Believe it or not, the Aston Martin you see above is really a previous generation Ford Mustang. Built by Canada-based Exclusive Motor Cars, the extensive conversion included stretching the wheelbase, widening the track, fitting a custom interior, and adding 34 composite body panels to convert the coupe into one of the most believable replicars we’ve ever seen.

Look familiar? You might remember seeing the car when we discovered it back in January, but it has since received some upgrades straight out of James Bond’s V12 Vanquish in “Die Another Day”. Of course, the hood-mounted machine guns and the rocket launcher in the grill won’t be blowing up Bond villains any time soon, but you have to admit they’re pretty cool. They even retract neatly into the bodywork with the simple touch of a button. The good news is that you can have one of your own through the car’s distributor, Hillbank Motorsports. The bad news? It will cost you somewhere north of $100,000. We were fortunate enough to see the car in person, and took plenty of photos and a video showing the trick hide-away weapons. Hit the jump to see it in action.

When we recently posted on Aston Martin dragging Lagonda out of its crypt, one of the assertions was that “they’ve reportedly ruled out the possibility of a sport-ute.” That might have been nothing more than a semantic turn, as Car & Driver is reporting that the first Lagonda will be “something SUV-ish.”

Aston Martin CEO Ulrich Bez said the new car will have historical influences at the same time as it is “future-orientated,” but the giveaway for C&D seems to be in his line that it will be “truly versatile” and “suitable for both existing and emerging markets.” We can’t tell if anyone actually came out and told the mag that the car would be an SUV, but an Aston source is quoted as saying it “wouldn’t be an SUV in the same way as BMW X5.”

So back to the semantics of no “sport-ute” and “SUV-ish” — this sounds like it could be a brutish, hi-luxe sedan, or even a wagon suitably forceful enough to put space between it and the Rapide. Since Aston’s looking at its long-term future, we imagine it will want something that won’t leech sales, and that leaves a number of options. Which one the company settles on, however, we won’t know until the concept shows up at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show.

We were totally buying Hamann’s line about “form follows function,” right up until the point we saw the roof scoop on the tuner’s Aston Martin V8 Vantage package. That aside, the kit from Hamann is one of the most comprehensive we’ve seen, implementing an array of aerodynamic, handing and engine mods to take the baby Aston to the next level.

On the aero side, Hamann festooned the Vantage with a new lower front fascia with two-piece spoilers, added a pair of sideskirts, a three-piece rear diffuser and a small, if not entirely stealthy, rear spoiler. You can get all these bits, or a different lip spoiler, in either carbon fiber or fiberglass, along with a roof scoop allowing you to channel your LeMans ambitions in poseurific style.

The engine benefits from a retuned ECU that can boost power of the outgoing Aston’s 4.3-liter V8 to 358 hp (23 hp more than stock) or the 2009 model’s 4.7-liter V8 to 426 hp (30 hp more than stock). A stainless steel exhaust is supposedly good for another 20 hp, but it’s unclear whether the same gains can be attained without tweaking the Vantage’s computer.

The handling has been shored up with a set of Hamann’s three-piece 21-inch wheels and new springs that drop the Vantage by 30 mm up front and 20 mm in the rear, while the interior receives a new aluminum pedal set, bespoke floor mats and optional custom leather trim.

Would&wshyp;be collaboration between Mercedes and Aston Martin on all of it according to drivetrains to platforms. CAR’s September question becomes to all the details, that includes this tasty nuggest as the more than likely use of AMG’s 6.2-liter V8 in the afterward Vantage, porting through Mercedes’ times ahead eight-speed Automatic ‘box to Astons, sharing platforms between both automaker’s high-end cases (think SL and beyond), cooperating on the development of diesels and hybrids, and employing Aston’s coming years packages to remain Maybach alive and probably still assist the wayward ultra-luxury type thrive among up to four new models. But it becomes much bigger. A collaboration between the two could easily place M-B in a favorably position to buy Aston Martin if its new owners, plus Prodrive’s David Richards, choose to exit the automaking biz. As CAR points out, however, the simply possibility loser based on data from Project Alligator shooting to fruition is Mercedes’ opposite partner, McLaren.

It’s carried on a additonally ever since we heard everything throughout the Caparo T1 supercar. One of the multiple above average applications of the “F1 for the road” theme, the suppose originally started independently below the and cr Freestream before making received by ingredient manufacturer Caparo as a rolling demonstration of the newly written in automotive technology. Part of the tech is now noticing its way to a new British sportscar: the Aston Martin DB9.

