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March 13, 2007
Objects of desire
Time for a confession; I'm a petrol head, but not for me the exotic lines of Ferraris or Lamborghinis; forget the tail wagging Porsche or any number of unpronouncable supercars. As far as I'm concerned, the ultimate petrol powered object of desire is an Aston Martin, and has been from the moment Sean Connery picked up the keys of the DB5 from Q.
Over the years Aston Martin hasn't had the smoothest of rides. There have been numerous setbacks and near disasters - anyone remember the Lagonda of 1980 - leading to the classic joke...
Q. How do you make a small fortune out of Aston Martin?
A. By investing a large fortune.
I think most fans were nervous when Ford took a 100% stake in the company, and the DB7 was pretty but flawed. Still, better cars appeared, the Vanquish, the DB9 and the V8 Vantage, but Ford has been struggling with a truly obscene level of debt and the "For Sale" signs were up at Newport Pagnell.
After the failure of MG Rover (see here for truly depressing photos), and the disaster that was the Russian buyout of TVR I suspect most supporters of the marque were nervous about who the new owner might be. Luckily the company would appear to be in safe hands.
BBC - Aston Martin sold to UK-led group
Luxury car firm Aston Martin is heading back into British hands after being sold by Ford in a £479m ($924m) deal.
Oxford-based Dave Richards, boss of motorsport firm Prodrive, is heading the UK-led consortium buying Aston.
My only real concern is whether Dave Richards now has too many fingers in too many pies, with his Prodrive company running Subaru's World Rally Championship team and also about to enter Formula 1. Still, at least the company doesn't appear to have fallen into the hands of crooks and incompetants.
Posted by Clive on March 13, 2007 10:10 AM in the category Cool Stuff