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Aston Martin announced during February 2007 that
the end of car production at Newport Pagnell was to be commemorated with just 40
examples of a new Vanquish S, the Ultimate Edition (UE). The idea was to create a luxurious
and unique limited edition befitting the Vanquish S status as the ultimate Aston
Martin and also to celebrate the skilled craftsmanship of the team working at
Newport Pagnell. The Ultimate Edition
was available by special request to customers wishing to celebrate the last of a
significant car in Aston Martin’s history. It appears that the whole
allocation of this special edition was sold within only a couple of weeks of the
announcement which perhaps explains why the scheduled number of cars jumped to
50 examples, 20 RHD and 30 LHD.
The Ultimate Edition, essentially, was a
Vanquish S with a specific colour and trim combination. On the exterior, these changes included
coachwork painted a
unique metallic shade called ‘Ultimate Black’ described as black with a hint of red and blue, which
was only available on the UE. Inside, the Vanquish S cabin was trimmed in
a semi-aniline leather, with coarse stitching, leather headlining and black
chrome finish interior fittings. Each car was also be fitted with personalised
sill plaques denoting it's limited edition number.
No additional charge was made for the Ultimate
Edition, available only with the 2+2 seating arrangement and priced in the UK at £182,095.
I will add that identification of the UE is difficult as they have no unique
external features save for a very discrete badge on the wing vent that may not
even have been used on all cars.
All of the photos on this page feature chassis 2593,
the very last Aston Martin ever made at Newport Pagnell and retained by the factory
for their growing collection of significant cars.
I also was fortunate to photograph to UE's during the last month of production
which will be shown on another page on this site. |
