One Owner! Front & Rear Cameras! Bang & Olufsen! Ceramic Brakes! on 2040-cars

Auto blog

800-hp Aston Martin Vulcan will live long and prosper... on the track

The Aston Martin Vulcan might by one of the most beautiful creations to ever emerge from the British sports car company. Unfortunately, its status as a track-only toy limited to 24 units makes seeing one on the road practically impossible. That's a shame, too, because nothing would wake up an early morning commute better than seeing jets of flame shoot out of the side of this coupe. For the Vulcan, Aston Martin takes a 7.0-liter version of its tried and true V12 and promises to extract over 800 horsepower from it. The engine is hooked up to a six-speed sequential gearbox, and the car features all of the other necessities for a full-bore track car too. The pushrod suspension, anti-lock carbon-ceramic brakes and traction control are all fully adjustable to create the perfect balance for any circuit. Underneath, there's a carbon fiber monocoque, and the body panels are also made from the lightweight material. While the mechanicals are everything a driver could want on the track, the design is just as attractive. The styling takes the taut lines from Aston Martins of the last decade and sharpens everything to look futuristic. The pointed, orange filaments making up the taillights are an especially cool touch. The brand promises to reinterpret this look for future models, so we might still see inspiration of it on the road. Give it a thorough look in our live gallery above from the floor at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show. Related Video:

Rare 1958 Aston to be auctioned in Tennessee

Decaying Aston Martins are showing up on the auction block all over the world. The final, original DBS recently went up for bid in the UK, and to go up for sale on the other side of the Atlantic, a 1958 DB Mark III was recently found wasting away in a Tennessee garage. "I didn't know much about it, except it was old and worth some money," said owner Tammy Maxwell to Clarksville Now. Her husband bought the Aston in Hawaii in 1975 and carried the car along with him until the family settled in Tennessee. He originally intended to restore it but an illness got in the way. Now, the vintage coupe is crossing the auction block in Cumberland Furnace, TN, on April 11 through Auction World Gallery. This example is in very rough shape, though. The paint and trim are gone from the entire front end, and the interior is a rat's nest of parts. There's no mention of whether the powertrain is intact, although a crankshaft is visible sitting in the boot and possibly a carb on the passenger seat. It's going to be a big project to get this Mark III back on the road. According to Aston Martin, the company built just 552 examples of the DB Mark III, and 462 of them were the coupe body style shown here that featured a hatchback. Power came from a 2.9-liter inline-six routed through a four-speed manual gearbox. The car also grabbed a unique footnote in pop culture history as James Bond's car in the book Goldfinger, rather than the DB5 in the film version.

Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato set to dazzle Villa d'Este

Aston Martin and iconic Italian design house Zagato teamed up to create a striking carbon-fiber-bodied concept set to debut at a glitzy concours on the shores of Lake Como, Italy, this weekend. The Vanquish Zagato will be on display at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este, marking the fifth time that Aston and Zagato have collaborated on a car over five decades, beginning with the DB4 GT Zagato in 1960. The Vanquish Zagato concept has taillights that use traditional Zagato styling, but also use the bladed LED technology from the Vulcan supercar. The rear styling evokes the DB11 and features a quad-exhaust system and retractable rear spoiler. A carbon-fiber sill runs around the body. The roof has a double-bubble profile that's a hallmark of Zagato design that dates to the 1950s. The cabin is loaded with more carbon fiber and leathers, and the seats have a Z quilted stitch pattern with more Zs in the headrests and the center console. Power comes from a naturally aspirated V12 uprated to 592 horsepower. "We pride ourselves on our strong partnership, and the creation of the Vanquish Zagato concept was a true shared experience," Zagato CEO Andrea Zagato said in a statement. "It represents the essence of an important design relationship that dates back over 50 years." Related Video: Featured Gallery Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato View 10 Photos Design/Style Aston Martin Coupe Performance Supercars aston martin vanquish concorso deleganza villa deste aston martin vanquish zagato