Aston Martin DB7 |
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Wikipedia: Aston Martin DB7
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History
The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Aston Martin DB7 page on 18 March 2019, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
The Aston Martin DB7 is a grand tourer which was produced by British luxury automobile manufacturer Aston Martin from September 1994 to December 2004. The car was available either as a coupé or a convertible. The prototype was complete by November 1992 and debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in March, 1993; the car was designed by Ian Callum and Keith Helfet. The six-cylinder DB7 (based on the Jaguar AJ6 engine) was positioned as an "entry-level" model below the hand-built V8 Virage introduced a few years earlier. This model was the highest produced Aston Martin automobile ever, with more than 7,000 built before it was replaced by the DB9 in 2004.
The DB7, known internally as the NPX project, was made mostly with resources from Jaguar Cars and had the financial backing of the Ford Motor Company, owner of Aston Martin from 1988 to 2007. The DB7's platform is an evolution of the Jaguar XJS's, though with many changes. The styling started life as the still-born Jaguar F type (XJ41 – coupé / XJ42 – convertible) designed by Keith Helfet. Ford cancelled this car and the general design was grafted onto an XJS platform due to lack of market interest. The styling received modest changes by Ian Callum so that it looked like an Aston Martin model. The first generation of the Jaguar XK also uses an evolution of the XJ-S/DB7 platform and the cars share a family resemblance, though the Aston Martin was significantly more expensive and unusual.
The DB7 was engineered in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, by Tom Walkinshaw Racing on behalf of Aston Martin. The engines continued to be built in Kidlington during the production run of the vehicle.
With the production of the Virage (soon rechristened "V8" following Vantage styling revisions) continuing at Newport Pagnell, a new factory was acquired at Bloxham, Oxfordshire that had previously been used to manufacture the Jaguar XJ220, where every DB7 would be built throughout its production run. The DB7 and its variants were the only Aston Martin automobiles produced in Bloxham and the only ones with a steel unit construction inherited from Jaguar (Aston Martin had traditionally used aluminium for construction of the bodies of their cars, and models introduced after the DB7 use aluminium for the chassis as well as for many major body parts).
The convertible Volante version was unveiled at the North American International Auto Show held in Detroit in 1996. Both versions have a supercharged straight-six engine that has a power output of 340 PS (250 kW; 335 hp) and 361 lb-ft (489 N-m) of torque. In the United States, the Coupé was sold for US$140,000, and the Volante for US$150,000. Works Service provided a special Driving Dynamics package, which greatly enhanced performance and handling for drivers who wanted more than what the standard configuration offered.
| Date | Article | Author/Source |
|---|---|---|
| 30 November 2012 | Aston Martin DB7 - supercar bargain  | Matt Hubbard, Speedmonkey |
| 17 February 2016 | Aston Martin Lagonda Limited, Receipt of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance | Federal Register: NHTSA (Jeffrey M. Giuseppe) |