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'Q by Aston Martin' bringing unique creations to Monterey

Want an Aston Martin unlike any other on the road? You'll need to look to Q, and no, we're not talking about the inimitable Desmond Llewelyn. No, we're referring to Aston's in-house customization shop, a one-stop destination that can set your Vantage or Vanquish even further apart from every other vehicle on the road. Aston Martin is bringing four new Q-customized cars to next week's festivities in scenic Monterey, CA, covering the gamut of the brand's portfolio. At the lead is the Aston Martin flagship, the hardtop Vanquish. Finished in an eye-catching – and decidedly un-Aston-like – Abor Orange, the Vanquish boasts unique carbon fiber work, with a twill that's twice the size of your average CF. Inside, a new print has been emblazoned on the Obsidian Black leather, which Aston says is styled after the helix of a carbon molecule. For those who want to stand out and experience the wind in their hair, Q is also bringing out a pair of Aston Martin's Volante variants. The Vanquish Volante wears Frosted Silver paint, 10-spoke alloys and a Chestnut Tan interior. The DB9 Volante, meanwhile, sports perhaps the oddest style of this quartet, with Ashen Blonde exterior paint and, um, a pink interior. It's actually called Blush Pearl, and it's complemented by Piano Ice Mocha on the center stack. Finally, Q has turned its eye on the V12 Vantage S, decking it out in amethyst paint with a Monterey Pearl grille. The cabin sports the same Obsidian Black leather found on the Q-fettled Vanquish, but rather than the helix design, the Vantage S sports bold, Vivid Purple leather accents. The contrasting bits include the seat stripe, headliner, portions of the steering wheel finish and glove box liners. Take a look both up top and below for galleries of all four customized Astons, and then scroll down for the full press release from Aston Martin.

Jay Leno, Ex-Stig test Aston Martin's latest cars

Aston Martin is on a roll right now. From unveiling its latest V12-powered hypercar codenamed the AM-RB 001 to building one-off convertibles of hardcore track toys, the automaker has really hit its stride. With cars like the DB11 and V12 Vantage S, Aston is also working on reinventing its road cars. Jay Leno, because he's Jay Leno, was lucky enough to test both cars at Willow Springs, and he invited former Stig Ben Collins to have some fun. In this clip from Jay Leno's Garage, the comedian gets a design overview of the DB 11 and then talks to Collins about his racing career, working on Top Gear, and doing Hollywood stunt driving. The pair plays a little James Bond chase on the track, with Collins in the V12 Vantage S and Leno in the DB11. Jay isn't exactly working all of the 600 hp from the twin-turbocharged, 5.2-liter V12, as it's a prototype. Meanwhile, Collins is hot-dogging the V12 Vantage S, with its anachronistic naturally aspirated 5.9-liter V12 and seven-speed manual transmission, behind him. Although the driving pace isn't quite matched, when two remarkable cars get together, everyone wins. Related Video:

007 Questions for James Bond's stunt master

You may not know the name, but you almost certainly have seen some of his work. Chris Corbould has been the special effects supervisor for every James Bond film since 1995's "GoldenEye," and has worked in some way on every one since 1977's "The Spy Who Loved Me." In between Bond movies, he's been the special effects supervisor on such low-budget indie flicks as the three Dark Knight Batman films and Star Wars episodes VII and VIII. Oh, and he won an Oscar for his work on "Inception." I was lucky enough to virtually sit down with Mr. Corbould ahead of the long-awaited release of "No Time to Die", which my colleague Zac Palmer has seen and reported back about all the cars featured in the 25th Bond movie. Mr. Corbould shared some of his experiences creating some of the most iconic stunt sequences in the series' history, including how things have changed over the years, how Bond movies are different and what it's like to not only engineer the stunts, but some of the cars featured in them. Autoblog: What's the biggest difference between working on a Bond film versus other franchise films? Chris Corbould: I think one of the big things is the history behind it. This is the 25th Bond film now and [although] we have to keep changing for the times, there's also a lot of boxes that have to be checked. There are two car chases in this, one with a DB5 in an urban environment and one with a Land Rover Defender in a very very rural environment. [We have to] come up with original ideas for those chases. But the biggest thing working on a Bond film is they always pride themselves in doing the sequences as much as they can for real. Autoblog: I actually unearthed an interview with you in 1999 where you said that "The Bond people pride themselves on STILL doing stunts for real" as opposed to CGI. And that was 22 years ago. Corbould: Yeah! I'm still saying it. Autoblog: How hard has it been to keep that ideology over the years, with changing technologies and capabilities? Corbould: It's not been hard really. The CGI guys have helped us out quite a bit by making our lives easier. They can paint cameras out, they can paint parts of rigs out if need be. The audience still has this fascination in knowing that something has been done for real as well. A lot of the big effects I've done on the James Bond films, there's as much interest in the behind the scenes of how we did the Tube train coming through the ceiling in "Skyfall", how we did the sinking house in "Casino Royale".