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Roger Moore's 1970 Aston Martin DBS sells for $900k [w/video]

Think of Roger Moore zipping around Europe in an Aston Martin thwarting evil plans, and you'll probably think James Bond, right? Wrong. Because though 007 has driven a variety of Astons in the various films over the years, none of those were in the Moore era. He drove a Chevy Impala in Live and Let Die, a Mercedes in The Man With The Golden Gun, a Lotus Esprit in both The Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only, a Range Rover in Octopussy and a Ford LTD in A View to a Kill. But that wasn't the only jet-setting do-gooder Moore played. He drove a Volvo as Simon Templar in The Saint, but after that and before his Bond days, he got his turn behind the wheel of an Aston in a television series called The Persuaders! The show starred Moore as Lord Brett Sinclair and Tony Curtis as American playboy Danny Wilde in a TV series that ran on both ITV in the UK and ABC in the US. It sadly only ran for one 24-episode season, but remains a cult classic. The series was as much about the cars as it was the stars, with Curtis speeding around Europe in a Ferrari 246 GT Dino and Moore in this yellow 1970 Aston Martin DBS. And it just sold at auction. As Octane pointed out when it drove the car for its September 2013 issue, the car was loaned to the show's producers and, though it packs the 4.0-liter inline-six of the DBS, was fitted with the wheels and badges of the Aston Martin V8 that followed – just without the eight-cylinder engine. It was sold to a private owner after the show finished filming and then bounced around different owners before collector and enthusiast Mike Sanders bought it and subsequently sold it to one Ed Stratton. Ed brought it back to show spec, took it to Villa d'Este, had Moore and Curtis sign the inside of the trunk lid, and now put it up for auction. The star of Bonhams' 15th annual sale at the Aston Martin Works in Newport Pagnell this past weekend, the DBS sold for a record GBP533,500 – equivalent to almost $900k at today's rates – contributing to GBP8.7 million ($14.6m) in total sales that day. Find the press release below, along with a video of a pretty great scene from The Persuaders! with both Moore and Curtis. ROGER MOORE'S 'THE PERSUADERS!' ASTON MARTIN SETS WORLD RECORD FOR A DBS SOLD AT AUCTION 17 May 2014, The Aston Martin Works Sale In its 15th year Bonhams Aston Martin Works sale totals at GBP8.7 million Roger Moore's 'The Persuaders!' Aston Martin DBS sets world record for DBS sold at auction, selling for GBP533,500.

Aston Martin DB10 based on V8 Vantage

If you looked at the new DB10 that Aston Martin revealed just a few days ago and thought as we did that it looked an awful lot like a reskinned Vantage, there's good reason for that. According to Automotive News, a reskinned V8 Vantage is exactly what the DB10 is. Instead of basing the limited-production spymobile on the new architecture it's developing and fitting it with the new engine it's sourcing from Mercedes-AMG, the DB10 is built around the same VH platform and V8 engine as the aging Vantage. Though it's evolved over the years, the VH platform dates back to the V12 Vanquish that launched way back in 2001. The second generation of that platform underpins the Vantage on which the DB10 is reportedly based, powered by a version of Jaguar's AJV8 engine that dates back to 1996. What is new about it is the design language that the new DB10 previews. More than any recent concept – like the DP-100 Vision Gran Turismo, CC100 Speedster or the most recent Zagato one-offs – the DB10 is said to embody the new direction in which Marek Reichman and his team plan to take the company's styling, moving away from the current theme it has employed for the past couple of decades. So while the DB10 you see here may not be packing much in the way of new technology, the subsequent models that will follow its lead hopefully will.

More V12 power, no turbos | 2017 Aston Martin Vanquish S First Drive

Like the last days of the dinosaurs, Aston Martin's $294,950 Vanquish S is one of a handful of extant Tyrannosaurus Rex – few big-capacity naturally aspirated engines still bellow rage at the world in general. So, six liters, twelve cylinders, 48 valves, and no turbos; hurrah. Well, as long as you're not buying the gas. As the delivery driver who brought this car to me observed: "Whatever I seem to do with this car, it never gives more than 14.5 mpg, where as long as you barely touch the throttle, the new DB11 gives you about 18." Aston's DB11, which debuted this year with a fresh chassis/powertrain architecture that will eventually underpin a new car with the Vanquish nameplate, is twin-turbocharged. The Vanquish S, with its extra power, is decidedly not. It's the off-duty moments that stymie gas mileage for naturally aspirated mills like the one in this car. Dragging that huge crank, con rods, pistons, and cams around plays havoc on economy when you aren't on it like jam on toast. At full throttle, there's not a lot in it, turbo or no turbo. The Vanquish is the most unlikely car ever to have almost not made it into production. The name was first used in 2001 attached to Ian Callum's toothsome aluminum/carbon composite coupe body, but then chief executive Uli Bez held it back for six months, officially because he didn't like the Ford Ka air vents. Unofficially, as he later admitted: "What no one wanted to hear at the time is that Vanquish was crap. I changed 200 things, and even then, it burned through gearboxes." At the heart of the Vanquish then and now is a V12 engine, effectively built out of two Ford Mondeo Cleveland V6 units. It's easy to scoff at such humble beginnings, but the rumor machine elicits Porsche and Cosworth involvement in its gestation. First introduced in the 1999 DB7 V12 Vantage, the engine was then tuned to 460 horsepower for the 2001 Vanquish, which also debuted Aston's bonded-and-riveted VH platform chassis. Over 2,500 of these amazing cars were sold in standard and (from 2004) S forms, though its robotized manual transmission was problematic.