1994 Aston Martin Virage

The Virage was a large, heavy car in spite of its all-aluminium body, but with a reworked version of Tadek Marek's legendary quad-cam 5.3-litre V8, now with a 32-valve head designed by Callaway Engineering of Connecticut, hydraulic tappets and Weber-Marelli fuel injection, it produced 364 lb·ft torque and 330bhp, which was enough to elevate its performance to near supercar levels. The five-speed ZF manual was only fitted to about 40% of Virage, with the car's driving attributes lending themselves more to the popular automatic option of Chrysler's three-speed Torqueflite transmission. For 1993, the three-speed was replaced by a four-speed automatic unit."Acceleration just never seems to run out", claimed Sports Car International on a first test. They also praised the "eager and quicker revving" nature of the engine and were generally mightily impressed with the whole package: "The new car outperforms the old in every respect. It's quicker, sharper handling, more refined and has an astonishingly good ride. It's better made, too. The factory's craftsmanship is legendary, but now it is allied to 1990s standards of quality and reliability"". Costing £135,000 at launch, by the end of the 2000 model year, just 1,050 Virage related models were produced in total, quite a low production number when compared to some of its predecessors.The car presented here is a 1994 Virage Automatic which is being sold from a small private collection of choice classics. It looks fabulous in Middlesex Green and the contrasting green-piped, tan leather interior is well-preserved. It was supplied new by the JCT600 Group on the 21st February 1994 and was maintained by the supplying dealer up until 10,880 miles. Since then, it has been serviced by Aston Martin main-dealers (Stratstone AM of Wilmslow, Lancaster AM of Seven Oaks, Stratton AM of Norwich) and latterly marque specialists, up until 41,328 miles. In October 2010 it was acquired by a privately-owned classic car museum, hence the relatively low mileage and enviable condition.Subsequently, the car was fully re-commissioned and has since been well-maintained by our enthusiastic vendor. It has benefitted from some recent expenditure, including a mileage-appropriate service with the refurbishment of its fuel injectors and set-up, four new Avon Turbo-Speed tyres, a new steering rack, and a repair to its Vehicle Information Centre (VIC unit), which cost £2,500 alone.The car is accompanied by its full Aston Martin book-pack and numerous invoices for maintenance. Now with some 45,000 miles on the clock, it's said to drive beautifully and has an MoT until July 2018. Attractively guided today, this lovely Aston offers affordable ownership of a classic 90's British muscle car.