I’ve been into cars for a long time, and the list of machines I consider my “dream cars” has always been extensive. Even now, I think the list is over 100 cars strong. One dream marque that made its way onto the list in the early aughts and has never left is Aston Martin. In my dreams, it would most likely be a V12 Vantage, but I would take any of them!
In the summer of 2009, I was living in Wales and would sit by the front window eating breakfast every morning. I lived on a rather steep hill, which means most drivers were well on the gas to make the trip to the top and I got to hear their engines at full song by the time they crested the hill. I have a vivid memory of the morning I heard something growling all the way from the bottom of the climb. Immediately I yanked the curtains open to see a breathtakingly beautiful, maroon Aston Martin V8 Vantage snarling its way up the hill. That car was art on wheels. I was instantly in love, and still am!
That man was my hero because every weekday there was good weather, he would drive the Aston Martin you see here past my Welsh house, and every day I would just take it in. To this day, I’m not sure there is a car that matches its incredible sound. At this point, I am quite sure the beauty of that song has been embellished by my affection for the memory, but it still stands as one of my all-time favorites. Why am I telling you this? Well mostly because I can, but also because today we are going to take a look at another incredible Aston that rolled out of the famous Gaydon factory.
Meet Lava5.0
Today it is my privilege to introduce you to Autopian Member Lava5.0. He is a test engineer for the Navy, and has great taste in cars! Today we will look at his F-150, his first car ever, a 2012 Mustang, and the aforementioned Aston, a 2010 DBS Volante.
How did you get into cars?
I’ve loved cars for as long as I can remember. In kindergarten, I wanted to be an 18-wheeler driver, then I wanted to race cars, then design them, and ultimately I went into engineering… Just never made it to the automotive field. Dad was always the type of guy to do his own maintenance, so as a kid I learned all of the wrong ways to hold a flashlight for him. It just stuck. I love working on my cars. I love making them my own.
Starting with the F-150, How is it? What do you like about it?
I swapped to the F-150 from an older F-350. I sold the 350 because it was starting to have old truck problems and some rust. When I got the 350, I was looking for an F-150. This was cheaper, in better condition, and had fewer miles. My wife’s response was “Wait, your only complaint is that this truck is a stronger more powerful truck than you wanted?!” which knocked the sense back into me. But I never needed the 350.
Part of the reason I sold it was because it was an old truck that started having old truck problems and some rust and I have less time now that a toddler runs my life. I can’t just spend all day Saturday in the garage working on it. So I needed something that wouldn’t need lots of work. When I was looking for the F-150, I knew I needed the long bed, I had far too many times with the 350 that I filled up the bed and knew I couldn’t make a short bed work.
I am trying to refuse the urge to tune it, put a leveling kit on it and 33’s. And because Facebook Marketplace is a dangerous place, there may or may not be a CAI in my garage for it.
How long have you had the Mustang?
I ordered the car new. As in my name is actually tagged on the window sticker. I used it as a daily driver for probably the first 5 years I owned it putting about 75K on it in that time. It now has 104K – It gets driven pretty regularly but it’s down to maybe 3000ish miles a year since I have the Aston and my pick-up. I don’t believe in letting cars sit. If I am not using it, I shouldn’t have it.
You mentioned it’s had a lot of work done. Such as?
Oh man, where do I start? It has:
- Boss 302 intake Manifold
- Cold Air Intake
- Long Tube Headers
- Resonator Delete
- GT500 mufflers
- Boss 302 engine Oil Cooler
- Transmission Cooling Scoop
- Boss 302 Brake ducts
- Front and Rear Adjustable Sway Bars
- Adjustable Lower Control Arms
- Steeda Upper Control Arms
- Steeda adjustable Pandhard Bar
- Steeda Tie Rods
- Steeda Front Lower Control arms
- Steeda Engine mounts
- Motion Control Suspension 2-way adjustable coilovers on Eibach Springs
- Camber/caster Plates
- Mishimoto radiator
- 285/35/19 square wheels and tires.
