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| It doesn't get much better than the new DBS Volante. (Photo: Canadian Auto Press) |
The Aston Martin DBS Volante I recently put through its paces is the latest in a long line of highly desirable sports cars from this fabled British automaker that goes way back to the earlier part of the last century.
Over the years, the cars have earned widespread fame (not least in many a James Bond movie) and successive generations have each improved upon the last despite periodic corporate upheavals. The “Aston Martin” name, for those who care about such trivia, came from the marque's founder Lionel Martin, who attached the prefix “Aston” in honour of the once-famed Aston Clinton hill climb course on which he raced before and after the First World War.
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| Sweet from any angle. (Photo: Canadian Auto Press) |
The automaker was founded in 1913 as Bamford and Martin and was always involved with sports and racing cars of one kind or another. Many notable successes were recorded by the firm over the years, including victory at LeMans and the World Sports Car Championship in 1959. More recently, class wins have been recorded at Le Mans in various Astons, including production-based models. Wealthy business entrepreneur David (later Sir David) Brown bought the company in 1947 (for less than $50,000!) and the DB of his initials lives on today, even though his involvement ended decades ago and he died in 1993. A long and fruitful period of Ford ownership was followed more recently with the purchase of Aston Martin by a group of private investors.
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| No shortage of top-tier appointments. (Photo: Canadian Auto Press) |
But enough of history lessons. Bond's gadget-laden DB5 may have had the firepower of a WW2 fighter-bomber, but the new DBS Volante rivals the best of the best when it comes to performance, handling, refinement and - let's not forget this - downright luxury.
