1971 ASTON MARTIN DBS V8 - Part 1

Extract from "Drive", January 1991  - written by Ron Wheeldon.

Ron Wheeldon tries a much-aligned Aston Martin model on an AMOC run...and comes away impressed.

DBS V8

The problem with Aston Martin cars, or with writing about them anyway, is the speed with which they exhaust one's supply of superlatives.  The result is that one ends up either being extremely picky of babbling on like a teenager with a "hot chick".

Not that there's anything feminine about Astons. These machines are impeccably bred but are well matched to their James Bond image. They fit the character's good manners and civilised veneer, but always with that hint of menace beneath.

Of all the David Brown era Aston models, the last, the DBS, has always been the least popular among classic car 'types' and almost any article one reads about the DBS V8 model (with fuel injection) is crushing in its criticism - the car is portrayed as impossibly thirsty with a level of temperamentality capable of driving the most phlegmatic of owners to distraction.

Read more...