Aston Martin Virage Shooting Brake up for Auction
The Aston Martin Virage is viewed by some as a curious if brief link between the V8 era and the Ford-led DB7 era, with annual production in the early 1990s having fallen to a minimum not seen since the early years of the automaker. Spotting any example of the Virage on this side of the pond is already a tall order, whether in coupe or convertible form. After all, just over a thousand examples of all variants were completed over an 11-year time span.
In a few days, however, something far rarer from the Virage era will roll across the auction block, when Bonhams offers a factory-converted five-door Virage shooting brake—one of just seven built by Aston Martin Works—at its Les Grandes Marques du Monde à Paris auction.
The Virage model itself was revealed in October 1988, arriving to pick up the baton from the V8 and retaining some of its hardware, while borrowing other items from the Lagonda. The new car was slightly narrower than the outgoing model, which was quite dated by that point in time, but kept the bottom part of its engine while receiving new cylinder heads featuring four valves per cylinder (Callaway Engineering of Connecticut carrying out development work). The 5.3-liter V8 was the base eight-cylinder engine, but early on Aston Martin Works also offered 6.3-liter upgrades, good for 456 hp instead of 330, as well as 460 lb-ft of torque.
These were supercar numbers at the time, giving the Virage a 174-mph top speed and 0-60 launches in 5.5 seconds.
This particular 1993 model year example had been purchased by a German Aston Martin collector, Dr. Roland Muller, and with 1 mile on the odometer, it was handed over to the factory Works service for a conversion into a five-door shooting brake. It was also changed to left-hand-drive specification with its engine upgraded to 6.3 liters, coupled with a three-speed automatic transmission. Bonhams notes that at some point the three-speed auto was swapped out for a six-speed manual.
The conversion into a shooting brake involved more than just the addition of a roof, as the Virage gained twelve inches in wheelbase to accommodate two rear doors as well. Aston Martin Works ended up doing six more shooting brake conversion stretched by 16 inches instead of 12 for an overseas royal family, Bonhams notes, and it's not too hard to guess which overseas royal family wanted six of them all at once.
Viewed in profile, the geometry of the roof and window sill is a little... interesting, with a remarkably flat roof that may have been helped a bit by some rails. The entry point of the rear hatch, meanwhile, sits relatively high off the ground, with half of the taillights being integrated into the hatch. The shooting brake even has space for a third row of rear-facing seats, which seem to stow away quite well in the cargo compartment, so it's certainly a functional wagon.
Bonhams notes that the Virage, nicknamed Vacances by its first owner who used it on vacation, may require some recommissioning work as it has been on static display for some years. The odometer shows 33,235 kilometers in the photos, which translates to 20,651 miles.
The auction house estimates this shooting brake to bring between $170,000 and $280,000 on auction day, which is a quite generous range that perhaps reflects some uncertainty about its general appeal to collectors.
It's quite understandable that Aston Martin Works had not really planned to build any of these from the start, which helps explain some curious lines in the car's design, but the real appeal here is the collectability of a one-of-seven Works shooting brakes, with some shock value thrown in for good measure. The Lagonda had seen a number of shooting brake attempts as well, and in contrast to these, the Virage looks quite well resolved if not as well as the Virage four-door sedan, which was also made by Aston Martin Works for a certain overseas royal family.
The higher output should make this a very stylish (and perhaps a little scary) way to get to European ski resorts, even without a ski rack on the roof. But with plenty of luggage space and six-passenger versatility, the Virage ticks just about all the boxes a new owner could possibly want, short of built-in satellite radio and navigation.
The shooting brake will be offered at no reserve.
Visit the auction website to view the full list of lots from the upcoming sale.
