Aston Martin Superleggera Concorde Special Edition

Aston Martin has created a special edition Superleggera to mark the 50th anniversary of Concorde.

Aston Martin is certainly not shy about introducing a special edition or two, often reminding people of its long-standing connection to James Bond, stretching all the way back to the DB5 used in Goldfinger in 1964. The DB5 actually ended up featuring in seven Bond films over the years – great advertsising. We’ve since had oddities like 2013’s the Vanquish Volante Neiman Marcus, named after a department store in America and limited to just 10 models and an impressive Vanquish Red Arrows edition in tribute to the famous RAF flying team – and now we have another very nice looking special edition.

To mark the 50th anniversary of Concorde, Aston Martin has produced a limited edition DBS Superleggera Concorde.  Very limited in fact, with just 10 vehicles on offer. The Aston Martin dealership in Bristol commissioned the ten vehicles and the recent announcement was timed to coincide with the date that Concorde G-BOAF took its last flight on 26th November 2003 after 24 years in service.

I’m not sure I can think of much that would prove to be better inspiration for such an iconic sports car than such a sleek 1,354mph airliner. Though there are no major technological changes to the DBS Concorde, it’s purely cosmetic stuff, but that doesn’t mean its any less desirable of course. After all, it’s the exterior that will always impress the average road user.

Outside, the Aston Martin Concorde special edition features a very subtle outline of Concorde G-BOAF on the black roof in a slightly lighter colour contained in a circle. The rest of the car is painted in ‘Concorde White’ with a red pinstriping along each side of the carbon-fibre roof above the door glass.

Inside, the distinctive outline of Concorde features on the doorsills, front seats and on the seatbelt buckles. It even has ‘MACH 2.04 / FEET 60000’ on the inside of the driver-side sun visor in homage to the ‘Mach Meter’ that resided in the passenger area on the aircraft. One very nice touch (that you will surely get bored explaining to your passengers) is the build history of the paddle shifters. While visually these provide no real difference to standard DBS Superleggera shifters, according to Aston Martin these are made using metal from the Concorde turbine blades taken from the Rolls Royce engines used to power the aircraft. Though exactly how much Concorde metal is used is unknown, it’s a nice touch.

Don’t be too disappointed that there are no engine upgrades though – the 5.2-litre twin turbo V12 providing a 0-62mph time of just 3.4 seconds and a top speed of 211mph should easily be enough to compensate and satisfy the average Aston Martin fan. It’s still one of the fastest cars out there that’s allowed on our roads – and there’s only ten of these.

You will need a deep wallet and an appreciative family to justify owning the Aston Martin Concorde special edition though. With a substantial price hike over the standard DBS Superleggera, the cost is pretty eye watering. Stumping up £321, 350 will get you one of these ten limited editions, just remember that you will have to make your way to the south west as they are only going to be available from the Bristol dealership, which sits close enough to the old Filton Aerodrome where Concorde was produced. Part of the purchase cost for each of the ten will be donated to the Air League Educational Trust providing funds for those who want to enter into the aviation industry.

If the price is a little too steep for you, then you might like to scour the secondhand market for a Citroen CX Concorde special edition from the eighties, which tends to go in auctions for around 30-50,000 Euros.

The Concorde Special Edition was an exclusive car launched by Aston Martin Bristol, to view the full, finer details of this unique model, please click here to visit their website.