This Aston Martin Concept Was Really A Lincoln Town Car In Disguise

Whoever said "beauty is only tegument deep" ne'er heard an Aston Martin V12 rev. Astons are beautiful wrong and out, for illustration supermodels who unpaid astatine orphanages. Well, they mostly are, arsenic location are immoderate outliers. There's nan Cygnet, Aston's re-sculpted Toyota/Scion iQ, which was only beautiful to legume counters who needed to little nan brand's emissions. Aston did build a Cygnet pinch nan 4.7-liter V8 from a Vantage S, though, which is for illustration putting a JATO rocket centrifugal successful a play cart. 

One Aston Martin that could beryllium said to person only skin-deep-beauty (depending connected your meaning of beauty) is nan Aston Martin Lagonda Vignale. No, not nan original, expensive-to-maintain-and-buy 1974-1990 Aston Martin Lagonda that looks for illustration a Ferrari 400i crossbred pinch a doorstop, but alternatively nan prototype attempted successor that debuted astatine nan Geneva Motor Show successful 1993. At this aforesaid show, nan world besides sewage to spot nan Bugatti EB112, and attendees who forgot their glasses would person been forgiven for getting nan cars mixed up.

While nan EB112 had a 6.0-liter V12, nan Lagonda Vignale only had nan committedness of yet getting a V12. What really powered nan show car was a 4.6-liter V8. This was, of course, because nan car was built utilizing nan chassis and drivetrain from a Lincoln Town Car.

Ford owned Aston Martin astatine nan time, truthful why not slap a sexy assemblage onto a Lincoln chassis pinch a V8? It was expected to get a V12 and an extruded aluminum chassis eventually; meanwhile, Ford utilized curvy expanse metallic to waste nan concept. After all, Ford bought Aston Martin for its styling, truthful people FoMoCo had nan Lagonda's quality created by Italy's Ghia Design (which Ford still owns).

Aston Martin actually showed disconnected 2 cars astatine nan 1993 Geneva Motor Show, nan different 1 being nan DB7. You know, nan car that was going to beryllium a successor to nan XJS called nan F-Type, isolated from that Jaguar activity had their monocles popular retired astatine nan impropriety of Ford having outsider Tom Wakinshaw Racing (TWR) creation them a vehicle. Perhaps they forgot that TWR had developed nan XJ220 and Jaguar's Group C title cars. So TWR took its shot and went home — aliases rather, took its creation to Aston Martin. 

But, while nan DB7 became a runaway occurrence for Aston, particularly erstwhile it eschewed nan Jaguar-derived supercharged inline-6 for a much gentlemanly V12, nan Lagonda Vignale conscionable poofed into nothingness. These days, well-loved V12 Aston Martin DB7s are truthful common, you tin find them astatine junkyards,  but tin you honestly opportunity you knew nan Lagonda Vignale existed earlier now? The Sultan of Brunei managed to get ahold of nan azygous accumulation Lagonda Vignale ever made, which had a due V12, immoderate ocular alterations, and rear armchairs alternatively than a chair seat. He paid astir $1.95 cardinal for it successful 1995, 2 years aft nan Geneva show.

Of nan brace of Lagonda Vignale prototypes, Ford kept 1 that was painted successful Sorrento Blue until 2002. Someone paid $403,500 for it astatine a Christie's auction, good complete nan $60,000 to $120,000 estimate. The different illustration was painted grey and yet destroyed, because why support aliases waste a valuable uncommon thing? That'd conscionable beryllium silly.

Like galore "what if" vehicles, 'twas costs that killed nan beauty. Ford thought nan Lagonda would beryllium an costly uphill conflict extracurricular Great Britain, nan only location wherever "Lagonda" held immoderate value astatine nan time. 

But nan Lagonda Vignale survives, not conscionable arsenic a show car and a atom of soil successful nan formation that is nan Sultan of Brunei's car collection, but arsenic a testament to Ford's cross-pollination successful nan early '90s. American Ford, proprietor of English Aston Martin, had a conception penned by Scotsman Moray Callum (the dude wearing sunglasses successful nan first picture), who worked for Italian Ghia Design, and named it "Lagonda Vignale" aft nan different Italian coachbuilder, Corrozzeria Alfredo Vignale, which Ford bought successful 1973. Once upon a time, Ghia designed Ferraris that extremity postulation astatine Pebble Beach, but nether Ford, it didn't get its sanction connected a prototype it designed.

Oh, and nan feline at TWR who designed nan F-Type that Jaguar rejected? That's Ian Callum, Moray's brother, who helped reshape it into Aston Martin's DB7. In 1999, Ian became Jaguar's creation head and yet led nan improvement of — fto maine cheque my notes here — nan "Jaguar F-Type." If astatine first, you don't succeed, apparently.

As for nan Lagonda Vignale's interior, that was nan activity of David Wilkie and Sally Wilson (scarf feline and brown-jacket female successful nan first pic), besides of Ghia astatine nan time. It was arsenic luxurious arsenic 1 could dream for, pinch a beechwood dash, analine-dyed Parchment leather seats, and wool carpets. If nan group wheeling nan point astir nan Geneva Auto Show were disappointed pinch its 190-hp V8 and pushbutton four-speed automatic, they surely weren't upset pinch nan stupendously comfortable and plush cabin.