Going Down the Rabbit Hole and Finding An Aston Martin V8

This blog is mostly about getting out on the road and having adventures, but sometimes I can’t get out on the road.

That’s when I get all modern and log onto the Internet for a virtual adventure. That happened today, when events chained me to my desk.

The 2022 Arizona Auction Week starts next week, so I logged onto www.bonhams.com to browse their offerings. Many auction companies, including Bonhams, create amazing online catalogs for their auctions. It’s always fun to dive into these catalogs, as the cars are always interesting — and you get a nice snapshot of where the collector-car market is going.

I logged into Bonhams 2022 Scottsdale Auction catalog, and suddenly, I was going down the rabbit hole.

This is how it happened:

I finally got to watch the latest James Bond movie, “No Time to Die,” last night, and I was blown away when Bond drove through London in a stunning 1987 Aston Martin V8 Vantage. I have always loved this car — Britain’s version of a muscle car — and I’ve dreamed of owning one for decades.

Because life works in strange ways, my James Bond-conditioned eyes stopped on Bonhams’ Lot 40 — a very original 1977 Aston Martin V8 Series 3 Sports Saloon. Yes, I know this car is no Bond car, and it has a 3-speed automatic, which is not great.

Making things worse, the car has been in static display for 12 years, which means one big thing: An expensive recommissioning project, and who knows what gremlins would appear once work started?

But it was great — really — to sit at my desk and imagine the sound of that 300-horsepower (crazy horses for 1977) V8 engine with four Weber carbs rumbling to life.

So, yeah, I was in the rabbit hole, and crazy things happen down there. The car carries a pre-sale estimate of $60,000 to $90,000, so sanity prevailed. But I’m going to watch this sale. The collector-car market is roaring along right now, and I wonder how many other people have looked at this car.

I can’t be the only person sitting at a desk and dreaming of semi-refined British muscle.