ROAD CAR TESTS
The true spirit of Aston Martin
After this car, the DBS will be dead. Good thing the 770 Ultimate finally lives up to the name’s billing then, says Andrew Frankel
The Ultimate is definitely handsome but for once the looks of this Aston don’t flatter to deceive
‘DBS’ is one of those strange Aston Martin nameplates that seems to fall both in and out of favour. First seen in 1968, the original DBS was not what was intended, namely a car to replace the longserving DB6. That’s because the V8 motor intended for it had endured a gestation from hell and simply wasn’t ready. So Aston used the old DB6 six-cylinder motor instead, resulting in a new flagship that was slower than the car it was intended to succeed. That finally arrived the following year, the name lasting until the car was facelifted into the Aston Martin V8 in 1973. Then nothing until 2007, when a car looking suspiciously like a hotted up DB9 wore the badge for five years, then nothing again until the current car appeared in 2018, which will itself be retired this year and the DBS name with it. Again.