Aston Martin DB7 Volante (i6) (1996 - 1999)

The DB7 Volante was unveiled a little while after the Coupe at both the Los Angeles and Detroit motor shows in early 1996. This was no accident as the main market for this car was to be in the States. Performance is slightly down on the coupe due to increased weight and aerodynamic drag. Sixty miles per hour comes up in six seconds and top speed is 155 mph for the manual transmission, as claimed by Aston Martin.

Designed by Ian Callum at the same time as he designed the Coupe, the Volante looks elegant both hood up or down, much like the earlier Aston Martin drop head cars. Underneath the sleek and perfectly proportioned thoroughbred, lies additional strengthening to offset the lack of the roof, especially around the windscreen, to provide a degree of rollover protection. Another invisible change to the Volante was softer suspension settings, more suited to to the touring image but also to compensate for the reduction in rigidity over the coupe. Less well known was that the series 2 coupe also adopted the softer Volante suspension. Thus, to some driving enthusiasts, the later non-air bagged coupes are thought to be the most desirable of the six cylinder DB7's.

As one might expect, the roof is fully tailored and electrically operated but sadly it sits rather proud of the boot.  The typically English ambience is achieved by sumptuous Connolly hide, restrained amounts of burr walnut veneer (oak, elm and maple were also available) and deep pile Wilton carpets. This interior shot below illustrates the airbag equipped steering wheel fitted to all 1996MY and after Coupes and Volantes. Total i6 Volante reached only 879 examples.
I was told some time ago that a small number of TWR development Volantes were actually sold onto the UK market, both with and without airbags. More recently, photographs have been sent to me that actually confirms this to be true.

Chiltern Aston Martin, the DB7 centre

DB7 i6 Race Car

DB7 GTS