Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Aston Martin Extremes

by Mike -

Aston Martin is one of the oldest car companies still in business today. Up until 2000 they had produced less than 15,000 cars since the founding of the company in 1913.



Above is their new super car, the one-77. It has a 7.3 liter V12 that produces 750 hp and will accelerate from 0 to 62 MPH is less than 3.7 seconds with a top speed of 220 MPH. 

It has a rear mounted six speed automated, manual paddle shift transmission. Only 77 will be produced and you can imagine that it is very expensive.

The one-77 technical specifications are below.



Aston Martin has had a troubled financial history with many ownership changes. They were acquired by Ford in 1994. Ford sold most of their ownership to a group headed by David Richards in 2007. 

I do not know the actual numbers but I suspect that Aston Martin has produced well more than 15,000 cars since 2000.

An Aston Martin driven by Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1959.

Their other new car is the Cygnet shown below - the other extreme from the one-77.


This is a car with a much different purpose than the one-77. Although, it still has the signature Aston Martin grill shape. 

The Cygnet has a 1.33 liter 4-cylinder engine that produces 97 hp and accelerates from 0 to 62 MPH in 11.8 seconds. It has a manual six speed transmission with an optional constantly variable transmission. Top speed is 106 MPH. 

The Cygnet technical specifications are below.



There may be some people who will own both a Cygnet and a one-77 - two cars for different purposes and different driving moods.

I have written about Aston Martins at these links: DB7, V12 VanquishV8 Vantage and DB4 GT Zagato.

Click on the images for a larger view.

Below is the Rapide, a four door sedan introduced in 2010.



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