Guide: Sunshine State Special - a Historical & Technical Appraisal of the Aston Martin DB AR1
BACKGROUND
Having been announced at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2002, Aston Martin’s Zagato-bodied DB7 V12 Vantage (officially dubbed the DB7 Zagato) was subsequently given a public launch at the Paris Salon six months later. By this time, the entire production run of 99 units had been pre-sold with buyers outnumbering available cars at a ratio of around 3:1.
In addition to its heavily restyled exterior, the DB7 Zagato most notably differed from its siblings on account of a chassis shortened in the wheelbase by 60mm. However, because Aston Martin neither wanted or needed to incur the cost of said chassis going through the United States Department of Transport’s expensive crash test programme, the DB7 Zagato was outlawed from sale in North America.
To address the demand for a special-bodied DB7 across the Atlantic (and satisfy those customers that wanted an open-bodied version), following a private presentation to potential customers, Aston Martin went on to unveil the DB AR1 Zagato at the Los Angeles Motor Show in January 2003.
Officially the fifth collaboration between Zagato and Aston Martin (following the DB4 GTZ, the V8 Vantage Zagato, the V8 Volante Zagato and the aforementioned DB7 Zagato), the DB AR1 (or America Roadster) was conceived exclusively for markets with hot, sunny climates and, to this end, was supplied without a roof of any kind.
Under the skin, the DB AR1 came equipped with all the high performance features introduced on the DB7 GT / GTA, but unlike the fixed head DB7 Zagato (which was officially only produced with a manual gearbox), the America Roadster could be specified with either a traditional gated six-speed ‘box or Aston Martin’s five-speed Touchtronic semi-automatic transmission.
As expected, the entire 100-car DB AR1 production run quickly sold out, reputedly in just three weeks.
BODYWORK
Externally, the DB AR1 was essentially a long wheelbase Roadster version of the existing design used for the DB7 Zagato. Accordingly, like Zagato’s short wheelbase fixed head iteration, only the DB7’s trademark front light units were carried over to this latest coachbuilt Italian special.
At the leading edge, Zagato’s concept for both DB7 commissions comprised a shortened nose with massively enlarged intake and a traditional natural aluminium egg-crate grille. Three new cooling intakes were carved out from from the base of the front apron, but there was a conspicuous lack of downforce-inducing equipment for such a high speed machine.
Further back, the hood, front fenders and doors were all new.
Instead of the Coupe’s ‘Double Bubble’ roof and matching fastback rear screen, the DB AR1 came with a ‘Double Bubble’ rear deck that was linked to the transmission tunnel via a body coloured panel and which left the luggage area behind the front seats partially enclosed.
Only a simple rain cover was supplied to protect the interior when parked.
More Zagato-specific features shared between the fixed head and Roadster included heavily sculpted fenders, a truncated tail fascia complete with brand new tail lights, an unusual drop-down trunk lid and a rear apron with fully shrouded exhausts.
Zagato used steel for the rear fenders, aluminium for the front fenders, doors and hood and composite materials for the front and rear aprons, the rear deck and sill covers.
Most cars left the factory with body coloured windscreen surrounds, but a handful were supplied with a dark grey finish instead.
INTERIOR
Inside, the DB AR1 imported most of its fixtures and fittings from the regular DB7. The main exceptions were the addition of standard Vantage seats now trimmed with quilted leather centres and a quilted leather luggage shelf instead of rear seats.
In addition, a leather GT-style gear knob was fitted (to manual variants) plus sill plates engraved with the Aston Martin logo, a DB AR1 script and the car’s individual number.
Like the GT, instead of normal black dials with a white typeface, the instrumentation and clock adopted a special parchment finish with black typeface.
Full Bridge of Weir aniline leather was fitted as standard.
Instrumentation comprised a large rev counter and speedometer flanked to the left by smaller read outs for battery condition and fuel. Off to the right were more small gauges for oil pressure and water temperature.
The list of standard equipment included Bridge of Weir aniline leather, Wilton carpet, electric seats, electric windows, electric mirrors, air-conditioning, driver and passenger airbags, an alarm and a premium audio system with six CD shuttle and satellite-navigation.
CHASSIS
Each DB AR1 was based on a standard length DB7 V12 Vantage Volante steel semi-monocoque bodyshell as opposed to the shortened version used by the fixed head DB7 Zagato. To this, practically all the enhaced equipment from the DB7 GT was imported.
Suspension was via double wishbones with coil springs and monotube dampers plus an anti-roll bar at either end.
