Volante (1989)

STORY

The Virage, launched at the 1988 Birmingham Motor Show, was Aston Martin's first all-new model in nearly two decades, replacing the ageing V8 saloon that dated back to the DBS. It was the exclusive, hand-built flagship of the range in the early 1990s, styled cleanly and powered by a 5.3-litre all-alloy V8 developed from the classic Tadek Marek design, now with four valves per cylinder, giving around 330bhp.

Regarded as one of the last truly hand-built Astons of the old Newport Pagnell school, it spawned high-performance Vantage versions with supercharged V8s making up to 600bhp. Around 1,050 cars in various forms were built before the line gave way to the V12 Vanquish in 2000.

The Virage name returned in 2011 as a very different car: a VH-platform, 6.0-litre V12 grand tourer slotted between the DB9 and DBS. That second Virage was short-lived, dropped after little more than a year because it overlapped too closely with its stablemates.