Trip to an Aston Martin workshop
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From: Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
Trip to an Aston Martin workshop
I thought I’d post up some photos of a trip to a specialist Aston Martin Garage that I visited today as some people might be interested.
My dad is a Health & Safety officer working for a freelance company. This workshop is one of their clients. He managed to wangle a little guided tour for me this morning.
The workshop consists of a showroom of about 20 Astons ranging from Volantes to DB9s to Vanquishes. There’s an onsite service bay accredited by Aston Martin. A body shop that local Aston dealers use as it’s the approved accident repair centre. Lastly there’s also a paintshop with about 6 separate paint booths. It’s a pretty good setup! Many, many famous and well know clients including some Arab sheiks and princes!
The main point of this workshop is to buy cars that are in need of repair and transform them into pristine examples. If you’ve seen wrecks to riches or Barry’s speed shop on Discovery channel then this outfit is exactly that, but with Aston Martins.
I’ll let the photos do the talking.
Enjoy!
DB6 in the showroom ready for sale
An early V12 Vanquish. Just serviced and awaiting it’s lucky owner!
DB6 recently restored and in the showroom
Beautiful DB5 in a carcoon ready for owner to collect. This DB5 was restored from a shell, which was imported from New Zealand, in the workshop. It was then flown to Dubai to promote the workshop. When it was flown back to England it came back off the plane damaged. Once fixed it was back in the showroom. 2 weeks ago a bloke from France chartered a jet and paid after a short test drive. It’s still in the showroom as apparently the new owner is waiting for his garage to be built below his chateaux! Price tag was over £300,000!
Engine prep and dyno area
A burnt shell in the workshop. Looks like it was then painted to prevent the wood from degrading further. Not too sure what it is although it had ‘Lagonda’ on the wheel hub.
Another Lagonda, not too sure of the model, that took part in the 2007 Peking to Paris rally. Driven by the owner of the workshop.
Very smart V8 Vantage 550 Twin supercharged.
Awaiting paint in the paintshop.
Servicing area. If you look slosly at the wing you’ll see it has snapped. The technicians told me that the owner lets the car tick over 10 minutes every week to let the battery charge and keep everything in shape. It’s stored in his garage under a cover. Last week he got a phone call and went out of the garage. He returned 1.5 hours later after forgetting about it to find the radiator had exploded. Parts were obliterated! Over £5k of damage! Lucky the engine didn’t overheat though.
Bodyshop photos.
This is the big one! It’s a DB1! Only ever 15 made and only 12 known to be existence today. The owner of the workshop was after this for 12 years. Eventually the owner gave in and sold it to him. Word of mouth got out and the car has already been sold in it’s current state along with the contract to restore it! A lot of custom work will be required! Estimated to be worth well over £1m.
Hope you liked the photos!
Unfortunately the DB4 Zagato wasn't there. It is a one off apparently and owned by an arab sheik or prince in Dubai. This particular Zagato is rumoured to be worth over £1m. Shame I didn't see it!
Oh, I've been reliably informed that there are 12 177's still available if anybody still wants one!!!
Sorry about the quality – I used my iPhone as I didn’t really want to take my DSLR around as it’s not really inconspicuous!
Nick.
My dad is a Health & Safety officer working for a freelance company. This workshop is one of their clients. He managed to wangle a little guided tour for me this morning.
The workshop consists of a showroom of about 20 Astons ranging from Volantes to DB9s to Vanquishes. There’s an onsite service bay accredited by Aston Martin. A body shop that local Aston dealers use as it’s the approved accident repair centre. Lastly there’s also a paintshop with about 6 separate paint booths. It’s a pretty good setup! Many, many famous and well know clients including some Arab sheiks and princes!
The main point of this workshop is to buy cars that are in need of repair and transform them into pristine examples. If you’ve seen wrecks to riches or Barry’s speed shop on Discovery channel then this outfit is exactly that, but with Aston Martins.
I’ll let the photos do the talking.
Enjoy!
DB6 in the showroom ready for sale
An early V12 Vanquish. Just serviced and awaiting it’s lucky owner!
DB6 recently restored and in the showroom
Beautiful DB5 in a carcoon ready for owner to collect. This DB5 was restored from a shell, which was imported from New Zealand, in the workshop. It was then flown to Dubai to promote the workshop. When it was flown back to England it came back off the plane damaged. Once fixed it was back in the showroom. 2 weeks ago a bloke from France chartered a jet and paid after a short test drive. It’s still in the showroom as apparently the new owner is waiting for his garage to be built below his chateaux! Price tag was over £300,000!
Engine prep and dyno area
A burnt shell in the workshop. Looks like it was then painted to prevent the wood from degrading further. Not too sure what it is although it had ‘Lagonda’ on the wheel hub.
Another Lagonda, not too sure of the model, that took part in the 2007 Peking to Paris rally. Driven by the owner of the workshop.
Very smart V8 Vantage 550 Twin supercharged.
Awaiting paint in the paintshop.
Servicing area. If you look slosly at the wing you’ll see it has snapped. The technicians told me that the owner lets the car tick over 10 minutes every week to let the battery charge and keep everything in shape. It’s stored in his garage under a cover. Last week he got a phone call and went out of the garage. He returned 1.5 hours later after forgetting about it to find the radiator had exploded. Parts were obliterated! Over £5k of damage! Lucky the engine didn’t overheat though.
Bodyshop photos.
This is the big one! It’s a DB1! Only ever 15 made and only 12 known to be existence today. The owner of the workshop was after this for 12 years. Eventually the owner gave in and sold it to him. Word of mouth got out and the car has already been sold in it’s current state along with the contract to restore it! A lot of custom work will be required! Estimated to be worth well over £1m.
Hope you liked the photos!
Unfortunately the DB4 Zagato wasn't there. It is a one off apparently and owned by an arab sheik or prince in Dubai. This particular Zagato is rumoured to be worth over £1m. Shame I didn't see it!
Oh, I've been reliably informed that there are 12 177's still available if anybody still wants one!!!
Sorry about the quality – I used my iPhone as I didn’t really want to take my DSLR around as it’s not really inconspicuous!
Nick.
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From: Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
Originally Posted by mikey k,Jun 3 2010, 09:54 PM
Whereabouts are they based?
Is it DMS near Derby?
I'm looking for a good indie to look after my new car
Services and workshop are amazing though!
Joined: Jan 2006
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From: location, location
Brilliant 
The DB5 is one of my favourite car shapes of all time, i remember speaking to a guy in a petrol station in a DB6 (I thought he was in a DB5), he said the DB6 although it looked very much the same as the DB5 it was a much better car all round.
The DB5 is one of my favourite car shapes of all time, i remember speaking to a guy in a petrol station in a DB6 (I thought he was in a DB5), he said the DB6 although it looked very much the same as the DB5 it was a much better car all round.
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From: Ulaanbaatar
That'll be The Aston Workshop in Beamish.
County Durham has another classic car legend - MacDonald Racing in Lanchester. As well as being long-standing Morgan dealers, they're also Lagonda specialists. Rumour has it the BIG kahuna of Toyota Japan has his Lagonda shipped there for all its maintenance and repairs.
County Durham has another classic car legend - MacDonald Racing in Lanchester. As well as being long-standing Morgan dealers, they're also Lagonda specialists. Rumour has it the BIG kahuna of Toyota Japan has his Lagonda shipped there for all its maintenance and repairs.
