This is British carmaker Aston Martin’s 100th birthday and to celebrate, the motor company held an unprecedented event in Gaydon, Warwickshire, England where tens of thousands of fans congregated, many bringing their own Astons with them – over a billion British pounds’ worth of cars in total were on display at the gathering.
The event took place on July 21st and featured lineups and showcases of some of the Aston Martin greats through the century, including a whole section of cars showing the brand’s fifty year love affair with James Bond.
A week of activity preceded the fair, with thousands of guests traveling to Aston Martin headquarters in Gaydon for a unique experience of tea, lunch, and more in the Aston Maritn design studios, assembly line, and on the grounds of Britain’s most prestigious automaker. This was followed by a special black tie dinner held for select guests, Aston Martin owners, and others.
Considering that the company has built only about 65,000 cars in its century of auto making, the fact that 550 are in pristine, show-ready condition and their owners are willing to travel from around the world to show them off is definitely saying something about the love that Aston Martin engenders in its fans.
One of the carmaker’s biggest fans, of course, is James Bond and in the fifty years that 007 films have been made, an Aston has been the centerpiece car that Britain’s most celebrated special agent goes to when things get rough. The cars in display this year were replicas or originals used in Bond films including the exceedingly classic DB5 that had so much (deserved) screen time in the latest Bond film, Skyfall.
Other models on display in the lineup of British steel were the Vanquish Centenary Edition to celebrate Aston’s 100 years, the upcoming V12 Vantage S and Vanquish Volante as well as the futuristic CC100 Speedster Concept. Looking back, of course, many vehicles not often seen at shows and some commissioned exclusively by buyers from Aston were also on display.
This included a brace of beautiful Zagato models as well as iconic Aston Martin Racing machines such as the Ulster, the DBR1, and DB4 GT Zagato and others.
In all, over fifty thousand people congregated to see a hundred years of Aston Martin on display and to see what a billion pounds worth of exclusive vehicles looks like all at once.
Here is a photo gallery of the event, courtesy of Aston Martin. Enjoy!
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