Classified of the week: Aston Martin Vantage GT12

Amid the frenzy around the looks of the new Aston Martin Vantage and the cars it has to compete against, you might feel a pang of longing for the last-gen Vantage, which is being replaced. Launched in 2005 with a mere 4.3-litre V8 and only 380bhp, the baby Aston went through quite the metamorphosis in its 12-year life. Bigger V8s. V12s. Body kits, wings, new gearboxes, and soft-tops along the way, too. Quite a life.

It, erm climaxed, so to speak, with the ultimate version of the ultimate version in 2015. A limited-edition, lightweight, uprated V12 with wider tracks, outrageous aero, plus a new and exciting shape of bonnet vent we shall call the Upside Down Horseshoe. We speak of course of the Aston Martin Vantage GT12.

Only 10 were built, sold out before being seen at a cool £250,000 a pop, before you applied liveries and the forged carbon bonnet badges. Still, that looks like quite the investment, as this fetching burnt copper-coloured UK-supplied GT12 is currently for sale, at London’s Joe Macari Cars, for £424,950. Mind you, it’s only got 520 miles on the clock, so it’s not even run in. 

All the carbon options were selected for this GT12, along with a 700W stereo, the £1,995 carbon gearshift paddles, and a reversing camera. Well, you would, wouldn’t you? That wing hasn’t got any less eye-popping since we first clapped eyes on the GT12 in 2015, so parking’s a nightmare… 

Aston claimed the 100kg lighter GT12’s peach of a 595lb ft V12 could haul it from 0-62mph in 3.5 seconds. And noise-wise, as we found out when we ruined the tyres on Aston’s pre-sold demonstrator, is from the gods. 

For a car that’ll be outrun and out-pointed by a GT3 RS costing less than half as much, the GT12 doesn’t make rational sense. But since when does a car looking or sounding like this have to? This is also a piece of Aston history – the zenith of its baby upstart sports car. RIP, Vantage. Long live the Vantage.