David Brown Speedback – more Aston than Aston
Pay attention Bond, this is your new company car
By Shahzad Sheikh
If you read my story – The Most Honest Aston Martin review ever ™ – then you’ll know that Aston Martin, whilst still the purveyor of some of the world’s most beautiful and desirable cars, is somewhat mired in its delusional grandeur and not really moving forward anymore.
Sometimes to move forward you have to look backwards. David Brown – who must be inspired by his namesake, Sir David Brown, the founder of Aston Martin, otherwise this is an extraordinary coincidence – has founded a small car company in the UK that is looking back at Aston’s past.
Specifically, it’s focussing on the legendary superspy, James Bond’s favourite ride, the original Aston Martin DB5. This week David Brown Automotive presented its first new car – dubbed the Speedback and the similarities to the classic DB are even more coincidental than the founders name-cloning!
History repeating, sure, but it works – classic detailing, extravagant elegance, modern proportions, purposeful stance and overall an evocative and enthralling look that tugs the heart strings of every wannabe 007 in the car world – which is pretty much all of us, if we’re honest.
Designed by Alan Mobberley and built by a Brown’s team of engineers in Coventry, this car took 18 months to build by the coachbuilder – which may seem a little surprising when you realise (particularly if you’ve had a close look at the lush wood and leather swathed interior) that it’s based on the Jaguar XKR – a car recently confirmed to end production soon.
The fact that Jag is going to cease making the venerable XK, the last of the British muscle cars, left me a bit sad, but the news that it will live on in this sexy guise has more than compensated – obviously still powered by the wonderful 5.0-litre supercharged V8 producing well over 500bhp, although no engine or performance figures for the David Brown Speedback have been revealed yet.
Nor has pricing been revealed, but with only 50 cars made per year, it’s going to be suitably costly that’s for sure. We would guess between $300k-400k, or free if you’re on Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
How could anyone NOT like that? It is quite gorgeous!
The best of everything British automotive stands for, together in one car. David Brown you pulled off a masterpiece!!