Ian Callum reimagines the original Aston Martin Vanquish

By: Alex Affat, Unique Cars magazine

Date: 03.09.2019

Revisiting his own design of the late-90s, the ex-JLR design boss perfects his past creation

Ian Callum, former Design boss of Aston Martin and Jaguar, has taken his recent retirement in full stride, establishing his own standalone design house Callum.

For his new company’s first project, Callum has revisited the original Aston Martin Vanquish he designed in the late 1990s, and gave the car a faithful redesign he always felt it deserved.

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Priced at a Singer Porsche-rivalling £550,000 (AU$899,200 converted) including the cost of sourcing a donor car; the ‘Vanquish 25’ project has been officially endorsed by Aston Martin.

The name speaks to the total production run of these bespoke re-engineered Vanquishes; just 25 cars will be torn down and rebuilt by R-Reforged in the UK.

The original Vanquish of 2001 has aged wonderfully, into one of the most beautiful and beloved grand tourers in recent history. Callum, apparently was never entirely happy with the project, and has addressed many of his supposed shortcomings with this reborn Jaguar.

The handsome proportions have, for the most part, been left untouched, though the car gains new LED lights and a subtly redesigned front bumper and grille, as well as carbon fibre window surrounds and a new rear diffuser.

Inside, the cabin has been extensively redesigned, with a new carbon fibre centre stack framing a modern touch-screen infotainment system. The rear sets have been replaced with a matching set of bespoke Mulberry-designed luggage set, with the whole cabin dipped in Bridge of Weir leather, proudly emblazoned with Callum’s new signature ‘abstract tartan’ motif.

Atop the dash sits a removable Bremont watch, matching the Bremont-designed dials in the instrument cluster.

It’s not just a visual nip-and-tuck however, with the Vanquish’s monstrous 6.0lt V12 revised to draw a further 44kW, yielding a peak power output of 432kW.

Behind the bespoke wheels sit Aston Martin carbon ceramic brakes, with the suspension and chassis receiving heavy redesigns to ensure the Vanquish 25 drives like a brand new car.

Customers who bemoaned the original Vanquish’s automated manual gearbox can opt for a modern six-speed automatic. Personalisation overall is very much a theme of the car, however ex-design guru stresses and hopes his customers will accept ‘design guidance’ throught the specification process.

Aston Martins have always been about restrained grace and taste – something we think the Vanquish 25 delivers in spades: delivered by who-better-than the very man who designed it?

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