30 Years of the Aston Martin DB7

Roadster! Editorial Team
Dec 14, 2024
3 min read

Happy 30th Birthday... DB7!

REGULAR ROADSTER! readers will know that Aston Martin is one of Sam’s favourite car makers. We think the DB7 is one of the Marque’s especially great cars. 2024 marks 30 years since the car first entered production. At the NEC Classic Car Show, Sam got hands on with a DB7. Here we share why the car means so much to us.

ASTON MARTIN: The famous British luxury car manufacturer, celebrated for its elegant designs, its high-performance sports cars and crucially, for being super spy James Bond’s car of choice, with amazing gadgets and exciting car chases!

For many years, Aston Martin's were always built the same way. Hand-built, with small teams of people making the chassis, putting engines together, making and shaping the car's body panels, cutting and stitching the leather seats, and meticulously applying layers and layers of paint. It took Aston Martin many weeks to build just ONE car! This made the cars VERY expensive! Although many people DREAMED of owning an Aston Martin, thanks in part to its starring role in the James Bond films, often only the richest people could afford to buy one.

All of this gave Aston Martin a big problem: it was struggling to survive. The company needed the help of a big brother. Luckily, in 1987 motor giant Ford bought the company.

Both Ford and Aston realised it needed to make a smaller, cheaper Aston Martin car that more people could afford to buy. A few things needed to change to be able to do this:

• The car needed to be produced faster and in greater numbers than Aston had ever done before.

• In order to keep costs down the car needed to use parts which were widely available.

• Mass production cars can take a very long time to develop, but Aston needed to get all of this up and running very quickly!

Ford looked around and found that another of its companies, Jaguar, had started to develop a new sports car but had stopped working on it. So Aston Martin asked that car’s designer, Ian Callum, to turn the abandoned Jaguar into an Aston Martin. Callum created an Aston Martin masterpiece!

Callum's new car borrowed traditional styling from Aston Martin’s famous "DB" line, such as the curvy styling, front grille and the headlamps, but brought it right up-to-date. He also found car parts from within the Ford family which would work with the car, with rear lights, indicators and door handles from Mazda, and interior switches from existing Ford’s, all fitted into a luxurious wood panelled dashboard.

Underneath, the engine was developed by a racing company called TWR, using components it had already been developing for Jaguar, including a water-cooled turbo charger to make it super powerful. The finished car was stunning, aerodynamic, and powerful, with a sumptuous interior. The DB7 was a classic British sports car that was fit for the all important Aston Martin badge!

The DB7 started production in June 1994 and was a huge success. Over the years variations were introduced including the convertible "Volante", the Vantage with a mighty V12 engine, a sportier grand tourer, some stunning limited and special edition models. Production of the DB7 finished in 2003, with over 7,000 cars produced, making it the most popular and important Aston Martin ever produced. The success of the car laid the foundations for what Aston Martin is doing today and it is, without a doubt, the car that saved Aston Martin!

Today, the Aston Martin DB7 is a highly cherished classic car. As it is a much older car, it is a more affordable route into Aston Martin ownership for many people.

It’s a car that everyone can be James Bond in!

ROADSTER’S DB7 “BOND”...

Aston Martin’s home in Newport Pagnell wasn’t big enough for the new mass production DB7. It needed a new car plant quickly! Luckily Aston’s then owners, Ford, had just the thing… the former Jaguar XJ220 plant, near Banbury.

ROADSTER! feels a very special connection to the DB7 because of this.

Aston moved out when DB7 production ended - it needed even MORE space!). ROADSTER! HQ is just a minute or two along the same road, and the former DB7 plant is now a printers - ROADSTER! is printed there!

SAM’S VIEW: Why I like the Aston Martin DB7...