Beschreibung:

"The Volante is the new soft-top version of the Virage incorporating the latest changes made to the full Aston range. Beautiful hand-built craftsmanship abounds in this most aristocratic of convertibles." - Fast Lane The Volante convertible had been the big seller of the 'old' V8 line-up, so the only surprise was that it took Aston Martin more than two years from the Virage coupe's introduction to come up with a soft-top equivalent. The production Virage Volante debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1991, a prototype having been displayed at Birmingham's NEC the previous October. Utilising the Virage coupe chassis with additional strengthening the Volante was fitted with an Electro / Hyraulic hood mechanism with automatic catches, fitted with a glass rear window complete with heated de-misting elements. Mechanically the Volante remained much the same as its closed cousin, though with slightly lower final drive gearing to aid acceleration through the gears. Top speed was slightly reduced, to a still outstanding 150mph. Automatic transmission was standard on the Volante, the original three-speeder being superseded in 1993 by a new four-speed dual-mode (normal/sport) unit. The five-speed manual 'box continued to be available as an option. The car offered here - Development Prototype chassis number 'DP2054/2' - was used by the Aston Martin Engineering Department and formed part of the forthcoming Virage Volante development programme for European markets. When the Virage Volante was signed off for series production, this left-hand drive prototype car was sold via Works Service to a German VIP customer - a professional test driver. The car was stripped and completely rebuilt to this client's personal specification with the aim of achieving a level of performance similar to that offered on the 6.3-litre optioned cars re-engineered by Works Service - an upgrade not homologated for road use in Germany. The blueprinted high-performance engine was produced by works service specifically for this car, which incorporates many of the running gear improvements specially developed for the '6.3'. These include uprated dampers, springs and shock absorbers, 17" wheels and bigger brakes gripped by AP competition derived calipers. In addition, the car was fitted with a sports exhaust system and new five-speed manual transmission, while cosmetic enhancements included a bare-metal re-spray in Aston green, full re-trim in matching Connolly hide and new black mohair hood. As one would expect, 'DP2054/2' also exhibits a number of other unique detail differences from the production Virage Volante. The car was sold to Japan in 1996 and since then has formed part of an important private collection in that country. It has covered just 16,000 kilometres from new and is presented in very good condition in every respect. A rare opportunity to acquire an historic and unique Aston Martin prototype, fully rebuilt to an extremely high specification and incorporating a plethora of the most desirable performance enhancements.