2006 Aston Martin Db9 Coupe One Owner Nice! on 2040-cars

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Inside the Aston Martin Heritage Trust, the company's secret museum

The Aston Martin Heritage Trust Museum has been in existence since 2002. It houses the official archives of the Aston Martin Lagonda Company, as well as those of the Aston Martin Owners Club, at the behest of which the Museum was founded back in 1998. It also houses a rotating collection of distinctive and historically significant Aston Martin vehicles, cherry picked from a century of the automaker's exquisite existence. Unfortunately for those besotted with the brand, as I am, the AHMT is located on the periphery of the exurbs of nowhere, in a restored 14th century barn on a dirt road, blocks off the river in the wee Midlands village of Drayton St. Leonard. An address is not published. The only indication that you might be in the right place is an almost intentionally innocuous government tourism placard, placed somewhat near the turnoff. "We used to maybe get a hundred visitors a year before they put up the sign," says AMHT Curator Donna Bannister, an American of equally mysterious provenance. "Now we get almost a hundred per month." Lucky are the souls who find the AMHT (my cabby wasn't among them; I had to walk a bit), because it houses, in its cramped Middle Aged quarters, some real treasures. Greeting me when I entered was a bare-metal-nosed 1921 A3, the oldest existing Aston Martin in the world, which was bought at auction in 2000 and restored to driving condition via the generous underwriting of Sheik Nasser of Kuwait, who is apparently a huge AM collector. "It won Kop Hill in 1923," Bannister says. "We recently took it back there, and to the Windsor Concours d'Elegance. Of course the Royals are big fans of the Aston brand." There's also a 1934 Ulster BLB 684, the only remaining one in a 2+2 configuration. This car is a driver as well. "Club members can hire it out," Bannister says. "Though because it's quite difficult to drive – it has the clutch in the center, and the gas and brake on either side – only a few do." There is a passel of more recent notables, like the 2000 V12 Vanquish cutaway, an auto show maquette meant to demonstrate the fruits of Ford's huge investment in the brand at the start of this century. There's a pre-production, gloss white 2013 Vanquish Volante, which was used for photos and promotion as well, but never registered due to some inconsistencies in the paint. There are display engines from the DB4GT, the Lagonda V8, and the twin-supercharged Vantage (swoon!).

Aston Martin DBS Superleggera Concorde Edition celebrates airspeed

This year is the 100th birthday of British Airways, as well as the 50th anniversary of the first flight for the Aerospatiale/BAC Concorde supersonic passenger jet. Today marks the 16th anniversary of the Concorde's final hop, when Concorde 216 registered as G-BOAF flew from Heathrow to Bristol, England, with 100 BA employees on board, to roll into a display space at the Aerospace Bristol museum. That same plane was the last Concorde built, coming off the line in 1978 at BAC Filton Bristol. To celebrate the plane and BA and its aerospace neighbor, Aston Martin Bristol commissioned 10 special editions called the DBS Superleggera Concorde. Pieced together with the expertise of Q by Aston Martin, the coupe is the latest in Aston Martin's aviation-inspired Wings Series specials, following the Vanquish S Red Arrows Edition, Vantage Blades Edition, and V12 Vantage S Spitfire 80. Dressed in white, the coupe gets ornament in British Airways livery colors on the front splitter, roof strake, rear spoiler, rear diffuser, and inside the Aston Martin wings badge. A Concorde graphic decorates the black, carbon fiber roof, and a Concorde-shaped chunk of solid aluminum streaks through the side strakes. The British Airways "Speedmarque" logo is on the front fender above the black enamel Q by Aston Martin badge, the rear fenders wearing registration G-BOAF.    Printed Alcantara on the Superleggera's cockpit headliner displays a sonic boom graphic, the front visors get mach meter graphics, the front seats show off Concorde and Speedmarque logos. Pieces of titanium compressor blades from the supersonic bird have been turned into paddle shifters, and embossed solid aluminum seatbelt buckles shine the Concorde again. The floor mats adopt a design by Sir Terence Conran, he being one of three designers commissioned to upgrade the Concorde's interior not long before the jet went out of service. The 5.2-liter V12 engine holds steady at 710 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque, plenty of thrust for booming travel on the ground. Aston Martin Bristol says it will donate part of the proceeds from each sale to the Air League Trust, a nonprofit that teaches underprivileged children how to fly and helps open doors for them into engineering professions.

James Bond Aston Martin Lego kit coming soon from Denmark with love

It's a good time to be a Lego fan and a car enthusiast. We've got little Speed Champions models of Le Mans race cars and classic sports cars, and intricate big models ranging from the VW Beetle to the Bugatti Chiron. The streak continues soon with a new kit announced by Aston Martin's Twitter page. Apparently Lego will be making a kit based on a car from one of the James Bond films. It's been 'driving' us wild with excitement and now we're nearly ready to reveal this powerful creation! #LicenceToBuild pic.twitter.com/KYHiHxlcR0 — Aston Martin (@astonmartin) July 3, 2018 The thing is, the cover art doesn't actually show what car will be used. There are quite a few Astons to pick from, too. You've got the most recent one, the DB10 from "Spectre." Then of course the DBS from " Casino Royale" and " Quantum of Solace." Oh, and how could anyone forget the missile-launching, active-camouflaging Vanquish from "Die Another Day"? View 61 Photos If we're being honest, though, there's only one Aston Martin that is truly exemplary of Bond, and that's the DB5 from "Goldfinger." It's timelessly cool, has all the gadgets, and keeps reappearing in more recent Bond films. As such, there would be no better place to start for a Lego James Bond car kit. And, since the kit will be a Creator Expert series model, we can imagine it having functioning gadgets such as the revolving license plates and the ejector seat. Man, this kit could be so cool. Hopefully we don't have to wait long to see all the details. Related Video: Image Credit: Aston Martin, RM Sotheby's Toys/Games TV/Movies Aston Martin Coupe Performance Classics Lego