Background

The first Aston Martin DBS V8 rolled off the Newport Pagnell production line on 19th September 1969. For Tadek Marek it was the public debut for his new engine and the car received a rapturous welcome from the public.

The engine used the same light aluminium alloy construction as the old straight six and used a similar design for the valve gear employing two chain driven overhead camshafts per cylinder bank and two valves per cylinder. The 8 wet liner cylinders were in a V formation set at 90 degrees with fuel and air were supplied via a Bosch mechanical fuel injection system with the injector pump in the middle of the cylinder vee and eight separate throttle butterflies mounted outboard of each induction port. The engine had five main bearings and the cooling system was with thermostat, water pump and viscous-coupling fan.

Putting this newly developed engine into the body that had been created for it gave Aston Martin a car that carried four people in luxury, weighed well over one and a half tons, yet could accelerate from 0 - 60 mph in less than 6 seconds and had a top speed of 160 mph. Every aspect of the car needed superlatives for its description. With that weight and speed, the Girling brakes had to produce substantial stopping power - 1 ¼ inches thick front and rear, they were ventilated and had two independent hydraulic circuits to provide pressure to front and rear and the rear brakes had separate callipers for the handbrake. Unusually, Aston Martin made standard the fitment of specially made 15 inch alloy wheels with 7 inch rims.

Testing the car, a contemporary road test by Autocar noted the flexibility of the new V8 engine at the bottom end of its wide range. They noted that the torque curve was surprisingly flat noting that in fifth gear, the 20 mile per hour increments from 30 mph to 110 mph each took around 4 seconds less than the straight six it had tested the year before. They also noted that the clutch, having to cope with all the extra torque, was heavier than the six cylinder - they measured that it needed 50 pounds of force to depress the pedal. Handling and grip had been improved on the DBS with the de Dion rear axle - in the DBS V8.

Vehicle History

Delivered on April 1st 1972 by Eton Garages Limited to Mr Sleep of New Romney, the car was originally registered 'JOY 60K'. In 1976 with only 4,500 miles covered the car passed to Mr Michael Potts, then through Collier Street Garages to William Hargraves in May 1980. In 1983 it was owned by Nicholas Sibley (again through Collier Street Garages) when it had covered 27,500 miles and carried the personal registration number 'GF 840'. Notes in the car's history file state that during this period "the engine was rebuilt by Collier Street Garage - - - - ".

Christopher King acquired the car via Sargeants of Goudhurst, the well-known specialist, after which ownership passed in 1999 to Aston Martin Owners Club member Adrian Claxton of Gaydon Warwickshire in whose ownership the car underwent extensive restoration.

Acquiring the car in 2006 Dr Peter Brett continued this programme of excellent maintenance and improvement, intending to enjoy and use the tremendous performance of the car to the full via 'track days'. In 2009 the car passed into the hands of the current owner, a well-known English collector and enthusiast of the marque.

The ownership history in the file, together with the MOT records beginning in 1982 at 52,506 miles and extending through the current year, would tend to validate the current odometer reading.

Summary

The DBSV8 was the marque's first modern supercar after the DB4GT of the early sixties, and its performance as a luxury four seater was unparalleled. The sales brochure said it could cruise all day at 140 mph, four up, and some owners did so.

Whilst for some years later models of the V8 overshadowed the DBSV8, and the V8 Vantage of the late eighties became the Aston supercar of choice, this has changed as serious collectors and enthusiasts alike have recognised and come to value the purity and aesthetics of the original William Towns 'four headlight' design. Like many designs, whether the first Series One E type Jaguar, the 'plexiglass' fronted Ferrari Daytona, or the Porsche 356A, their development into the later versions generally lost the integrity of the original design and it is these first examples of the breed that are now most sought after. However, since the sixties and the seventies, models such as the DBSV8 can now benefit from much of the retrofitting and updating that marque specialists and AML have developed to make it eminently useable in modern day traffic conditions.

DBSV8/10259/R has benefited from many of these upgrades yet offers the owner all the excitement of the original model. Of the £48,687 of servicing and maintenance shown in the history file, £26,613 has been spent during the last three years with marque specialists such as the factory (AML) and Trinity Engineering. Importantly, the last 5,000 mile service and maintenance for £4,473 by Trinity Engineering was completed in October 2009 (less than 200 miles ago) and leaves the car well-prepared for the next owner.

Well-maintained examples of the DBSV8 with ZF manual specification, extensive history, and known mileage are very hard to find and increasingly sought after. Chassis 10259 warrants serious consideration by the informed buyer.