over 15 years after the first muscle car era had subsided in the United States horsepower was beginning to climb once again by 1987 the Corvette's 350 cubic in V8 had increased in Peak horsepower from 200 horsepower in 1982 to 245 just a few years later and the Ferrari tester Roa was knocking on the door of 390 horsepower with it Flat 12 as well performance was on an upswing however muscle cars were still many years away from matching the power output of their late great 1960s ancestors all except for one car see while GM was struggling to squeeze more than 250 horsepower out of their 5. 7 L V8s another manufacturer would be building the most unlikely luxury muscle car of them all with a ground pounding 4 30 horsepower coming from its naturally aspirated 5. 3 L V8 this was the hottest Factory V8 powered car around and it wasn't even coming from the big three or the United States at all 3,000 Mi across the Atlantic Ocean Aston Martin was cooking up a masterpiece in Old School speed and it would be referred to Simply as the V8 Vantage xack whose Origins could be traced all the way back to 1967 see Aston Martin in the Years prior had seen a meteor runup in brand recognition thanks to the likes of the one and only James Bond the DB5 was the it car of the world just a few years earlier but with the DB5 and db6 cars being just a further update of the Aging db4 platform it was evident that this design was becoming a bit Antiquated and too small for the demand of the everchanging Grand Touring market and as such the choice was made to fully redesign Aston Martin's Flagship Car from the ground up and by 1967 the Aston Martin DBS arrived offering more speed more comfort and more space than its predecessor the DBS Was An Elegant gentleman's car like any self-respecting Aston should be but there was something a bit more Sinister about this body style it was wider more muscular and it carried itself differently on the road it had some attitude to it but its aluminum body was still hand formed and assembled just like the Brand's other cars it's also alleged that even the quarter panel shape of this new Aston DBS was very heavily inspired by that period of American muscle cars in the 60s and its new boxy front end with that wide front grill screamed muscle more than it did opulence and that's because initially this new DBS was designed to fit Aston Martin's allnew 5.
3 L Aluminum dual overhead cam V8 designed by tedc Mor who was Aston Martin's polish engine wizard this new engine would be aston's first ever V8 and as such they wanted to get it right which also meant taking their time so a production ready version of this engine took longer than expected as as a result the DBS was sold with the old db6 inline 6-cylinder engine at first and it didn't get this brand new V8 that was made for it until 1969 now the inline 6 was still a strong performer making around 280 horsepower and it was silky smooth but it lacked the grunt that this body style really needed when the new Aston Martin V8 finally made its way into the production DBS cars it made a respectable 3 60 horsepower with its Bosch fuel injection system now V8 power output wise this was right on par with the highest performance American V8s of the same time with similar displacements not bad for Aston Martin's first V8 goar around 360 ftlb of torque were also on tap with this motor at 4500 RPM which gave the Asen a fantastic amount of mid-range shove with the dbs's new chassis design that Fe featured a ddon rear axle bented disc brakes and an optional 5-speed manual transmission this car catapulted Aston Martin into the next decade 0 to 60 happened in 6 seconds and the top speed stood at a lofty 160 mph thanks to the five forward gears and the 354 to1 rear gear ratio a 3-speed automatic was also available as a transmission option but it severely hampered performance the 5-speed was what you wanted to have however that fuel injection system that I mentioned earlier that seemed so Cutting Edge for the time actually caused a myriad of issues so many in fact that Aston actually reverted the later cars back to a carburated setup because of all the issues they faced with it they eventually figured it out later on but it took them a while of just making carburated cars first visually the DBS V8 cars remained pretty much the same until 1973 which was when the new facelifted cars arrived affectionally referred to as the series 2 cars or just the Aston Martin V8s no longer the DBS V8s these got a redesigned front fascia that ditched the flat onepiece grill and quad headlight setup for a much simpler and more elegant single headlight setup on each side with a separated Grill and in my opinion this body looks way better power dropped to 310 10 horsepower by 1973 and as the years progressed tightening emissions laws choked the Aston out to a mid 200 horsepower Peak power range by the mid 1970s Aston offered a new stage one engine option which brought Peak power back up to 305 horsepower thanks to a reworked exhaust and new cans entering into 1977 the astam Martin V8 would embark on an upward trajectory that would end up bringing us the baddest version yet the Asam Martin V8 vantages debuted in 1977 bringing with them a further redesigned front end with a blocked off center Grill and enclosed Hood bulge with two large fog lamps in the middle of what used to be the grill this new rework made the car even more aggressive looking and under the hood there were big performance gains as well the carburetors were changed and upgraded to larger 48 mm IDF rebers that were mounted on redesigned intake manifolds along with these changes the engine received larger valves modified exhaust manifolds updated cam shafts and an increased compression ratio these Mods alog together allowed the 5. 3 L V8 to produce around 380 horsepower though Aston Martin modestly described the power output as adequate at the time the suspension for the vantages was also overhauled with adjust adjustable Coney dampers shorter Springs and a thicker anti- rollar plus the addition of new wied tires the Interiors were also fitted with upgraded materials fully completing the new Vantage package now for the late 1970s 380 horsepower was criminally fast 0 to 60 was now in the 5sec range and the top speed was knocking on the door of 170 mph not bad for a nearly 4,000 000lb car back then it was Miles faster than any American V8 at the time and in fact it was Miles faster than everything because in 1977 the V8 Vantage was the fastest production car in the world and there was still more to give because fast forward a few years to 1986 and the Pinnacle of naturally aspirated V8 performance worldwide was here in the form of the V8 Vantage xack named for its 580x engine designation this new motor would be the best yet thanks to further improvements made by ason Lake new Cosworth Pistons larger carburetors larger intake ports a revised intake manifold and further upgraded cams Peak power was now bumped to a whopping 432 horsepower 0 to 60 was now in the low fives and the top speed was over 170 from the already crazy advantage to the now even more insane V8 Vantage xack it was clear that Aston Martin had built Britain's first true Supercar power-wise the ason outclass the kunos and the Ferrari tester Rosa and offered similar performance figures albeit offering way more practicality two extra seats and a much more luxurious interior this car was really the Jack of all trades and it truly might have been the only time in history that on the basis of Pure Performance Aston Martin outclassed all of its other Rivals and to be honest for $12,000 in 1987 money this car better have the only shame is that just 137 xack cars were built according to RM sou thebeast before the car was phased out for the new varage and Vantage of the early '90s which means that your chance of seeing an actual real factory xack car are slim to none thank y though Aston Martin Works who essentially are the factory supported classic Aston Wizards offer services today to upgrade their V8s into xack specifications and Beyond we're talking a 6.
