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1971 Aston Martin DBS V8

Reliant Scimitar enthusiast Jim Pace has always fancied spending a day in an Aston Martin DBS V8 playing Roger Moore from The Persuaders! Today we make it happen.

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Aston Martin drivers - Roy Salvadori

Roy Salvadori was one of Aston Martin’s most important drivers throughout the Fifties. We look at his long and successful career.

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1993 Aston Martin Vantage V600

With its twin supercharged 5.3-litre V8 resulting in huge performance, yet still having the kind of luxurious interior Aston was now renowned for, the Vantage was the quintessential British supercar of the Nineties. Thirty years after its debut, we explore its history and later development before taking one of these refined brutes for a drive.

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Aston Martin DB7 vs. Jaguar XJS

Despite coming from two different manufacturers, by sharing much below the surface, the DB7 and Jaguar XJS are closely related. We compare a straight six-engined example of each to discover which of these surprising siblings we prefer.

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1966 Aston Martin DB5 V8

To aid development of the Tadek Marek-designed V8, Aston Martin produced a one-off DB5/DB6 hybrid in early 1966 that was powered by the new unit. Despite being a well-used prototype, the car survived and we’ve driven it.

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Aston Martin DB5 vs. Bristol 408

As a variety of cars we excelled at, there were plenty of British-built grand tourers during the Sixties and one of the best was the Aston Martin DB5. Or did the rarer Bristol 408 off er something more?

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1965 Aston Martin DB5 Radford Shooting Brake

Instigated by David Brown himself but hand-built by a London-based coachbuilder, Harold Radford, the DB5 Shooting Brake was aimed at Aston Martin owners who enjoyed outdoor pursuits and therefore needed more interior room. Just 12 were produced and we’ve tracked one down.

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1962 and 1963 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato

To own an Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato is a privilege. To own two, well… Octane.

Editor's comment
DAVID ROSCOE-RUTTER
‘Not one, but two! Incredibly beautiful GTs yet with a surprisingly raw sports car feel, these two very special Astons drew plenty of attention and were a dream to shoot. I'll take one.' David's superb photography accompanies Glen Waddington s Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato feature on pages.

Celebrating a pair of unsung heroes


If the Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato isn’t Britain’s most expensive road car, then it must be there or thereabouts, presumably sparring with the XKSS for top spot in price and rarity. I can’t think of many others to rival the Ercole Spada-penned beauty that don’t have a significantly more racy bias. To see just one of these 20-off (if you ignore the seasonal raft of ‘Sanction’ cars) rarities anywhere, even static on a concours field, is a major event.


So how about two of the lightened and tightened Zagato masterpieces doing what they were designed to do and being driven? And for good measure let’s do some of that driving on a beach in north-west England in spring, when the weather hasn’t yet decided whether it wants to cling on to winter or slide into summer. Pretty special - probably unique - stuff and all very Octane, yet the fact that this story happened at all also says a great deal about long-serving classic car dealer and industry disciple William Loughran. He owns both cars and that’s pretty much unheard of.

To give you a left-field insight into the man, many of you will know that Octane is the power behind the Historic Motoring Awards. Well, a couple of years ago we wanted to introduce a new award to recognise someone who had navigated the classic car industry for a lifetime with barely a blemish to their name, someone who was not just an ambassador but could be held up as a beacon of honesty, devotion and good practice. We struggled with a name for the gong. It started off plainly as The Integrity Award and ended up morphing into the Classic Car Ambassador of the Year, which embodied the sentiment but was very slightly different. What remained constant throughout, though, was the single criterion for the winner and, in the words of Octane’s Sanjay Seetanah, it should be ‘someone like William Loughran’.

Talking of Sanjay, just last month in this column I briefly mentioned our everpresent advertising team, the dark ops of Octane led by Sanjay from Issue One. Well, such was the reader response that you can find out a lot more about him this month. In response to overwhelming reader demand we’ve made him the subject of Autobiography (basically the old Day In The Life page, but with less cereal and Horlicks) so you can all see what makes him tick - and why he is as passionate about classic cars as anyone on the editorial team.
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1976 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Evolution upgraded 6.0-litre V8, fuel injection and modern 6-speed transmission

With its V8 now to six litres and featuring fuel injection plus a modern six-speed gearbox and beefed-up suspension, this 1976 AM V8 Saloon is a modern interpretation of an always popular classic Aston Martin.

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2001 Aston Martin Vanquish

To mark the 25th anniversary of a unique concept the eventual Vanquish production model was based on, we’re driving an example of the V12 supercar across one of the UK’s best driving roads.

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1958 Aston Martin DB4 Coupe Superleggera 3.7

As the first Aston Martin to be designed by Touring and the first road car to use the company’s new straight-six engine, the DB4 laid the foundations for its later, more famous models. For the car’s 65th anniversary, we look at its history before driving a beautiful, early model.

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75 years of Aston Martin’s DB sports cars - 1948 DB1 vs 2023 DB11

Although Aston Martin’s first post-war sports car from 1948 was officially called the 2-Litre Sports, it’s more commonly known as the DB1, the first of a long line of models to use the name that continues to this day. To mark 75 years of the DB range, we’re comparing the first and last to use it.

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1997 Aston Martin DB7 3.2 Automatic vs. 2003 Aston Martin DB7 GT 5.9

To mark the 30th anniversary of the DB7’s public debut, we look at the car’s development and importance to Aston Martin’s history before comparing a 3.2 with a late 5.9 GT

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1993 Aston Martin Lagonda Vignale

King Baudouin’s DB2/4 isn’t the only Aston Martin linked to the Vignale name; in 1993, AML revealed a concept named after the famous Italian design house.

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Aston Martin drivers - Carrol Shelby

To mark the 100th anniversary of Carroll Shelby’s birth, we look at the career of this iconic American who won the 1959 Le Mans

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