Comments by "John Luetjen" (@jehl1963) on "Driving The 1985 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Euro - Classic British V8 Motoring (POV Binaural Audio)" video.

One of the classiest of A-M's if you ask me. Back when they were making the best cost-is-no-object GT's, and they didn't care if anyone else got it. When I was younger I often wondered why the A-M V8 was such a bust at Le Mans. Later I came to appreciate how it was specifically designed to be a smooth, torquey engine with a lot of flexibility. But as soon as you got out of that designed GT environment and tried to increase the HP by spinning the engine faster, pretty much the entire engine needs to be redesigned. The Mercedes V8 of the same era had the same quality to it. Too bad you didn't include some shots of the engine. Hopefully in a follow-up video with the usual voiceover. Beautify car!
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When I was in college, someone nearby had an A-M DBS (the straight 6 version). While the engine was less powerful, and dated back to the 1950's, I wonder how it compares to the pollution controlled V8.
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Even in that time people could see the resemblance between the two cars, but dared not mention it since the A-M cost about 10x the price of a Mustang, if not more. Maybe the A-M wasn't really any faster than the Mustang, but the quality and attention to detail in the engineering and finish were worlds apart.
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@76Aston Well yeah, if you were comparing it to a 1977 Mustang, no kidding!!! The model to compare to are the 1969-'70 Fastback Bosses, either the 302s or the 429s.
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@76Aston I pulled out an old "Road & Track's Guide to Sports & GT Cars for 1979". Per the summary table -- the A-M V8 would go from 0-60 in 7.4 seconds, which was beat by the Pontiac Firebird Trans AM, the Chevy Corvette L82, the Porsche 911SC, the Porsche 928, the Ferrari 308, the Porsche Turbo (3.3 liter), Maseratii Khamsin and the Ferrari 512 BB. In the 1/4-mile, the A-M V8 could do it in 15.7 seconds and was matched or beat by pretty much the same list of cars. As far as the top speed, the A-M V8 could get to 140 mph, which was still matched or exceeded by the Maserati Merak/SS, the Ferrari 308, the Porsche Turbo, the Masarati Khamsin and the Ferrari 512 BB again. But none of this detracts from the Aston Martin, because it really wasn't trying to compete with any of those cars. Aston Martin was trying to make the best gentleman's GT, that could effortlessly cover great distances with speed and comfort (for about 230 miles until the 9.5 mpg had drained the tank, thus requiring 25 more gallons of fuel. But a gentleman who could afford an Aston Martin didn't worry about things like that!).
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