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The Aston Martin DB7: More Than a Ford Parts Bin Special With Jaguar Underpinnings

Never featured in the James Bond films made during the 1990s, the DB7 is more than meets the eye. Despite loads of shortcomings that we’ll touch on later, the bite-the-back-of-your-hand pretty GT was the first Aston Martin developed under the watchful eye of the Ford Motor Company and the car that saved Aston Martin from yet another bankruptcy.
Aston Martin DB7 24 photos
Photo: Aston Martin
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The origin story of the DB7 begins with British engineering company TWR. Its founder, British racing driver Tom Walkinshaw, fielded the Jaguar XJS in the European Touring Car Championship, and he always wanted to modernize this car to create a successor for the V12-engined grand tourer.

Peter Stevens, the gentleman who designed the McLaren F1 alongside Gordon Murray, was originally approached for this project. But Stevens had other things on his plate back then, which brings us to another big name in the automotive industry. Tom Walkinshaw approached a then-young Ian Callum, and the newcomer obviously said that he was in.

During this period, Jaguar was owned by the Ford Motor Company as well. The Leaping Cat of Coventry was barely making ends meet, which is why the XJS-replacing XJ41/42 project was completely scrapped. Tom Walkinshaw took a liking to the XJ41 coupe, tasking Ian Callum to pen a beautiful shell for the stillborn grand touring car. Jaguar’s executives and bean counters rejected the design study, which brings us to arguably the most important gentleman in the DB7’s origin story: Walter Leopold Arthur Hayes.

The former journalist and later public relations executive at Ford cemented the Blue Oval’s relationship with Colin Chapman of Lotus fame. He also convinced engine specialist Cosworth to develop the iconic DFV that dominated every Formula 1 Grand Prix in 1969 and 1973. As a matter of fact, DFV racecars won a total of 155 Grands Prix from 1967 and 1985.

Hayes saw the potential in the XJ41 coupe's makeover, later known as the F-Type, together with the XJ42 convertible, which is why he approached TWR with a simple task: redesign the car to look more like an Aston Martin.

Aston Martin DB7 V12 GT
Photo: Aston Martin
But even with Ford’s backing, Aston Martin couldn’t spend too many dollars (or pounds sterling) on the DB7. This explains the “Ford Parts Bin Special” in the headline, consisting of Scorpio interior door mirror switches and Tibbe disc tumbler locks with an eight-disc layout rather than Ford’s six discs.

Mazda was in cahoots with Ford back then, hence the 323 taillights, 323 door handles, and MX-5 turn signals. The wing mirrors, on the other hand, were curiously sourced from the Citroen CX. Jaguar also used the eight-disc locks mentioned earlier, and you shouldn’t be surprised by that because the XK shares its XJS-derived platform with the Aston Martin DB7.

Presented at the 1993 Geneva Motor Show and dubbed the most beautiful car of that era, the DB7 entered production in 1994 at the TWR Bloxham factory where the Jaguar XJ220 used to be made. The straight-six engine, an AJ6-derived lump gifted with an Eaton supercharger for extra oomph, was famously described as having less power than a parish council.

Motoring journalists weren’t exactly impressed by the handling and build quality either. But against all odds, the DB7 changed Aston Martin’s fortunes for the better due to its relatively accessible price tag and superlative looks. It was approximately half the price of the Virage-Volante-Vantage trio, the British automaker's V8-powered flagships of the 1990s.

Aston Martin improved its grand tourer for the 1997 model year with the Series 2, then phased out the blown straight-six engine by mid-1999 in favor of the V12 Vantage. AM01 is the codename of the engine that Aston Martin used through 2020 under many other codenames, a Cosworth-developed mill that wouldn’t have been possible without FoMoCo’s backing.

The V12 GT and automatic transmission-equipped V12 GTA arrived in 2002 with much-needed suspension improvements and a mesh front grille that looks much better than the original design. The DB7’s production came to a grinding halt with the Zagato and DB AR1 special editions, which were both designed by the coachbuilder in collaboration with Henrik Fisker.

A little over 7,100 units of the DB7 rolled off the assembly line from 1994 through 2004, the year the Callum-penned DB9 entered the scene.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

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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