Someone paid £20m for tools and designs of Aston's Vanquish

Aston Martin as a company went public recently. As part of this process, it produced a very lengthy document – a public offering prospectus – in September.

And Automotive News has drawn our attention to one very, very interesting section. In June 2018, a “third party car manufacturer” entered into a contract with Aston’s consulting business to buy the tooling and design drawings for the “previous generation Vanquish”. That's the Vanquish Aston no longer makes, replaced entirely by the lovely new DBS Superleggera.

The intellectual property sale section also notes how this contract includes “ongoing consultancy support for the next 18 months”, meaning our mystery buyer will get in-house AM support. Along with the tools and designs for Aston’s V12-engined brute.

Aston confirmed to TopGear.com that 'previous generation' refers to the second-generation Vanquish, which saw a swansong in the Vanquish S (pictured above). But, more importantly, we don’t know who this “third party car manufacturer” actually is. A tuning house perhaps? New supercar start-up?

Whatever – indeed, whoever – it is, it’s certainly a cool notion that out there right now sits a Vanquish fan, unable to let the big-hearted, gorgeous Aston fade out of memory. As an aside, Aston notes how this sale was a “one-off event”. After all, the Brit carmaker’s lovely silhouettes are as famous as the not-so-secret spy that likes to hoon them around…

Read Top Gear's review of the old Vanquish S here - and its replacement, the DBS Superleggera here - and then tell us who you think this mystery buyer might be.