ASTON MARTIN Virage Coupe 5.3 Manual, 1991 H Reg, Red with magnolia hide piped red, 59000 miles with service history having the original service book with 19 services in total, A nice example of a genuinely rare Aston Martin Virage Coupe of which just over 400 were produced between 1988 - 1995, and rarer still in manual guise with the 'dogleg' 1st ZF gearbox.
Very importantly, the Virages were the end of an era, being the last of the traditionally handbuilt Aston Martins before the inevitable introduction of more modern production techniques, The Virage, a 4-seater GT, was unveiled by Aston Martin at the 1988 Birmingham Motor Show and was a very significant car for the company being the first new model for 18 years and replacing the venerable AM V8 Coupe which seemed to have been in production for ever. It was designed by John Heffernan and Ken Greenley, renowned stylists of the day, and certainly the styling of the car was received to much acclaim.
The engine was (of course) a V8, but this was a much re-worked development of it's previous incarnation. Significantly, development had been under the care of tuning concern Reeves Callaway, based in Connecticut USA, and the engine now had completely new 4v per cylinder heads and Weber Marelli electronic fuel injection. Power was quoted at 330bhp and torque at 350lb/ft. Although the Virage was an undeniably big car, kerbweight was reasonable thanks to Astons' traditional use of aluminium body panels and performance was genuinely brisk with a top speed quoted of 158mph, aided by a then excellent drag co-efficient of 0.34, with 60mph coming up in comfortably under 6 seconds from rest.
The chassis was an evolution of the (quirky) Lagonda with De-Dion rear suspension and double wishbones up front. From an engineering point of view, the car was a thoroughbred. However, as with previous Astons, some cost cutting 'raiding' of parts bins had taken place with lesser components and the cars' sported Audi 100/200 headlights, Volkswagen Scirocco tailights, and various Ford, GM and Jaguar interior parts.
Naturally, these cars were very expensive, the original list price being £135000. Nevertheless, the order books filled up very quickly, due to the fact that people had been waiting so very long for an all new Aston. During it's time in production, the Virage remained the most expensive, exclusive and king of hand built Astons. It evolved into the (even) more expensive and powerful Vantage model before being restyled and being renamed, simply, the V8 Coupe. Finally, in 2000, the model range was replaced by the awesome Vanquish, and the era of handbuilt cars had finally ended.
This particular car looks quite stunning in red with a chrome mesh grille, and has complimenting magnolia leather, also piped red. There is certainly enough service history present to support the 59000 recorded miles as being genuine, and all owners manuals/service books/leather wallets/original tools are present. The car still wears it's original 5-spoke 16" dia. alloy wheels which have recently been shod with new Avon Turbospeeds all round. Sold, and serviced in October 2007, by a renowned Ferrari/Maserati specialist, This car is in genuinely good shape all round and is a very cheap Virage, MOT'd October 2009
PRICE £15000
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