New Aston Martin exhibit
Performance and prestige: Aston Martin visits the Petersen
The storied British marque comes to the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles
Los Angeles is the only place in North America that one has a good chance of seeing an Aston Martin on the road almost every day. There’s a strong dealer and dedicated enthusiast network here, so it seems only appropriate that Aston Martin would celebrate that presence with a new exhibit opening this week.
The exhibit, named “Performance and Prestige: A history of Aston Martin”, is primarily concerned with the performance aspects of the brand, though a concept or two has snuck into gallery to take a bow.
Among the cars on exhibit are:
· ● 1949 DB2 Prototype: a post war sports car that competed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, securing a class podium and paved the way for production of the DB2 series.
· ● 1961 DB4GT Zagato: one of just 19 lightweight grand tourers designed in collaboration with Zagato.
· ● 1979 Bulldog: a one-of-a-kind wedge-shaped concept powered by a twin-turbo V8 and fitted with gullwing doors. (already in town for the ‘Wedge’ exhibit*, the Bulldog just moved down a couple of galleries.)
· ● 2015 Vulcan: a track-only V12 hypercar, limited to 24 units globally, one for each hour of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
· ● 2021 Valkyrie Spider: an open-top hypercar with true F1 performance for the road with over 1,000 horsepower from a naturally aspirated V12 powertrain.
Obviously, for the Aston Martin enthusiast all this classic automotive excellence is catnip. But for the designer there is much to be learned as well. The elegant surfacing, proportions and stance, interesting details such as wheel size to overall form all make for a great learning experience. Add to that the storied history of the marque and it is quite the exhibit.
If you are in Los Angeles for the upcoming holidays and/or the L.A. Auto Show, it is definitely worth a trip down Wilshire to visit the exhibit and “The Wedge Revolution” and “Totally Awesome 1980s-1990s” exhibits.
