It marked the beginning of a new generation of cars from Aston Martin. New engines and new lines.
By the way, it is rare to see an Aston Martin with a Norwegian registration number. This one was seen on Oksenøya outside Oslo and is from around 2000. It is a Volante (convertible) 2+2 with a V12 engine.
Model history
The DB7 was developed and produced from 1994 to 2004 – the entire time Ford owned Aston Martin. Ford also owned Jaguar during the same period, which led to Aston Martin's new car model being developed in collaboration with Jaguar. The owner company Ford is known for using existing solutions in new models. The DB7 was to use the same platform as the Jaguar XJS, although many modifications were made before it was ready. The engines were also sourced from Jaguar. When production began, the cars were equipped with Jaguar's 3.2-liter inline-six with supercharging. At the same time, Aston Martin developed a new V12 engine series with technical and financial support from Ford. It was not until 1999 that cars with a V12 engine were available – marketed as the DB7 Vantage.
Engines
Aston Martin's V12 is a 5.9-liter naturally aspirated aluminum engine with 48 valves and 4 camshafts built by Cosworth Engineering. This engine formed the basis for subsequent models. In the DB7, the engine was rated at 420 hp. At that time, cars with a fixed roof could do 0-100 in 5,0 seconds with a stated top speed of 296 km/h. Cars with 3.2 liter engines were rated at 335 hp, but from 1999 the 6-cylinder engine was phased out in favor of the V12.
Variants
There are just under 50 cars in Norway, divided into cars with a fixed roof and the convertible version called "Volante". Aston Martin has long used "Vantage" for its top models. In this case cars with a V12 engine. So when you summarize the different variants of the DB7 you find: DB7, DB7 Volante, DB7 Vantage og DB7 Vantage Volante. When cars are imported to Norway, the correct model designations are not always used. It can be confusing. It didn't help that Aston Martin introduced the Vantage as their own model series.
Read more about the Aston Martin DB7 on the manufacturer's UK website
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