This Aston Martin DBS From 1968 Might Be the Mightiest and Fastest Ever Produced

Developed in the mid-1960s, the Tadek Marek-designed Aston Martin V8 engine powered the automaker's models for part of five decades before its withdrawal in 2000. It was also meant to power the first generation of the DBS that was introduced in 1967, but the car eventually debuted with the same straight-six engine that was fitted onto the concurrently produced DB6.

That's because the new V8, which was originally developed for the Aston Martin T70 Mark III Lola Le Mans cars that raced in 1967, was a complex project, and its development was moving more slowly than anticipated. The engine finally went into production a couple of years later, and it first appeared in the DBS V8 in 1969. Nonetheless, there is an earlier factory prototype fitted with the Lola Aston Martin V8 engine, and it's the unit pictured here, which we will detail in a bit.

Aston Martin had a very different plan for the first-gen DBS. The new model was meant to be styled by the renowned Italian automotive design house Touring of Milan and incorporate an all-aluminum V8. Circumstances changed significantly from the concept phase to production, with Touring of Milan going out of business and the V8 proving unreliable at Le Mans when installed in a couple of Lola T70s.

As a result, the DBS's modern style inspired by the era's American muscle cars was actually penned by a young British designer named William Towns, and the car debuted with the familiar 3,995cc straight-six engine that powered the DB6. It was a 280 hp (284 ps), 4.0-liter version of the mill, capable of delivering 325 hp (330 ps) in Vantage specification, fitted with special camshafts and triple Weber carburetors. It gave the vehicle a top speed of 141 mph (227 kph) and allowed it to do the 0 to 62 mph (100 kph) run in 7.1 seconds.

In terms of style, the new car was larger than the outgoing DB6, with sharper lines and slab-sided bodywork. Its fastback silhouette sat on a platform-type chassis with independent suspension at all four corners - wishbone and coil-spring up front and De Dion with Watts linkage at the rear.

The Aston Martin DBS V8 model was eventually introduced in 1969, and as its name suggests, it had the new Tadek Marek V8 engine under its hood, which produced 320 hp (324 ps) and 330 lb-ft (450 Nm) of torque at 5000 rpm and made it the world's fastest four-seat production car at the time, capable of a top speed of 160 mph (257 mph).

The DBS was a success for the British automaker, and it even appeared in a James Bond film, namely the 1969 On Her Majesty's Secret Service, in the 1971 spy movie Diamonds Are Forever, and the TV series The Persuaders.

The Aston Martin DBS unit you see here is a prototype from 1968 that was factory fitted with the Le Mans version of the Aston Martin V8 engine. This was a high-performance 5-liter mill with alloy block and heads, double overhead cams per bank, and a 90º V-angle. It was initially developed for the Aston Martin T70 Mark III Lola Le Mans cars and is said to produce 460 hp (467 ps), which makes this specific example significantly mightier than the standard production version of the Aston Martin DBS V8.

This is actually the first privately owned Aston Martin DBS to achieve the performance for which it was designed. The V8 was installed in January 1970, and the car's chassis plate has the letter P after the engine number, indicating this is a prototype.

Interestingly, in order to fit the Lola Le Mans V8 in the engine bay, it was necessary to redesign the hood. The car was endowed with a new higher hood that better accommodates the higher intake consisting of twin double Weber carburetors fed by two separate air boxes and cold air intakes.

The rare vehicle, which was once owned by famed car collector Nigel Dawes, is finished in bright blue over an all-black interior. It has recently undergone a comprehensive restoration and benefitted from a bare metal respray in metallic Lagoon Blue, four new Weber 45 DCOE carburetors, a wheel refurbishment, new carpeting throughout, and more. The car shows 76,884 miles (123,732 km) on the odometer and rides on the correct alloy wheels for a DBS V8.

For those interested in owning a piece of Aston Martin history, this 1968 DBS Prototype is set to go under the hammer at the beginning of March with a price guide of £150,000 – £160,000, or approximately USD $183,000 to $195,200.