- Bluefish racing shifter bracket with a Hurst Short throw shifter
- Single-piece aluminum driveshaft
- OEM Torsen diff out of a newer Mustang
Interior-wise there are some GT500 trim pieces but the coolest piece is the Boss 302 Recaro seats that I disassembled and reinstalled on my original seat brackets, which allowed me to keep my power seats, lumbar, and seat heaters. Exterior-wise it’s a combination of Boss 302 parts, and GT500-looking parts from 3D carbon (I don’t like the black plastic so mine are all painted) with custom stripes I had designed (simple but unique). Lastly, it was finished with the Silverhorse racing quarter window replacements that look like a 1965. My goal wasn’t necessarily to be a sleeper, but I wanted it to look like it could’ve rolled out of the factory.
That’s a lot, was this always the plan?
You don’t buy a car like a Mustang and leave it stock. In the beginning, I started building it for a drag car, but then a friend introduced me to Autocross. I have been modifying it a bit at a time over the years, but I will say, I have not changed much over the last three years. All the suspension is done, the next thing to do would be a massive power adder like a supercharger, but to do that I need more brakes and different suspension and at that point I am starting over. I don’t track day much, I mainly use it for autocross and would not gain a lot from that, so I am good where I’m at.
As a track day car, it’s really planted and fast, especially for something with a live rear. As an autocross car the same carries true but “Miata is always the answer.” A friend once said, “You may not be the fastest one out here, but you sound fantastic doing it.” I can tell you that the car is competitive with a GT350.
Now for the fun part, the Aston Martin DBS
I have been in love with the DBS from the moment I first saw one. When Casino Royale came out and it had the DBS, I thought to myself, “That’s perfect!” and I’ve wanted one ever since. It had to be a DBS though; the V8 Vantage was too similar to the Mustang, so it was always V12 or nothing. I stumbled upon mine while down in Florida for Thanksgiving in 2020 while talking to my father-in-law about how I would love to own an Aston Martin. There was one a couple of hours away, the price was too good to be true, but I reached out. I called them up, “Hi, I’m interested in your scam.” My wife was pregnant at the time, so my father-in-law and I decided to go check it out. “Let’s go get mugged.”
At this point, I am convinced it’s a scam and we are going to get robbed, but we had to try it out. We drive up there, and Google takes me to this abandoned parking garage. Ok cool, so this is where I die. I call the dealer, and he’s a couple of blocks away. They give me the directions and we head over. When we get there, a guy comes out in a nice, collared shirt, ad they have all these nice cars on the lot. “Wow, this is a really good scam,” I’m thinking to myself. A young woman took us to a back garage, opened it op, and there was a Rolls Royce Phantom, a Ford GT, and my DBS.
And how was it?
From the beginning, I knew this was one of the highest mileage DBSs listed in the country, so I wasn’t expecting it to be perfect, and it wasn’t. There were nicks on the hood and some mild curb rash on the wheels, but nothing really bad, nothing was jumping out at me. I ask them if I can see it on a lift, expecting them to tell me no. Remember, I am not here to buy a car, I’m here to get killed. “Hold on let me check,” says the young lady.
She comes back and hands me stacks of records. The Carfax has 50 service records, and then the car has been serviced with this shop over the last three years. The previous owner dropped over $20k in the last year! She tells me she can’t get it on a lift, but I can get under it on the alignment rack. I am trying to get them to tell me to get lost, give me a reason to walk away. They get it on the rack and hand me a flashlight. The front splitter is zip-tied on, but that’s it. No other issues. Why isn’t this thing a basket case? Why isn’t it falling apart? This price is too good to not be a mess.
I go with the manager on a test drive. The tach on a DBS does not have a redline marked, so I was pulling on it, and wailed it on the rev limiter. The manager doesn’t even bat an eye. It was incredible, but I was not there to buy a car, I was not ready to buy a car. So I told them I would have to think about it. My wife is pregnant at the time, we are house shopping, the timing couldn’t be worse. But I start looking into it. Insurance is reasonable, the bank is happy to loan me the money. Everything just keeps lining up.
