1973 Aston Martin Vantage

The Aston Martin Vantage was always intended to host the Tadek Marek designed V8, which of course it did, but there are 70 rare beasts who continued to use the Aston Martin 4.0 litre straight-six that was such a staple of the brand

In period the V8 might have been seen as the 'better' option but today we're not quite sure, as the car fits so nicely the smooth and balanced nature of the famous DOHC six with the dog leg manual gear box

Our car has a modest 10 previous owners, the last being Aston Workshop who supplied the car in 2010 to the most recent keeper

The first invoice in the file is from the well known Richard Stewart Williams (RS Williams) dated 1986 with the car at 61,261 miles. RS continued to look after her until the turn of the decade

Incidentally it was during this period of the late 80s that RS were sanctioned by AML & Zagato to build four continuation DB4GT Zagato's, so one can be well assured of the quality work they were producing at the time

From the first invoice in 1986 to the present day there is a continuous stream of invoices exclusively written by Aston Martin specialists and main dealers who undertook annual servicing and maintenance

When reading through the file it is clear that no expense was spared by any of the owners in her upkeep

Regular and thorough maintenance continued until 2004 when she was SORN'd, for our overseas friends, a SORN is the legal way of declaring in the UK that a vehicle isn't being used

She stayed on SORN until 2009 when she was given a full recommission by the Aston Workshop who spent a total of 88 hours performing a meticulous health check on the engine, transmission, steering, braking, body, sills, lights & electronics

She was an obvious choice then when looking for such a car, and now with her recent bare metal respray into the lovely Old English Pewter she presents as well as you could imagine

The most recent keeper acquired her in 2010 and continued on in the vein of fastidious and quality maintenance

At the same time and perhaps unnecessarily, although certainly to the cars benefit, her engine was the subject of a full restoration, during which it was stripped and rebuilt and the engine bay repainted

Many many thousands of pounds have been spent on her maintenance by this chap, all documented in the file showing a life of luxury, and certainly a last decade of care very few cars are lucky enough to experience - the most recent work of significance being a brand new wiring loom

Rather charmingly the interior remains completely original and only shows signs of how she's been so well looked after during her 47 years