From Harold Radford’s DB6s to Bertone’s Jets, there’s a long and proud (if somewhat obscure) history of Aston Martin shooting brakes – sports coupes turned into estate wagons. And one such example is coming up for auction.
Set to headline the Bonhams sale at the Aston Martin Works in Newport Pagnell, this V8 Sportsman is one of only three built – and one of two commissioned by a pair of brothers in Switzerland back in 1996, the other having been sold by the same auction house two years ago.
Chassis 79007 left the factory as a V8 Coupe – Aston’s replacement to the Virage and big brother to the DB7 – but was returned to the factory that same year for conversion to a three-door wagon. It still packs a naturally aspirated 5.3-liter V8 up front – producing 330 horsepower and completely rebuilt in 1999 – but incorporates an extended roofline (if not necessarily a very handsome one), affording it extra cargo space in the back. It even has an onboard humidor and has been upgraded with a modern sat-nav system.
Done up inside and out in British Racing Green, it’s been maintained, cost no object, by the same operation where the sale is set to take place, and has about 13,000 miles on the clock – only 800 of which have been accrued in the last seven years. It’s had only three owners in its history: the original Swiss gentleman, a French art collector, and its current proprietor who’s held it as part of a “significant private collection of Aston Martins.”
If it’s your cup of Earl Grey, you could be the fourth. Bonhams expects it to sell for over £300,000 ($386k) at its 18th annual dedicated Aston Martin sale on May 13, where it will be just one of the many Astons and Lagondas on offer. Watch this space for more.
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