2010 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Coupe - Meteorite Silver on 2040-cars

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One-off Aston Martin DB9 Spyder Zagato Centennial up for grabs

There's a long and proud history of Aston Martins coachbuilt by Zagato, and while we wouldn't call them commonplace, most of them were put in serial production, however limited. But not this one. This one-of-a-kind DB9 Spyder was handbuilt by Zagato (along with a similarly styled DBS coupe) to celebrate Aston's centenary. Rather than remain in the private collections of either company, though, it was built in England, fitted with its customer bodywork (over the course of a year) in Italy, showcased back in England and then again at Pebble Beach before being delivered to its owner, who has kept it in California ever since. But now he's putting it up for auction. Equipped with a 6.0-liter V12, carbon-ceramic brakes and of course that unique coachwork, the DB9 Spyder Centennial edition has been consigned to RM Sotheby's for its sale in Monterey this coming August, two years after it was first shown there. It's anticipated to fetch between $380,000 and $450,000, which would be about double what Aston charges for a new DB9 Volante, but strikes us as a pretty solid investment considering just how rare this particular Anglo-Italian bird really is. Of course the Aston Zagato isn't the only notable vehicle RM has in store for Pebble this year. It's also highlighting a 1968 Maserati Ghibli Spyder that's billed as the first of its kind ever made, a US-spec Ferrari Daytona prototype, an early Lamborghini Countach and a rare 1973 Nissan Skyline GT-R. In short, RM's Monterey auction is already shaping up to be a notable one, and we're still a few months out with new consignments being added all the time.

Aston Martin tipped for F1 return with Red Bull, Mercedes

Aston Martin could be plotting a return to Formula One for the first time in over half a century. And not as a backmarker, either. That is, at least, if the latest rumors materialize. While most automakers that participate in F1 do so as either a team owner (like Ferrari and Mercedes) or as an engine supplier (think Renault or Honda), the rumored Aston Martin deal would take a different approach. According to Autosport, the proposal would have the Red Bull Racing team run Aston Martin branding – but not its engines. Those would be provided by Mercedes, just like the engines in the British marque's upcoming slate of road cars. In that regard, the deal would not be unlike the one which Red Bull currently has with the Renault-Nissan Alliance, which sees the team running Renault engines and Infiniti branding. Andy Palmer was a pivotal figure in brokering that unusual arrangement when he was working for Carlos Ghosn, and is now tipped to be brokering a similar deal in his new capacity as Aston Martin's CEO. Though Aston has found glory in sports car racing (including Le Mans and its various associated series), it was never much of a contender in grand prix racing. It competed in a handful of races in 1959 and 1960, but never achieved results worth bragging about. Aston was rumored to be plotting a return when David Richards sat as chairman of the company, having run Aston's racing program as well as Honda's F1 team previously. Those rumors, however, never materialized. Whether this time 'round gains any traction remains to be seen - Aston Martin declined to either confirm or deny the reports when reached for comment by Autoblog. Red Bull has been growing increasingly dissatisfied (and increasingly vocal about its dissatisfaction) with Renault engines over the past couple of seasons. Though the two parties won four back-to-back world titles together, things took a noticeable step backward after the new turbo engine regulations took hold for the 2014 season. Nissan/Infiniti and Red Bull are contracted to continue collaborating until the end of next season. After that is when the new Aston deal could take hold, and Mercedes is reportedly keen on the idea so that it could add another customer to its F1 engine supply business and offset the costs of development. That could effectively prove the end of Renault in F1 (at least for the time being). Aside from Red Bull, the French automaker currently supplies only that outfit's sister team Toro Rosso.

All-new Aston Martin Vantage turns up the volume

The Aston Martin Vantage is the storied British marque's volume car. And with the unveiling today of an all-new model, that volume just got turned up. "The new car starts where V12 Vantage, not V8, left off," says Miles Nurnberger, Aston's head of exterior design, as he walks us around the production car in an intimate advance viewing at the brand's rural UK headquarters. He is referring to the top-of-the-line, end-of-the-run, 12-cylinder, stick-shifted, spoiler-bedecked analog anachronism that was a limited-edition sendoff for the outgoing car, which had been on sale for more than a dozen model years. (To say that the previous Vantage was long in the tooth is a reckless overestimation of the lifespan of teeth.) From a purely visual perspective, we cannot argue with him. The new Vantage is immediately recognizable as an Aston Martin — with the signature hill-climb grille, sensuously crisp hood, mesomorphic flanks, squinting greenhouse and tucked tail. But the car can almost be heard, seething, with one's eyes. First off, the hue the brand has selected as a launch color, Lime Essence, looks like ionized absinthe. Additionally, the car is rimmed along its ground-hugging nether regions, from chin to rear, in a be-pronged sinew of starkly contrasting polished carbon-fiber aero effects. It sneers menacingly through narrowly horizontal, selachian eyes. It flashes a triangular carbon burgonet on each cheek, armor potent enough to ward off a Napoleonic cuirassier. And its rear is a war of stark bladelike protrusions, like the final battle sequence in a chop-socky movie. "If the DB11 is a gentleman," Nurnberger explains, "the Vantage is a hunter." Its nose is to the ground, scanning the distance for something to trounce." "It's the color of a predator in nature," explains Aston's straight-talking CEO, Andy Palmer. "Look at a wasp. Its colors warn, stay away." Not drawing the ire of other motorists is, in our opinion, one of the chief advantages of driving an Aston, especially versus some of its flashier (Italian) competitors. Apparently, Aston is aware of this and also offers the new Vantage in a more subdued palette and trim. We'd spec ours in a more traditional color, like grayish Hardly Green, with satin titanium trim and body-color zygomatic implants.