The Aston Martin Dream Machine....

The Aston Martin Dream Machine....



We all have mental images of ourselves tootling around in the snazziest car in town and for me, that would be the 2010 Aston Martin DBS Volante.
In 2008, Aston Martin introduced the James Bond-ish DBS Coupe, which Design Director Marek Reichman, (who's kind of a dish himself) described as looking like" a tough guy in a dinner suit." In 2009, they gave us the ragtop version, the $286,500 DBS Volante (Volante means convertible in AM-speak) that looks like the tough guy's killer girlfriend. The folks at Aston Martin are justly proud of the supercar engineering and performance of the DBS models but what blows me away is the sheer elegant sensuality of their design. These cars are so beautiful that you want to stroke them and the fact that they are meant for serious driving is an added pleasure.


The basics of both models are the same, a lightweight carbon fiber body driven by a massive 6.0 liter V-12 engine that kicks out 510 HP accompanied by a lovely deep, throaty growl. There's a choice of a six-speed manual transmission or the Touchtronic automatic gearbox but whichever you opt for, you'll still sprint from 0-62 MPH in a mere 4.3 seconds and floor it to a maximaum speed of 191 MPH. Happily, the carbon ceramic brakes are standard and should you lose it despite the incredible stability of the DBS, the Volante has pop-up rollover bars hidden behind the rear compartment. That rear, by the way, has what looks like two seats (they actually call the car a 2+ 2 with a straight face) but unless your friends are munchkins, forget about taking them for a spin.
I did wonder why a ragtop rather than the increasingly popular folding hardtop in a car capable of these speeds. It was, I was told, a question of weight and trunk space. Certainly, there's a fair amount of room in the trunk for your own stuff if you don't want to spend big bucks for the specially-designed Aston Martin luggage. We test drove to the supermarket (Okay, it wasn't exactly a typical supermarket) and stowed all our pricey gourmet groceries with room to spare for an armload of dry-cleaning and a shopping bag from Neiman's. And that is one of the most surprising aspects of the DBS or the Volante. It's very much a supercar but it isn't just a trophy to add to your garaged collection. You can really use it as your everyday car and feel as if every day is a holiday.
Since Aston Martin is one of the few car makers that pay more than lip service to customization, you may design your own individual car. For a price, they'll paint it any color that catches your fancy but there are a couple of luscious new shades exclusive to the Volante. A pale, silvery green called Hardly Green and a deep, rich Magma Red, the color of hot lava. There are a multitude of choices in leather and wood but I love the piano black lacquer on the console and the carbon fiber trims. Other options to tag on are the $570 rear wind deflector (if you plan to talk to your passenger at high speeds with the top down) the $3,785 graphite-finish forged aluminum 20" wheels, personal sill placques at $295 a pop (if you can afford this car you deserve to have your name on it) and the $220 Smokers pack because even if you don't smoke, the frosted glass ashtray is so smashing you can always keep your loose change in it. Then of course, you might consider the incomparable, and at a cost of $5,380 the most elite of all car accessories, hand-made leather saddlebag designed to straddle the rear console. Cunningly designed with saddle pockets, rolls and a pair of leather-wrapped thermoses emblazoned with the AM logo, you could think of it as a family heirloom and long after the car is history, you and your heirs will be using it slung over the arm of a sofa.
By now, you are somewhere well north of 300K but boy!...have you got a car.
Too expensive to even dream about? Reputedly, Aston Martin is about to hatch the Cygnet, a teeny-tiny city car based on Toyota's iQ. Basically, it will be Toyota engineering with customizable Aston Martin styling, which should make it the only small car on the road that's a status symbol. Promise...I'll tell you more about the baby swan later.

