Photo: PA Images / tatler.com
Aston Martin has been delivering cars for the British Royal Family since 1954, but few are as memorable and famous as the 1994 Virage Volante Prince Charles drove for 15 full years.
It will be hitting the auction block on December 7, with a bidding price of £275,000, which is about $355,000 at the current exchange. Painted a gorgeous forest green, the car was leased to Charles under a very special and quite unheard-of at the time agreement, before it was returned to the maker in 2008.
It was put on display at the company headquarters and sold to a private owner in 2012. That owner is now selling it through Bonhams, which describes it as a “must-have” for any Aston Martin car collector.
Despite the extended ownership (15 years to hold on to a car is something, even by those days’ standards), the Virage Volante has just 34,000 miles on the clock and has been maintained in excellent condition. It comes with the original, plush leather interior in cream, green carpets, and wood-accented dashboard and side panels.
Because this was a car made for the future king of England, it received several upgrades over the years. The most significant one is that the original 5.2-liter v8 engine was replaced with a 6.3-liter, which means the car is now able to reach 175 mph. At some point, Prince Charles also had a police radio installed, but it has since been removed, Tatler reports.
The same media outlet says Prince Charles had a special compartment made and upholstered with leather, in which he could keep the sugar cubes he would feed his polo ponies. We wouldn’t have imagined it any other way.
The partnership between Aston Martin and the Royal Family started in 1954, when the Duke of Edinburgh visited the carmaker's headquarters in order to acquire a Lagonda for himself and the Queen. It was fitted with a radio, which was a luxury at the time.
In 2011, Prince William and Kate, now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, left the Buckingham Palace reception in Prince Charles’ DB6 MK 2 Vantage Volante, which he had converted to run on bio-ethanol specifically for the occasion.
It was put on display at the company headquarters and sold to a private owner in 2012. That owner is now selling it through Bonhams, which describes it as a “must-have” for any Aston Martin car collector.
Despite the extended ownership (15 years to hold on to a car is something, even by those days’ standards), the Virage Volante has just 34,000 miles on the clock and has been maintained in excellent condition. It comes with the original, plush leather interior in cream, green carpets, and wood-accented dashboard and side panels.
Because this was a car made for the future king of England, it received several upgrades over the years. The most significant one is that the original 5.2-liter v8 engine was replaced with a 6.3-liter, which means the car is now able to reach 175 mph. At some point, Prince Charles also had a police radio installed, but it has since been removed, Tatler reports.
The same media outlet says Prince Charles had a special compartment made and upholstered with leather, in which he could keep the sugar cubes he would feed his polo ponies. We wouldn’t have imagined it any other way.
The partnership between Aston Martin and the Royal Family started in 1954, when the Duke of Edinburgh visited the carmaker's headquarters in order to acquire a Lagonda for himself and the Queen. It was fitted with a radio, which was a luxury at the time.
In 2011, Prince William and Kate, now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, left the Buckingham Palace reception in Prince Charles’ DB6 MK 2 Vantage Volante, which he had converted to run on bio-ethanol specifically for the occasion.
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