To stiffen the GT and Zagato versions by 20%, Aston Martin installed uprated dampers with new front top mounts, a revised front subframe and stiffer bushes throughout. The front lower wishbone was repositioned and the front suspension bump stop was lowered to increase wheel movement and improve ride quality. At the back, an additional lower brace was added to increase stability by reducing toe out under braking.
Although the GT / Zagato’s Brembo brake system retained 355mm and 330mm diameter discs front-to-rear, they were now grooved instead of cross-drilled and the Aston Martin-branded four-piston calipers were given a distinctive silver finish to match the wheels.
Other brake system upgrades included Pagid RS 4-2-1 front pads, a servo imported from the V12 Vanquish and improved cooling.
Both Zagato variants featured their own unique lightweight five-spoke rims. As usual, these measured 18 x 8-inches up front and 18 x 9-inches at the rear, but they were shod with special-sized Pirelli P Zero Rosso tyres (225/40 ZR and 275/35 ZR respectively).
An 89-litre fuel tank was installed over the rear axle.
ENGINE / TRANSMISSION
If configured with a six-speed manual gearbox, the DB AR1 came with a DB7 GT-spec. motor.
These most potent iterations of the Type AM702 unit came with a custom engine map along with an active sports exhaust that featured a Vanquish-style rear muffler bypass valve to reduce back pressure at higher speeds and also produce a sportier note.
Peak output went from 420bhp to 435bhp at an unchanged 6000rpm and from 400lb-ft to 410lb-ft at an unchanged 5000rpm.
Otherwise, the rest of the engine’s specification remained as per the DB7 Vantage.
The AM702 motor was a Cosworth-built all-alloy 60° V12 with dual overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder and wet-sump lubrication. It displaced 5935cc thanks to a bore and stroke of 89mm and 79.5mm respectively. The electronic management system with multi-point fuel injection and Coil-on-Plug ignition was supplied by Visteon.
Compression was set at 10.3:1.
The original Tremec T56 six-speed manual gearbox was uprated with a short-shift lever that gave 16% shorter throws. There was additionally a new 228mm diameter twin-plate AP Racing clutch instead of the 293mm single-plate original which resulted in a 22% lighter pedal effort.
Like the regular DB7 Vantage, a Powerlock limited-slip differential and switchable traction control system were fitted. The DB7 GT, DB7 Zagato and manual DB AR1 also came with a 4.09:1 final drive ratio as opposed to the original 3.77:1 in order to speed up acceleration.
Unlike the manual version, the automatic DB AR1 (as per the DB7 GTA) used the standard DB7 Vantage motor owing to torque and power limitations of the ZF 5HP30 five-speed Touchtronic gearbox.
The ZF unit offered a choice of three driving modes: standard automatic, Sport automatic (with upshifts at higher engine speeds) or Touchtronic where shifts could be manually controlled via either the gear lever (by moving it forwards for up or backwards for down) or via steering wheel-mounted plus (+) and minus (-) buttons.
Peak output was 420bhp (instead of 435bhp) at 6000rpm and 400lb-ft (instead of 410lb-ft) at 5000rpm.
Transmission was through the aforementioned single instead of GT-type twin-plate clutch.
OPTIONS
In addition to a practically unlimited range of exterior and interior colours, customers could have their DB AR1 customised with alcantara suede seat inserts, two-tone upholstery, an enhanced audio system, Black, Red, Gold or Graphite Grey brake calipers, Lambswool overmats, personalised sill plaques and a choice of alternative cockpit inserts to include carbonfibre, oak, black oak, elm, maple, yew, brushed aluminium or body colour.
WEIGHT / PERFORMANCE
In manual trim the DB AR1 tipped the scales at 1858kg which was 2kg less than the updated 2002 model year DB7 V12 Vantage Volante. Top speed was 184mph whereas the standard Volante was limited to 165mph. The 0-62mph time was two tenths quicker at 4.9 seconds.
The Touchtronic semi-automatic variant weighed in at 1910kg, was electronically limited to 165mph and had a 0-62mph time of 5.1 seconds, figures that were identical to the standard Touchtronic drop top.
END OF PRODUCTION
Although originally conceived exclusively for the US market, 10% of the 100-car DB AR1 production run remained in Europe with six cars delivered to Germany and one apiece to France, the Netherlands, Italy and the UK (the latter, chassis 061, having been the sole right-hand drive example).
The remaining 90 cars were all dispatched to the USA.
The prototype (based on a 1999 V12 Vantage Volante prototype) was retained by Aston Martin.
Production ran from mid 2003 until late 2004.
Collectors subsequently had to wait until May 2011 until the next Aston Martin-Zagato collaboration broke cover in the shape of the stunning V12 Zagato.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Aston Martin - https://www.astonmartin.com & RM Sotheby’s - https://rmsothebys.com/
