1999 Aston Martin DB7 Vantage

One of the last cars registered before the new millennium (December 1999), this Aston Martin DB7 Vantage Auto has only completed a fully documented 24,600 miles, is painted in the green reminiscent of the famous racing Astons of the 1950s, and remains in utterly superb condition.

For the Vantage, the nose cone was also redesigned from the original 6-cylinder DB7 to have a wider grille and large sidelights giving it a more aggressive frontal look - one which Callum revisited on the V12 Vanquish a few years later. In 2002, this particular car had a grille upgrade with an Aston-supplied chrome mesh fitted over the original plastic slatted part which we think gives it a touch more class - as if it needed it.

The car collector vendor bought the Aston after a long search in May 2018. His small collection only includes best-of-breed examples (usually the cheapest and most enjoyable way of owning a classic long-term) and as the DB7 had been off the road for a couple of years he has had it fully recommissioned at specialists Chiltern Aston and subsequently serviced by them too. The Chiltern Aston invoices included in the gallery show the full extent of the recommissioning work done and also give a list of other non-urgent jobs that could be considered as part of a specialist appraisal. However, for a performance car approaching 20 years old, it’s a surprisingly short list.

Sadly the vendor hasn’t been able to find time to drive and enjoy the car as much as he’d have liked to but this hasn’t stopped him cherishing it. He is now intending to sell a couple of his collection to replace them with a slightly more modern Aston Martin. A new Alpine stereo and Pioneer amplifier have been professionally fitted - retaining the replaced items should future owners want to restore the car’s originality. Quite honestly though, with the chart-topping song coming from under the bonnet and the factory option sports exhaust how often would you need a radio?

Finished in its iconic and seemingly unblemished Aston Martin Racing Green paintwork, this superb colour catches the light and shows off the car’s lines and curves in a way that few other shades do. From the pouting lips of the grille, the bonnet line continues through the wings and down the sides of the car before evolving into the powerful haunches where it meets the sloping roofline of the fastback rear.

The 18” alloy wheels are pristine and were fitted with a full set of matching Bridgestone Potenza tyres in June 2018, since when the car has only travelled a further 2,000 miles.

Always garaged and covered when not being driven and with minor paint imperfections dealt with during recommissioning, the condition of this DB7 Vantage is probably the best we’ve seen. If we were to pick a fault, the lower nearside corner of the windscreen is showing signs of delamination and so will eventually require replacement. We can see no scuffing of bumper corners or significant chips and scratches, let alone evidence of paintwork rectification, panel mismatch, accident damage or similar. It barely presents as two years old, let alone nearly twenty.

The interior, with its combination of saddle tan leather and sage green carpets with original fitted mats is as good as the exterior, which means it is very, very good indeed. Underneath the carpets, the floor is clean and, so far as we could see, rust free. The dashboard leather on some DB7s can show signs of shrinkage and fading – not here though, adding further weight to our theory that this Aston has spent most of its time well-garaged. The seats, embossed with the AM wings in the front, seem unmarked with only slight discoloration on the driver side bolster where lucky previous owners have slipped eagerly behind the wheel for a V12 fix.

We’re looking after this DB7 Vantage during the sale so why not come and see us to get a proper look round the car. You’ll need to bring a magnifying glass if you want to try and find something wrong with it though - the interior is near perfect. All the electrics we have tried have been spot on too.

Even though the car was driven over 40 miles to get it to us for sale, we’ve still taken it on a quick test drive (it’s a tough job but someone’s gotta do it) and it is a joy. The combination of sports car handling and ride comfort is amazing - smoothly delivering the power to transform it from quiet purring cat to roaring lion in the flex of a big toe.

Several thousand pounds have been spent on this car by the current owner since summer last year. The recommissioning alone was over £7k with extensive renewal or rectification of both the mechanicals and bodywork - all detailed in the documentation shown in the gallery. In particular we recommend reading thoroughly the specialist inspection report. Whilst no guarantee against future bills, this attention does give confidence that this DB7 will give many years of (relatively) low-cost motoring to come.

The underside of the car appears to show no issues – just as you would expect.

The car comes with its Owners Manual which includes the service book with remarkable 15 service stamps and typical annual mileage of only a few thousand miles. The online MOT history shows nothing of recent concern and historically, aside from some new front springs, it has failed only on airbag warning lights, wipers and headlamp beam misalignment. The car’s low mileage faithfully recorded in the service book leads us to believe that the mileage is correct.

The car comes with a current MOT certificate along with a number of expired MOTs. Genuinely maintained without regard to cost, the invoices in the documents section give an insight into just how meticulously this Aston has been cared for by its previous owners.

As you would expect, it also has a full set of keys and a V5 registration document in the owner’s name.

Please visit the documents in the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of other paperwork to support our claim that this car has been very well maintained.

The prices of Aston Martin DB7 Vantages have recently softened to the low to mid thirty-thousands after a brief recent surge. This car’s guide price of £26-33k, along with the recent expenditure, represents a great opportunity to buy into the turnaround in Aston Martin’s fortunes that this achingly pretty, mechanically robust, gentleman's express represents.

Don’t forget that you are buying a beautifully presented and well-maintained modern-era Aston Martin with a V12 engine under the bonnet for less than the cost of a new VW Golf GTi and very little of the depreciation. The only DB7s that come better than this have a Zagato badge on the front wings - and for one of those you’d need to add another row of beads to your abacus.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with us in Abingdon. To arrange an appointment please use the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.

If needed, please remember we have a network of trusted suppliers we work with regularly and can recommend: Classic & Sportscar Finance for purchase-financing, Thames Valley Car Storage for storing your car, AnyVan for transporting it, and Footman James for classic car insurance.

BORING, but IMPORTANT: Please note that whilst we at The Market always aim to offer the most descriptive and transparent auction listings available, we cannot claim they are perfect analyses of any of the vehicles for sale. We offer far greater opportunity for bidders to view, or arrange inspections for each vehicle thoroughly prior to bidding than traditional auctions, and we never stop encouraging bidders to take advantage of this. We do take a good look at the vehicles delivered to our premises for sale, but this only results in our unbiased personal observations, not those of a qualified inspector or other professional, or the result of a long test drive.

Additionally, please note that most of the videos on our site have been recorded using simple cameras which often result in 'average' sound quality; in particular, engines and exhausts notes can sound a little different to how they are in reality.