Well, a couple days later, the seller calls me. Someone else is interested, if you want it, we need a deposit. “Is the deposit refundable?” Yes, until Friday, is the answer. Dammit. Why are you being so reasonable? So I’m talking to my wife, and she basically tells me to sack up, and if I’m going to do it, then do it. I tell them I’m in if they do me one more favor, and deliver it to my in-laws a couple hours away. Done. Damn. Guess I’m buying a car.
Has it lived up to expectations?
Expectations as a dream car is a hard question. Yes and No. It drives more ordinary than you would think and while it’s fast, it’s probably only slightly faster than my Mustang with 400 horsepower at the wheels and short gearing, versus the Aston’s 510hp with longer gears. It builds power in a completely different way. I love driving it and the V12 is amazing, but it’s a surreal experience overall. My favorite thing is still looking back at it in a parking lot. It’s just gorgeous, even 14 years later.
Anything you would change about it?
Everyone complains about the auto transmission, and with pretty good reason. Overall, the transmission is fine for up to about 8/10s driving. The only thing I wish they did was tune it so that it doesn’t drop back to first gear when slowing down. That 2-1 drop is always lurchy and just is not representative of a car that had a 300k price tag when new. They could’ve tuned it to hold 2nd until stopped and then neutral. I don’t hate it overall, but I do wish it was manual.
I’m a prissy bitch. I like the bells and whistles. I usually seek out exactly the car I want and get it with all the features. The DBS just has everything.
If I have a V12 in the garage, I have to know what it’s capable of. So I took it autocrossing. I was nervous at autocross for the first time in a decade when I got there with this, but it actually did way better than you’d think. It’s heavy and undertired at the front, but it did well.
Any plans for mods?
No I will not be modding this one, I want to enjoy this car as is. I can’t screw this one up. While I have an Aston Martin in the garage, I do not have Aston Martin money, so all I want to do to it is a little mini restoration. New splitters and such. Make it look perfectly showroom stock. I want to enjoy this car. If money were no object, I would only swap it to manual. Nothing else.
I fully recognize that I am very fortunate to have my dream car and my dream garage. Cars should be driven, and enjoyed. I have taught five people to drive stick in the Mustang. That’s the stuff I really enjoy out of all this. I have videos of my son in the backseat shouting “Daddy go fast!” and that’s what I love.
For your dream garage, you listed these. Tell us more.
- Keep my Mustang
- Swap the DBS convertible for a DBS manual
- Add a Fox-body Mustang and a restomod project car, either a 65 Mustang fastback or a 1950s pickup truck.
I love the appeal of the cheap mods for a Fox body. The problem is the prices shot up which takes some of the fun out of it, especially finding one that doesn’t need strut towers (On toddler time, I do not have time or space to pull a motor). For the restomods, I like going fast and enjoying the cars. While I certainly love a beautifully restored muscle car, knowing they could take advantage of modern technology and make them more usable appeals to me in the ways I use my car.
As for the DBS coupe: I was always a coupe guy and I just like the interaction of the manual in general. Though the other day it was like 75 and sunny, and the Aston makes a damn good argument for driving with the top down.
Regarding cars from the past, what has been your favorite car you’ve ever had and why?
The Mustang was the first car I ever owned myself. Even though that car hates me (there have been lots of problems), I can never sell it because I will regret it immediately. Before that, I used my parents’ cars which were a 2007/2010 Ford Expedition and a 2002 Ford Thunderbird. Both have lots of memories.
And the worst?
It’s hardly the worst car but I took over my wife’s VW Passat Wagon with a 5-speed. It was a great little car, comfy, efficient, and fun with the manual, but I absolutely hated working on it. It was always some dumb $5 part that broke that was buried under 4 hours of labor. I did fix the exhaust with a beer can though. It was sold and replaced with the super duty to a good friend of mine who put another 50K on it. It really was a good car, I was just at a point in my life when I wanted a pickup truck. The issue with the Passat was that when VW was designing it, if there was an easy way and a hard way of doing something, they always picked the hard way. It was always going to be death by 1000 cuts.
Thanks for sharing your cars with us!
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