Collector's Diamonds

While much of the world is rushing around buying gold as a hedge against the end of the world as we know it, some very deep-pocketed guys are buying rare diamonds. No, we're not talking about your engagement ring, pretty as it may be, we're talking about diamonds that are exceptional because of their enormous size, color (pure clear red is the top of that food chain) or provenance. The Annenberg diamond, a 32.01 carat Asscher-cut, D-Flawless that just went at auction for $7.6 million is one and the Wittelsbach Blue, which I mentioned in an earlier post, which at $24.3 million broke the price record for diamonds sold at auction, is another. When the Wittelsbach Blue went on the block, I wrote about the upcoming event and the provenance of this rock is interesting enough I think, to repeat.
The extremely rare 35.56 carat stone hadn't been seen since 1964 when it vanished into a private collection, but it resurfaced in December 2008 at a Christies auction in London. What made the Wittelsbach Blue so very special was it's actual color, a fancy deep grayish-blue with VS2 clarity and it's size, because blue diamonds are usually only found in smaller carat weights and most of all, it's impeccable royal provenance. In 1664, King Philip IV of Spain selected the diamond as part of the lavish dowry he collected for his daughter the Infanta Margarita Teresa upon her engagement to Leopold I of Austria. Leopold I went on to become the Holy Roman Emperor and by March 1673, the dowry jewels, including the great blue stone were recorded in an inventory of the Austrian Crown Jewels. By 1705, poor Margarita Teresa was dead and Leopold(whose marital record seems as interesting as his jewels) had bequeathed the stone to his third wife the Empress Eleanore Magdalena, who then left the blue diamond to her granddaughter, the Archduchess Maria Amalia.
When Maria Amalia married the Bavarian Crown Prince, Charles Albert, in 1722, the diamond entered the House of Wittelsbach along with her and became known as "Der Blaue Wittelsbacher". It was mounted first within the Order of the Golden Fleece and many years later in 1806, when the first King of Bavaria, Maximilian IV, Joseph von Wittelsbach ascened to the throne, the stone was removed and prominently displayed in the royal crown. With the proclamation of the German Republic in 1918 after WWI and the abdication of King Ludwig III, the Wittelsbach Blue last appeared as a state jewel in 1921 and ten years later, in 1931 was one of the pieces offered for sale at Christies auction of the Bavarian Crown Jewels. In 1964, the stone was purchased by a private collector and disappeared until the 2008 sale was announced.
Now, that's what I call provenance...and so apparently does Lawrence Graff, the famous diamond dealer. He's the guy who shelled out the $24.3 million.

JAGUAR NAILS IT....

I recently worked on a co-op column with my good e-friend Brett Berk for his Vanity fair blog. It was a sort of hilarious "gay guy and the diva play cars" review of a couple of Jaguars; the supercharged XKR, which Brett covered and the XFR, which I test drove. I was a bit harsh about Jaguar's loss of their distinctive silhouette and I'm sorry but there's nothing as whiny as a disappointed Jaguar fanatic who fell in love with an E-Type years ago and has been driving Jags ever since.
Last week however, I laid eyes on the new XJ and fell in love all over again. I really think Ian Callum (Design Director,Jaguar Cars) has nailed it on this sleek and elegant cat. The model I crawled all over was the XJL (the long wheelbase) whose extra inches emphasize the short, clean-lined rear deck, the long sloping bonnet and those muscular twenty-inch wheels that make the car look like a piece of moving sculpture even when its parked.
There is a choice of models and horsepower, ranging from the not-so-plain vanilla XJ with its 5.0 liter v8 that churns out a respectable 385 HP up to the XJL Supersport packing 510 HP under it's hood (or bonnet if you prefer). Prices start at $72,500 and escalate to well over $100K but if you ache to own Jaguar's future iconic silhouette, any one of the models will do very nicely indeed.
Jaguar's range of color options is one of the most stylish in the industry; two solids and eleven stunning metallics for the exterior, eight interior combos and five veneers (including carbon fiber although it will cost you). Given my druthers, I'd opt for an exterior called "Caviar metallic" with cashew leather seats piped in truffle and stick with Jaguar's classic burled walnut veneer. Luscious!!!!
By the way, the only people who still think only men choose cars are the dinosaurs in the automobile industry. Wonder if they've heard bout Miami's own Ladies Lamborghini Club?

The Luxe Life...

For a longer time than I care to remember, I've been covering the luxury field for several very glossy lifestyle magazines. The goodies here, the Aston Martin DBS, the Wittelsbach diamond (which sold at auction for the highest price in history) and the generic superyacht are all things I've covered in fairly lengthy detail.
But, as we all know, the economy has tanked so badly that even the seriously rich are retrenching so there are things that need to be considered. What is luxury really? If you own a DBS are you comfortable driving it? Would you wear a rock as big as the Wittlesbach or stow it in a vault somewhere? If you're still buying fancy stuff, what are you buying?
Since I'm still out there checking up on the newest cars, jewels, watches and other accoutremounts of the good life, I'll keep you all posted.