Just a few months after unveiling its new DB12 “super tourer” coupe, Aston Martin has introduced the convertible version, called Volante. The British automaker first used the Volante name on a special run of 37 DB5 convertibles in 1965 and has used it on its convertibles since. The name is Italian for ‘flying’ or ‘moving lightly and quickly.’ The 671-horsepower DB12 Volante can certainly do that. The newest Aston Martin would seem to have just two direct rivals, the Ferrari Roma Spider and Bentley Continental GTC. Which would you choose?
Aston Martin bills its new DB12 grand tourer as a “super tourer” because, the British automaker says, “grand is not enough” to describe the DB11’s successor. Marketing fluff aside, the new DB12 appears to be a super new entry into a segment where its closest rival is the Ferrari Roma. The overall look will be familiar to Aston fans, and the interior steps up to a “super” level of grand touring luxury and tech. The Mercedes-AMG twin-turbo V8 gets a boost to a very super 671 horsepower, easily exceeding the DB11’s V8 and V12. Customer deliveries start in fall.
This year at Amelia Island, Bonhams will lift the gavel on nearly 120 collector cars spanning automotive history from the dawn of motoring to the mid-2010s, including vehicles from several noted collections. Industry experts selected their favorite cars of the group, including a Porsche, Aston Martin, Jaguar, and even a prewar Bugatti.
Going into the weekend, there had been much buzz around two much-publicized “barn finds,” or more accurately, cars that had been evicted from a condemned garage earlier this year, a 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB long-nose alloy coupe and a 1966 Shelby Cobra 427 Roadster.
James Bond might have made Aston Martin famous outside of car enthusiast circles when he drove a tricked-out DB5 in 1964’s “Goldfinger,” but by then the marque was already well established within the enthusiast realm. The foundation for the DB5’s prominence had already been built by its predecessor, the DB4.
