2003 Aston Martin Vanquish 2+2 Black With Tan $249,480 Msrp Serviced Must See!! on 2040-cars

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2013 Quail Motorsports Gathering wows with modern masterpieces

Pebble Beach is an outstanding event if you're interested in pre-war classics, but outside of the parking lots, it's a bit light on more modern stuff. The Quail, now in its eleventh year, leans far more towards the present day, and has become one of the must-attend events of the Monterey car week.
Like Pebble, though, it's a highly exclusive affair, with triple-digit ticket prices that usually sell out at the same rate as a Justin Bieber concert. If you're one of the lucky few to hold a pass, though, you'll be rubbing elbows with a who's who of the auto world. One of the highlights of this year's event was the appearance of one Michael Schumacher, who showed up alongside one of his Formula 1 cars. A retrospective was also held on Lamborghini's 50 years of production, as well as another celebration of Aston Martin's centennial. There was also a tribute to the late Martin Swig, one of the co-founders of the California Mille, who passed away last year.
The cars, not surprisingly, were epic. Lamborghini, Pagani, Spyker, Rolls-Royce, BMW, McLaren, Bugatti and Galpin Ford all showed new models to the public for the first time, while there were also appearances by Jim Glickenhaus and his Ferrari P4/5 and P4/5 Competizione, marking the first time the coach-built masterpiece and its racing offspring were shown together. Finally, the Petersen Museum showed off its wears, including the late Steve McQueen's gorgeous Jaguar XK-SS.

Buy Sir Stirling Moss's '54 Aston Martin DB3S for just $10m

Bonhams estimates this rare 1954 Aston Martin DB3S will fetch as much as $10 million when it hits the auction block late next month. The fifth of 31 examples (and only 11 works racers) built, this particular DB3S was originally built for the private use of the company's owner David Brown. But after three other examples were destroyed at Le Mans in 1954, Brown handed his car over to the racing department, which replaced the fiberglass bodywork with aluminum and put it to work. Drivers like Sir Stirling Moss, Peter Collins, and Roy Salvadori drove it at Spa, the Nurburgring, and the Mille Miglia. As if that provenance weren't enough, the roadster then went on to appear in the '60s comedy School for Scoundrels alongside Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas, and Janette Scott – plus an Austin-Healey 100-Six and a 1928 Bentley 4 1/2 -Litre Open Tourer dubbed the "Swiftmobile." Bonhams has chassis number DBS3S/5 consigned for its upcoming sale at the old Aston Martin Works factory in Newport Pagnell. With all that history, the auction house anticipates it will sell for GBP6,000,000-7,000,000 – equivalent to $8.5-10 million at current exchange rates. That would, according to the records at Sports Car Market, make it one of the most valuable Astons ever sold at auction, besting the DB3S that Gooding & Company sold in 2014 for $5.5 million. Related Video: THE 1954 ASTON MARTIN DB3S: CAR OF THE SILVER SCREEN RACED BY THE GREAT STIRLING MOSS, NOW OFFERED AT BONHAMS A rare Aston Martin Works team car – chassis number DB3S/5 – which was campaigned in period by such legendary racing drivers as Sir Stirling Moss, Peter Collins and Roy Salvadori, and latterly went on to co-star with Terry-Thomas in 1960s movie classic 'School for Scoundrels', will be offered at Bonhams Aston Martin Works Sale on 21 May 2016. It is estimated at GBP6,000,000-7,000,000. This historic Aston Martin began life as the personal road car of David Brown, the multi-millionaire industrialist owner of the Aston Martin marque. Under Brown's reign the legendary post-World War 2 'DB' series of Aston Martin cars were built, including the Atom, the DB2, DB3, DB4, DB5, DB6, DB7, DB9 and the DBS, all named using Brown's initials. Aston Martin also built a number of DB3S models for the Works racing team.

Aston Martin may be forced to stop selling DB9, Vantage in US [w/poll]

There are any number of factors that are making it increasingly difficult for a small-scale, independent automaker like Aston Martin to stay competitive in today's automotive marketplace, from purchasing power to R&D capacity. But the latest factor endangering Aston's viability on the marketplace seems to be coming down to tighter government safety standards. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is enacting new side-impact crash regulations that require vehicles to better withstand the impact from running into a pole or tree – narrow-gauge fixed objects you're likely to find lining public streets. The standard has been phased in over the last few years, but while an exemption to the gradual phase-in was granted to low-volume manufacturers, even those automakers will have to meet the cut-off next month. And convertibles (which were granted a further extension) will have to meet them by September 2015. Unfortunately for Aston Martin, two of its core models – the Vantage and DB9 – do not pass the test. That would mean that it would have to stop selling both those model lines (which just also happen to be its oldest), but a spokesman for the brand's US dealers is petitioning the government body to grant them an exception. According to James R. Walker, chairman of Aston's US dealer advisory panel and owner of the dealership in Washington, DC, losing the V8 Vantage coupe, V12 Vantage coupe and DB9 coupe next month would cost dealers about 25 percent of its gross profits, and losing the convertible versions of the same next year would cut another 40 percent of their profits. The combined 65 percent drop in sales (assuming, of course, that sales of the recently updated but more expensive Vanquish and Rapide wouldn't rise to make up for it) would mean that many of the 35 dealers across the US would have to close, putting the 230 people who work at the dealers (and another 300 related personnel) out of work. On that basis, Walker is asking the government to grant an exemption for the DB9 through August 2016 and for the Vantage through August 2017. By then, we're lead to assume, their replacement (or replacements) will have arrived, meeting the new crash standards. We've reached out to Aston Martin for comment on the issue and will update you as soon as we hear back. In the meantime, voice your opinion on the issue in our online poll below.