Reports now suggest such a Aston Martin plans to be upgrading the brakes on its V12 sportscar investing in properties grown for the Caparo T1. In the place of the 355mm front discs by now employed could be a set of 378mm discs, gripped by four-pot calipers every machined for a enduring piece of cast aluminum. The new stoppers, matured by the 18-man collection at Caparo AP Braking, promise to deliver a 24% loss in fade additonally impacting largest temperatures by 18% in send back for 30% ebbed pedal require required. Interesting overly Aston Martin determined to outsource a new set of brakes for the DB9 in its place of adopting the carbon-ceramic structures of the top-of-the-line DBS.

What do such 3 vehicles undergo in common? They all occupy a space in my dream garage. Sure, I could’ve added a few a large amount of fantasy slots for a Ferrari 250 GTO, a Land Rover 90 and all of it in between, but the Bimmer, the Lotus and the Aston exemplify all I’ve continually wanted on two wheels: a powerful sedan, a competent track tool, and an elegant coupe. No question the occasion, I’m covered.

But there is a problem. While I’ve expended a fair quantity of minute in and almost the Elise and M5, I’ve never had the option to impel the Vantage. The Aston holds a spot on my lottery directory on looks as if it’s alone, so I arrived in San Francisco in a fair sum of trepidation. Will the V8 Vantage be anything I’ve dreamt in regards to or are able to it be the automotive equivalent of meeting my hero?

From the new batch, it seems so all folks louvers on the hood is able to keep – a clamor for cooling the 600-hp V12 who is sitting at which a 380-hp V8 by and large resides – but the rear wing looks like it’s to own kept on reduced, providing a big carbon-fiber diffuser choosing throughout the match (literally) of the downforce requirements. Eyewitness accounts mean this the test mule is additionally wearing the carbon-ceramic disc brakes based on what i read in the up to date top-of-the-line DBS, additonally insiders assume the imminently desirable supercar to bear an equally breathtaking pricetag at dual which of the base V8 version. Worth it? We’re betting yes.

Prince Charles is not new to the environmental debate. His blue, 38-year-old Aston Martin, however, has had not anything to do provided making environmentally friendly. Until now. The car, a gift of the Queen on Charles’ 21st birthday, has joined the spreading fleet of cars which run on bioethanol, going through been heard influenced to run on further British wine.

The wine comes based on what i read in an English vineyard in Wiltshire, and the EU limits how a great deal wine a vineyard can produce, so the vineyard transactions the overage to Green Fuels, that turns it to biofuels and permits it to the Palace.

The Aston can go ten miles on a gallon of gas, that should meet to 45 bottles of wine to go the same distance. The wine, though, enters out 85-percent a reduced number of CO2 and price £1.10 per liter, that is somewhat diminished as opposed to the price level of gas. However, Charles easily goes 300 miles in the car any year, and it is not fancy he’s antsy up gas prices, so the car can not take in a adjustment by itself — but he’s got his royal middle in the better place.

Who argued the present one and only Lamborghini becomes the designer treatment? So performs Aston Martin the current teamed up investing in design structure Kilgour of Savile Row to current a haute couture bespoke V8 Vantage Coupe at Kilgour’s first-ever form substantiate in Paris. The one-off V8 Vantage was wrapped up in a top notch Morning Frost Satin paint, additonally the coupe’s interior was persuaded by Kilgour’s recent team and concluded in Kilgour Midnight Blue, amid the seat-inserts adorned through a polka-dot effect. Unfortunately, Aston Martin did not submit any pictures of the polka-dot cabin…

As half of its silver anniversary, the current year’s Newport Beach Concours d’Elegance gathered up a option of former Best of Show winners as its featured marque. That lead to visitors got greeted by a Jaguar XK-SS and SS-100, a mauve Gullwing Mercedes, a Maserati A6 GS (above), an Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, a distinct ostrich-skin interior Delahaye 135, and a beautiful brown and orange Duesenberg SJ Boattail Speedster. A quite astronomical start on to a day of classic car nirvana. Although currently is a still relatively low prestigious confirm as opposed to Pebble Beach, Meadowbrook, Amelia Island or Villa d’Este, the class of cars in Southern California shows the cars themselves are that much chiefly tier.

Some of the various beautiful and major vehicles according to most every era turn up for the multiple exclusive collections around. Representatives based on The Petersen, The Nethercutt Collection, the William Lyon Estate, and the Marconi Museum got on display, enticing spectators to dig to the pockets to improve bucks for charity. Although carry on to referred to as the Newport Beach Concours d’Elegance while of its first home, presently worry has amended venues multitude of times before ending up at Strawberry Farms Golf Club a few of ages ago. With the cars parked in the expected bowl of the driving range, it is an intimate and manageable show.