1969 Aston Martin DBS Vantage Coupé

Unveiled in October 1967, the DBS was the successor to the famed Aston Martin DB6, although the two ran concurrently for three years. Although always intended to house the new Tadek Marek-designed V8 engine, the Aston Martin DBS was launched with the 4-litre 'six' of the concurrently produced DB6. This twin-cam engine was available in standard or Vantage tune - the latter producing 325bhp at 5,750rpm with triple Webers and reprofiled camshafts.

Styled in-house by William Towns, the beautiful DBS caused quite a stir, Autocar magazine observing: 'Without the aid of an Italian stylist the Newport Pagnell team came up with something as modern, handsome and Italianate as anything from the Turin coachbuilders at that time.' Longer, wider and more luxurious than the DB6, the DBS employed a platform-type chassis with independent suspension all round and offered a near perfect 50:50 weight distribution with better high-speed stability.

In its road test of a DBS Vantage, Motor recorded 141mph with 0-60 and 0-100mph reached in 7.1 and 18.0 seconds respectively. Production of the DBS stretched between September 1967 and April 1972 during which time only 68 right-hand drive Vantage examples were produced, making the DBS 6 Vantage the lowest production Vantage model of all Aston Martins. Continuing Aston's famed 007 connections, the DBS was used by George Lazenby's James Bond in the 1969 film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Offered here is a manual Vantage in the great colour combination of Gunmetal Grey with a black leather interior. This is most definitely the specification to have and this well sorted DBS is a drivers' Aston Martin. Owned and used by our vendor for nearly a decade, it has been driven whenever possible and has only four previous owners. Supplied by well-regarded, marque specialist, Desmond J. Smail, in 2013, this lovely Aston has the feel of an ‘engineers’ car and makes a very practical, usable DBS. The history file contains multiple invoices from Olney totalling over six figures around ten years ago and it has covered ten thousand miles since then as testament to the quality of the work. The interior has a lovely, lived-in patina complete with its period Motorola radio.

 All in all, this is not a pretentious DBS that has not been over restored, rendering it undrivable, but an example to be used … they drive so much better for it.