softer versions. Instead, Jag and AM only did one basic set up for these cars and pitched them to the older and wider GT market. If you get the easily available GT handling kit for the DB7, Larini sports X pipe and 200 CEL cats and add the billet gearknob and controls and you got a very good car. Look at how much better the interior looks when you add the billet gear knob and controls below, Watch this video Ditto for the XJS- fit a Getrag gearbox, get the Jenvey throttle bodies and fit a TWR handking kit and the XJS becomes a really good car. Watch this video And doing a Tremac T56 gearbox conversion on an XKR transforms the who XK8 experience. Jaguar are experts at failing to realise the full potential of their cars - whether it was bad management or lack of budget or a combination of both, the bare bones of the XJS platform is an excellent one. P.S The early DB7 Vantage and Vanquish engines were built in the same Cosworth factory (Northamptonshire) as the Ford CR10 V-10 F1 engines that powered the Stewart and Jag F1 teams.Very strong engines except for the coil packs, which need replacement every 4-5 years. P.S.S I'd love to do a ex Packer XJS replica - black XJS with a T-56 gearbox, throttle bodies, BBR RS wheels and TWR handling kit. Image Unavailable, Please Login
And just look at Harry's XJC. What a great looking car that seems to go really well and sounds bloody fantastic. As Harry says, there are 4 steps to the transformation: 1) Manual gearbox 2) Handling kit 3) Cutting out the rust so its structurally sound 4) Engine tune/rebuild.
It might drive really well (gee, doesn't that v12 look less of a dogs breakfast with the throttle bodies) but man, that is one really ugly XJS. I can see $30K just on cosmetics alone, assuming you are willing to do a lot of the prep work and refit an updated interior yourself. Yikes.
Yes ugly in a lot of areas but it APPEARS the important stuff has been seen to. I'd like to experience one of these with a 6 speed 3 pedal: https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/details/2005-bentley-continental-gt-auto-4wd/SSE-AD-15246658/?Cr=22
And after that all that pain you end up with something close to a 365 GT/4 2+2, Mondial, 928 S or a M635 CSI which are all available as a factory manual and sorted from the get go, if less refined. You could even do something crazy and track down a manual Longchamp. I have a love/hate relationship with the XJ series, both sedan and coupe. They are elegant and nicely detailed, however so obviously built to a price. And remarkably cramped inside. I could be tempted by a XJ-12 series 1 sedan however, especially in an olive or aqua hue. My Jewish friends father has one, he calls it the "Jew canoe".
1 in the world: https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1543587 with the possibility of another unsold earlier this year in France: https://www.classic.com/m/gordon-keeble/
