PRECISELY WHO AT Aston Martin came up with the Vantage name has long been lost in the swarf of the machine shop. What we do know is that, towards the end of 1950, the company was readying a more potent variant of its straight-six engine and the chaps in marketing decided that a racy-sounding label would enhance its prospects in no small measure. So a list of possibilities was typed up, and from that list was plucked Vantage.
According to the dictionary, ‘vantage’ means ‘a state or position affording superiority or advantage’, which of course made it entirely appropriate for a more powerful engine option. And, for pretty much the next two decades, that was exactly what Vantage signified.
The first model to have
