Member's Aston Martin - June 2026
George Georgiou (GB) | Published on 6/1/2026
This month's Home Page image is from George Georgiou, at a Goodwood Motor Circuit, of his 1998 Project Vantage.
Project Vantage is the genesis of all things Aston Martin in the 21st Century.
Ford had bought the company almost unwittingly, the DB7 had saved it, but the V cars were getting a bit long in the tooth and Ferrari were going high tech. Aston Martin needed something new to compete.
Bob Dover cheekily asked for £1 million from Ford to develop and build a show car and he got it on the proviso it was ready in 6 months for the Detroit auto show in January 1998.
It was Ian Callum’s first ground up design and he is rightly proud of it. The concept was a working prototype using a one off 6 litre V12, advanced, a carbon fibre, aluminium honeycomb and Kevlar chassis and a prototype semi automatic F1 style gearbox.
It just made it to the show, after publicity shots at Millbrook and a spirited drive by Jac Nasser bent the front suspension, which had to be remade the night before shipping.
It was a hit and dealers were desperate for the car to be built so Aston sent it to lotus to productionise it.
Lotus pulled it apart then threw the bits back together, some of them in the right places and gave it back to Aston Martin. It then went into storage for 18 years, almost completely forgotten.
Which is where I came in.
Aston Martin were going through a spell of releasing cash by selling off what they had in storage and it came up for auction at bonhams where I put in a cheeky bid, and ended up winning it!
It arrived with notes and stickers on it saying do not attach a battery and do not attempt to start.
I took it to works who scratched their heads and treated it like a Vanquish, which it is not. The only interchangeable part on the car with a Vanquish is the bonnet badge.
I got the car back with the engine running, the gearbox giving me some of the gears some of the time and only rear brakes.
I then had the thorny issue of getting glass made (lotus had broken it) and everything fitted back properly, to get it back to 1998 show condition.
A journalist friend tried to get his friends to consider writing an article on it but most refused, thinking it was one of the pre production vanquishes.
Finally Classic and Sportscar agreed to do a piece at Goodwood and I duly got to give it a shakedown test 5 ft. Behind a camera car going round the circuit. People were asking if it was a new Aston Martin.
After the start/finish line pics I was told to take it to the pits and I took the long war round the circuit. It good and handles like a front engined group C racer.
I have shown it all over the country including Hampton Court, Salon Prive, Goodwood, and also at the quail in Monterey which was an adventure in itself.
I have loved bringing back a unique piece of Aston Martin history and the bridge between the DB era V8 Newport pagnall cars and the modern VH platform V12 Gaydon cars. I have since bought a 2005 Vanquish which is special and visceral, just like its daddy.
The Home page images are of Members' cars taken from Members Photos and Members Car Collection with the permission of the Member, you can add photos of your car in your profile. If you need help contact info@amoc.org
If you would like to post a News Article on the Club Website of your Aston Martin please email info@amoc.org