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Aston Martin's Vanquish S Red Arrow aerobatics special edition is a stunning tribute

Aston Martin's in-house custom car division, Q, has just revealed its latest model, the Aston Martin Vanquish S Red Arrows Edition. The Vanquish is themed around the Red Arrows, a British aerobatics team like the American Blue Angels. The connection to the team starts from the outside, with a bright, gloss red paint job with white and blue accents on the carbon fiber trim to replicate the look of the Red Arrows' planes. The badges have red, white, and blue enamel to evoke the Union Jack flag, and a white stripe along the side is meant to look like the smoke trails left by the planes. Inside, the interior is finished in black leather with khaki green leather inserts and matching seatbelts. According to Aston Martin, this color scheme echoes the flight suits worn by the Red Arrows team. The flight team's logo, which shows their diamond-shaped flight formation, is embroidered into the seat backs. The door panels also receive custom embroidery, which shows the "Vixen Break" maneuver. This particular Vanquish S loses its rear seats to make space for a pair of racing helmets that come with the car. The helmets are painted in Red Arrows colors. In addition to the helmets, Aston Martin will include scale models of the car and a Red Arrows plane, a racing suit, embroidered bomber jacket, and a custom luggage set. In keeping with the Red Arrows theme, only nine of these cars will be sold, one for each member of the aerobatics team. Each car will also be signed by the corresponding Red Arrows pilot. Aston will build a tenth car that will be donated to the RAF Benevolent Fund, which helps support veterans and their families. Related Video:

Aston Martin find unique way to recycle scraps of leather

Ever wonder what happens to the scraps of leather left over after skilled craftsmen are done upholstering the interior of a luxury automobile? There's a lot of hide left over, as we've seen first-hand from visiting the upholstery workshops at various factories, but much of the waste is made up of tiny cutoffs. Some of those pieces might be used for repair kits, some scraps for smaller pieces of merchandise, while others might be sold to nearby craftsmen. Aston Martin found a different use for some of its leftovers. The British automaker put down a canvas in the VIP atrium at its headquarters in Gaydon, UK, and equipped a team of artisans with a whole pile of leather samples. What they did with it is perhaps the most compelling example of recycling we've seen to date. The end result, as you can see from this latest video, is an artistic representation of the Vanquish, made entirely out of leather – as if the interior of the luxurious sports car isn't already clad in enough of the stuff. Of course, it doesn't have the Vanquish's 6.0-liter V12 and its 568 horsepower, so unlike most Astons, it won't be going anywhere in a hurry. Perhaps it could be hung in the upholstery workshop for future workers to admire. Related Video:

Submit your questions for Autoblog Podcast #379 LIVE!

We're set to record Autoblog Podcast #379 this evening.Check out the topics below, or drop us your questions and comments via our Q&A module. And don't forget to subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes if you haven't already done so. To take it all in live, tune in to our UStream (audio only) channel at 10:00 PM Eastern tonight.
Discussion Topics for Autoblog Podcast Episode #379
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