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David Brown Speedback GT Harks Back To An Older Era Of Motoring

When someone says ‘Aston Martin,’ what’s the first thing that crosses your mind? The DB5. Owning Bond’s car in this day and age is risky business considering how temperamental classic British cars are, but fret not because David Brown Automotive has come with a middle-ground fix for the modern gentleman driver. 
David Brown Speedback GT live at 2017 Geneva Motor Show 22 photos
Photo: Guido ten Brink / SB-Medien
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Its name is Speedback GT and, as you can see from the 2017 Geneva Motor Show live pics, it’s not exactly a DB5. Squint your eyes a little and it sure looks like one. Even the taillights, consisting of three circular lamps, are a nod to Aston Martin’s seminal grand tourer made famous by MI6 Agent 007. Now three years old, the Speedback GT continues to drop jaws at Geneva, though.

The Borani-inspired 19-inch wire wheels match the classy persona of the Speedback GT, as do the circular headlamps and the long, sexy scooped hood. Not everything is perfect with the model, I’m afraid to tell you. You see, the moment you open the door and hop in the driver’s seat, you notice a worrying amount of Jaguar XK bits and bobs. The hatch is another element that doesn’t match the design of the Aston Martin DB5, which has a trunk lid.

What grinds my gears the most about the Speedback GT, however, is the weight. Empty, this retro-modern grand tourer tips the scales at a whopping 1,800 kilograms. For reference, Aston Martin’s newest offering, the DB11, weighs 1,770 kilograms. And incidentally, the Jaguar XKR weighs 1,800 kg.

To its defense, the supercharged 5.0-liter V8 is sufficiently potent at 510 PS (503 bhp) and 625 Nm (461 lb-ft) of torque. These numbers enable the Speedback GT to hit 100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.8 seconds, with the engine running out of puff at 250 km/h (155 mph) due to an electronic limiter. Mind you, David Brown Automotive’s masterpiece guzzles high-octane gasoline like a 747 on takeoff. Specifically, 18.9 l/100 km in urban driving conditions.

It’s also preposterously expensive. Only 100 examples of the breed will ever be made, each carrying a starting price of £495,000 excluding taxes. By comparison, a tip-top Aston Martin DB5 averages £450,000 at auction.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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