Background
The Aston Martin Virage was launched at the British Motor Show in Birmingham in 1988 to almost universal acclaim; a replacement for the William Towns’ V8 cars we all still love, it remained in production until 2000.
Essentially handbuilt, the Virage was widely expensive at £135,000 then, or the equivalent of more than £300,000 today. Ultra-rare as a consequence, its production run barely broke four figures.
Initially powered by a 32-valve 5.3-litre V8 developed in collaboration with Reeves Callaway (of twin-turbo Corvette fame), with four valves per cylinder and Weber electronic fuel injection the driver had access to 330bhp and 364 lb/ft of torque, which meant the 1,790kg car could reach 60mph in around 6.5 seconds on its way to a top speed of 186mph, even in automatic guise.
The three-speed ‘box was upgraded to a four-speed unit in 1993, which is what you see here, although customers could opt for a five-speed ZF manual gearbox, something around 40% of the firm’s customers did.
Thus equipped, the aluminium-bodied coupé could streak to 60mph in 7.4 seconds: Yes, the manual might have gained driver satisfaction but it lost almost a second in the benchmark acceleration time although once it started rolling “acceleration just never seems to run out” as one contemporary road tester reported.
The convertible Virage Volante first showed its face at the 1990 Birmingham Motor Show. A two-seater when first displayed, it became a 2+2 by the time of its appearance at the 1991 Geneva Motor Show, something that continued into production.
All models were supported by de Dion tube rear suspension and double wishbones at the front, a combination that endowed the Virage with high levels of grip and hugely entertaining handling.
