The Aston Martin DB11 and the Fiat 124 Spider came to this world relatively close to one another. The British car was presented at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, while the Italian Spider was seen at the 2015 Los Angeles Auto Show. We imagine back then none of the designers thought about meeting and exchanging styling ideas.
This face swap between the elegant Aston Martin DB11 and the retro-flavored Fiat 124 Spider comes courtesy of Instagram user tuningcar_ps. We really cannot assign any blame to the render, as done on a good phone with great editing capabilities).
But it happens, and the result even comes with some nostalgia infusions. You see, the Fiat 124 Spider is a mashup in itself. We all know how Fiat Chrysler Automobiles decided they wanted a spiritual successor for the Pininfarina-designed Fiat 124 Sport Spider, and they needed a cheap one.
So, they turned to Mazda, sourced the architecture from the fourth iteration of the legendary Mazda MX-5 Miata and asked them to manufacture the 124 Spider on the same assembly line in Hiroshima, Japan. We all know how that turned out – people did not buy the vintage styling too much, remained with the Japanese original and the Fiat 124 Spider is slowly exhausting every drop of oxygen left.
On the other hand, the Aston Martin DB11 seems flawless. At first sight. This was the modern successor to the acclaimed DB9. It was also the first model in the company’s “second century” strategy and the one that kickstarted the Daimler AG tie-up.
The DB11 / 124 Spider face swap brought us back to 1977 when the British automaker was looking to fight off the American muscle car with the V8 Vantage. The latter, in its Volante convertible version, became 007’s four-wheeled sidekick in The Living Daylights installment from 1987. But wait, the Q Branch “winterized” it with a hardtop.
Thus, the production crew switched to V8, non-Vantage models that got the same number plate and some Vantage badges for the illusion to hold true. If this is not a real-world mashup then I do not know how to call it! Anyways, if everything works out fine with the current global health crisis, we are going to see the vintage Aston in action again this November in the film No Time to Die.
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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