One-off Vantage GT12 Roadster makes its debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed to promote ‘Q’ branch and a mooted $700K price tag.
[Not a valid template]Aston Martin has pulled the silks off what it calls ‘its most extreme roadster ever’ in the form of the GT12 Vantage convertible. Built in collaboration with Aston’s ‘Q’ bespoke tailoring service, the GT12 made its debut at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, but like the Ferrari 458 MM Speciale we featured a few weeks back, potential buyers might be disappointed, since the GT12 is a one-off customer commission.
Mechanically there’s very little difference to the production coupe, the GT12 Roadster featuring the same 592bhp 6-litre V12, and seven-speed Sportshift III paddle-shift transmission. Where the team has made a difference though is with the ‘unique suspension setup’, gearing handling more towards that in the coupe as part of the brief for the ‘visceral thrill of open-top driving’. There also features a new titanium exhaust system as well as an all magnesium double bill in the revised inlet manifolds and torque tube among many other more notable tweaks to the aerodynamics.
While the deep splitter, vented bonnet and wide stance remain the same at the front, at the rear the fixed carbon spoiler has been ditched in favour of a smaller example (weep GT2 fans) and a larger rear diffuser. And obviously the roof has been hacked off to reveal chocolate leather upholstery, lashings of carbon fibre trim and embossed ‘Q’ badges galore. Ironically the overall look is completed with more subtle metallic grey paint than the more visually loud white and orange in which the GT12 coupe made its debut last year.
Impressively, the bespoke one-off was commissioned and completed within just nine months. More impressive than that though is the speculated price paid for such work, with rumours suggesting the $340(ish) premium attached to the coupe might have been doubled. Aston Martin really are on a roll with high-pitched, limited edition models as of late…
