Introduction
As promised, I am beginning the articles about all the cars released in 1969, starting with the Aston Martin V8. I think that this is a pretty good way to start this series as it really starts us off with some class. The Aston Martin V8 is, well there's really no other way to put this, a sexy car! It is, in simple terms, a European muscle car. You will immediately know what I mean just by taking a look at it. It has the muscle car style but with a distinctly European touch!
The History
In 1967, the previous Aston Martin model, the DB6, was starting to become an aged car and Aston Martin needed something new. So, they decided to introduce the Aston Martin DBS. They originally wanted it to have a new V8 engine. Unfortunately, that engine wasn't ready and the 1967 and 1968 model years got the old V6 engine meaning that they were slower than Aston Martin had previously planned for. This changed though in 1969.
In 1969 the new Aston Martin V8 engine was ready and they immediately started creating Aston Martin DBS V8 models. However, since the DBS was already released as a V6, people started calling the new DBS with the V8 the 'Aston Martin V8'. This name quickly stuck and became the most popular name for this car. The Aston Martin V8 became Aston Martin's new flagship vehicle and replaced the old DB6 as they had planned.
Each Aston Martin DBS V8 was built by hand as the Aston Martin factory in Britain. Each car took roughly 1,200 hours to build, which is quite a lot of time. Due to this insane amount of work that was required to produce one car, they were quite expensive. For the same reason, only 402 DBS V8 models were ever produced by Aston Martin. Take both of these facts into account and you can start to understand why finding these today is so difficult. I scoured the internet and auction sites and was not able to find one that is on sale or going to be on sale soon.
The Looks
This car looked modern and quite sleek for its time. Aston Martin said that they were trying to create a modern take on the classic designs of the older Aston Martin models. The front end is quite good looking with its squared-off grill and large chrome bumper. The grill creates leading lines that run straight into the large front head lamps that almost give the car an aggressive look! However, if the head lamps don't make the car look angry, that hood scoop certainly does.
It is not too often that you see a hood scoop on a European car, but Aston Martin did is correctly. It looks fantastic and to add to that, they also gave it some flowing side vents! From the side, the car has a front engined, swept back look that almost lends to the idea that it is a muscle car. The difference is that this car is slightly smaller and slightly more well spoken. The rear is smooth and sloping and, let me just say this, I would love to be driving behind one of these!
The Specs
Before I really get into the specs, I want to remind everyone that this is 1969. These cars were fast for their day, and are still fast compared to a lot of cars today! Now, as you already probably could assume, this car is equipped with a V8. To be specific, it is a 5.3 L Aston Martin designed V8. Aston Martin never officially released the figures for this cars engine, but it has been recorded that it can create up to 315 horse power!
The car was pretty fast for its day, but keep in mind that it was a grand tourer and was not designed to be breaking any land speed records. The car has a recorded 0-62 mph time of 7.1 seconds, which gives you enough time to listen to the engine roar as you put your foot down. If you kept your foot down and slammed it into top gear, the car will reach a top speed of 150 mph! 150 mph is fast by any standards and especially fast for a car that was designed in 1969!
Conclusion
I hope that you are not reading this article as a prospective buyer, because you will be hard pressed to find a model available. However, I do hope that you learned something about the Aston Martin V8 from this article! If you enjoyed this one, there are more coming! We are going to be doing articles about all the cars released in 1969!
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