At first glance, you might think this 1977 Aston Martin V8 is a total basketcase. Reality is different, as the heavy lifting of rust repair has already been tackled by renowned Aston Martin specialist shop Kevin Kay, and while the road to completion is long, it doesn’t appear terribly imposing. The seller notes that the big question mark is the Aston Martin V8, which while free, doesn’t currenty run. Find the Aston here on eBay with a $22,500 opening bid.
The seller notes that he bought the Aston from the second owner, who allowed it to sit and rot in their driveway for 15 years after the car developed a fuel leak. Rust developed all along the lower sills and the floors of the Aston. Notes the seller: “I bought all the replacement parts (cost was about $3K) and had the staff at Kevin Kay Restorations remove and replace as required. Cost of the rust repair around $18K and I have a detailed report/pictures I can provide with the sale.”
The seller notes the interior is complete with the exception of the carpet and that the leather is tired. The windshield is cracked, but an $1,800 replacement is included with the sale. While it’s never fun to tally up how much you’ve spent on a project, I’m curious why the seller is cutting this Aston Martin loose after making the investments (and smart ones, at that) that he did. It’s worth noting this is a desirable manual transmission example.
These were seriously quick cars when new, faster than even the Ferrari Daytona. Effectively 170 m.p.h. supercars, 1977 marked the first year of the V8 coupe. I’ve seen these steadily climbing in value for years now, after seemingly becoming commonplace thanks to a long production run and little change in styling from start to finish. But that’s also what makes them so classic, and while the opening bid here is ambitious, this is at least a car worth investing in.
I have unsuccessfully tried to figure out a way to afford this all day long…
I’ve really come around on these…didn’t used to pay them much attention but they’ve caught my eye for the last few years. Wish they were cheaper.
You and me both!
I recall being at Stonehenge in 1977 and hearing off in the distance what could only be described as a fighter airplane at low altitude, full attack speed. Turned around and saw one of these literally flying down the country road. Truly unmistakable, totally unforgettable, and what a juxtaposition against the ancient monument.
He would have trouble doing 30 around all the tour busses now.
Auction ended, “No longer available”.
Someone wanted it, and got it.
did these come with Fuel injection originally?
Early cars had mechanical fuel injection. This gave trouble, and they went back to carbs. Later cars (from 85 or so) had efi.
another plug for KEVIN KAY RESTORATIONS
Fahrvergnugen,
I felt the same way about a Pantera, when I was stationed in Mannheim… Can’t afford this today, but would be nice to mess around with
What a shame that the second owner could AFFORD to BUY an expensive car second hand, but not afford to maintain it !
ended
Fleebay games or seller games. Joke.
is this not the same vehicle that James Bond used as a submarine?
That was a Lotus Esprit. As far as I can recall, this model of Aston was never used as a Bond car.
This very same model of Aston Martin featured in the first of the Bond films starring Timothy Dalton, ‘The Living Daylights’ in 1987. Actually, two different Aston Martin models were used in filming—a V8 Volante convertible, and later for the Czechoslovakia scenes, a hard-top non-Volante V8 saloon badged to look like the Volante. The Volante was a production model personally owned by then Aston Martin Lagonda chairman, Victor Gauntlett.
The picture below is of the actual second car, it’s demise in the film obviously not real, though real enough were the special effect skis and rocket launchers. The skis and other paraphenalia marked a real return to the special effects Astons, like Sean Connery’s DB5.
Of course,in between these two actors playing 007 were two others playing him, one Roger Moore, who never drove an Aston while playing Bond, and who everyone knows as a Bond actor. And another actor playing Bond in the Bond film that everyone forgets, George Lazenby in ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’, who replaced Sean Connery and preceded Roger Moore.
In O.H.M.S.S., Lazenby, as Bond, drives the first version of this version of Aston, the early quad headlight DBS. the car enduring some beach driving.
I never knew working in a movie theatre part time while I was at school and then University could prove so useful.
Lazenby, the forgotten ‘one off’ Bond drove the Aston Martin DBS in ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” 1969. No special car effects, and Bond gets married, so the Aston served as the wedding car, the only Bond car to do so.
Of course you are absolutely right there with that. Completely forgot about Dalton when running the Bond cars through my head. That was when they ‘winterized’ his convertible by ‘adding’ a hardtop, among other things. Obviously a different car as you say. I should have remembered him as one of my neighbours at the time played the bad guy who went off the cliff in the Land Rover at the beginning of the movie. I remembered Lazenby having the earlier model coupe, appeared on the beach at first as I recall.
just what I wuz gunna ask, 45.
This isn’t the Bond car is it? Grill looks different.
That was D2b or DB II or something
The car with “ALL the Gadgets”, in the Book “Goldfinger” by Ian Fleming, was a DB III, but in the film of the same name, the car used was the DB 5.