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| Secret Works Service Projects an overview | |
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By 1992, things were starting to slow with sales of the Virage and even the introduction of the Volante didn't make too much difference. The economy wasn't picking up and demand was dropping. Thus it was down to the Customer Service Division (now Works Service) to step in and try to bring in some money by offering upgrades and conversions as they had always done. So we got the 6.3 Virage, and the Shooting Brakes and the four door Virages. Although the four (and five) door Virage were announced to the public no-one outside of AML knew that a few were built for a wealthy overseas customer. Following on from these, WS continued working on ultra exclusive unique coachbuilt cars for the wealthiest people in the world but in total secret. Indeed, it has been said that one customer in particular bought so many cars, that AML would not have survived without his patronage. I won't be so rude as to say who the customers were but I'm sure you can guess. The first indication that anything was built was in an article in the the Autocar magazine, 2nd September 1998 where someone undercover took pictures in a warehouse full of exotics in South East Asia - you must get a copy, trust me. More recently, small pictures have appeared in 'Works Tourque', the magazine sent out to customers of Works Service. But effectively, the specially commissioned Works Service cars have remained hidden and an almost total secret............until now. |
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www.imagespublishing.com |
Aston Martin : Power, Beauty and Soul By the Summer of 2007, the real story will be told fully in a new book, Aston Martin: Power, Beauty and Soul, written by a friend of mine called David Dowsey. Effectively, the book covers the full story of AM during the Ford years from 1987 to date including the Rapide and DBS V12. It has taken six years to write and contains over 100,000 words and hundreds of photos, many previously unpublished. David has travelled the world to interview dozens of key AM personnel including past and present employees, engineers, designers, Directors and previous owners of the Aston Martin company. The book features over sixty models and variants and also has full specs, charts and chassis numbers. David has very kindly allowed this website just a small sneak preview of what is in the book and I promise, you will not be disappointed. The pictures that I have shown are all taken from the brilliant illustrations from the book by Mike Harbar. There are lots of examples of Mikes work on his website, www.car-artist.com where you can also buy prints. |
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| Page Updated Sunday August 12, 2007 |
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