David Brown bought the Aston Martin factory in 1947. The factory had already passed into other hands. The famous brand paid an important role in the racing world, but the cars were difficult to sell.

The take-over purchase by David brought a reversal for the British brand, which appeals to everyone’s imagination nowadays. The first DB "David Brown" Aston Martin was the DB1 from 1948, which was fitted with a rather dismal four-cylinder engine. The DB2 from 1950 brought the magic on which the brand was to build. The engines were designed by W.O. Bentley, who was working for Lagonda, another enterprise of Browns’. The enormous six-cylinder in-line engines had two overhead camshafts, and were provided with two, and later three SU carburettors. The engine of the DB2 and its successor DB2/4 had a capacity of 2580 and 2922 cc respectively; the engine in the DB5 and the DB6 models that followed already had a cylinder capacity of 3995 cc and a standard 282 horsepower. The latter models had special ‘Vantage’ versions with a capacity of 314 and 325 hp.

The DB5 made Aston Martin instantly world-famous as James Bond’s car. Everyone who saw the Bond films will remember the DB5 with the movable bullet-proof shield, the extending knock-offs that sawed the bad guy’s car in two, but especially the sound that sent shivers of excitement up your spine.

The DB6 was to be the last six-cylinder Aston Martin. The car was also available as a convertible, called Volante, and as a Vantage with the 325 hp engine.

The Aston Martin V8 was built until the year 1989 in several model series. We distinguish the following models/numbers built: DBS V8 1969-1972 (402 built), V8 series 2 1972-1973 (288 built), V8 series 3 1973-1978 (967 built), V8 series 4 "Oscar India" specification 1978-1985 (352 built), V8 series 5 1986-1989 (405 built).

The special and scarce 'Vantage' (extra fast) and 'Volante' (cabriolet) models were built in two series only. The series 1 (until 1978) and the series 2 (until 1989). Of the V8 Volante series 1 656 cars were built and of the series 2 model only 245.
The Aston Martin V8 Vantage series 1 is very hard to find; only 51 cars were built of which 38 by European specification and 13 by US specification. Of the V8 Vantage series 2 318 specimen were built including 14 cars in US specification.

Technical data

V8 engine
carburettors: 4 twin choke Weber carburettors
cylinder capacity: 5340 cc.
capacity: 305 bhp. at 5500 rpm.
top-speed: 235 km/h.
acceleration 0-100 km/h: 6.6 sec.
gearbox: 3-speed, automatic (Chrysler Torqueflite)
brakes: vented disc brakes all round
weight: 1780 kg.