Description
West Coast Classics are proud to present this very rare and striking 1978 Aston Martin AM V8 Series 3 Coupe, the last year of production with the most desirable 4 Weber carbs and hood bulge and in superb condition throughout!
Chassis no. V8/ 11886/ LCA
Engine no. V/ 540/ 1886/ LFA
Delivered new to the USA
4 x Weber carburetor model
Automatic transmission
1 of 970 Series III's built
Striking 'Silver Green Metallic' color over Red leather
Original tools & spare wheel
Post David Brown, Aston Martin entered the most turbulent period in its history, but somehow it pulled through. Nothing epitomised the fighting spirit better than the AM V8 Coupe.
The Aston Martin V8 is a GT coupe built from 1969 to 1990. As with all traditional Aston Martins, it was entirely handbuilt with each car requiring 1, 200+ man hours to finish. From 1969 through 1972, Aston's flagship model was the DBS V8. Though the body and name was shared with the six-cylinder DBS, the V8 sold for much more. The body was a modern reinterpretation of the traditional Aston Martin look, with a squared-off grille and four headlights.
The acquisition of Aston Martin by Company Developments in 1972 brought with it a change of name for the V8-engined cars: out went DBS V8, in came AM V8. This new Series 2 was based on the DBS chassis but readily distinguishable by its restyled front which now featured two instead of four headlamps, a large hood scoop, front spoiler and recalled the looks of the earlier DB six-cylinder cars with a virtually unaltered rear end. Electronic ignition and air conditioning were now standard and Aston Martin increased the price by more than 25%!
Introduced in 1973, the Series 3 dumped the unreliable Bosch fuel injected 5340cc DBS engine and employed a quartet of Weber 42 DCNF carburetors instead of the previous Bosch mechanical fuel injection; the change bringing with it increased torque and necessitating a larger hood scoop to house the carburetor air box! Despite the switch, fuel economy improved and even in automatic-transmission form the Weber-equipped car proved almost as quick as the preceding manual version.
The result was a powerful V8 that was possibly over engineered but with the benefit of being rugged and reliable if maintained correctly. From around 1978, each engine proudly carried a brass plate, such as this particular example, with the name of the engine builder, in this instance a certain Mr Fred Waters.
This 1978 Aston Martin V8 is the last year of one of a claimed 970 Series III units produced in Newport Pagnell between 1973 and 1978. The car is a left-hand-drive unit and finished in a super striking 'Silver/ Green Metallic' color over a 'Dark Red' leather interior, it is powered by a 5. 3-liter V8 paired with a three-speed automatic transmission.
Additional equipment includes four Weber carburetors, original 15" Lagonda Alloy wheels, hood scoop, heater, and power windows and door locks. The car is equipped with speed-sensitive power steering, and stopping power is provided by four-wheel disc brakes with inboard-mounted rear units. The all aluminum twin cam Tadek Marek-designed 5. 3-liter V8 is equipped with dual overhead camshafts and four downdraft Weber carburetors. Factory rated output was 310 horsepower and 320 lb-ft of torque with blistering performance of over 160mph! Only some 1, 600 cars were built in total during the 1969-90 5340cc V8 production run! The large, thirsty and very expensive V8 was to prove to be a rare breed with enormous appeal for collectors today for these handsome high speed British brutes!
In 1978 a new fuel injection system developed by Weber which proved far more reliable than the earlier Bosch system, with these later '78 models having once again flat hoods without the required bulge and scoop to contain the four Weber carbs. This particular model is therefore one of the very last and most desirable Series III four Weber carb models with the hood scoop.
You will look long and hard to find a finer example of this extraordinarily striking in this rare color and very rare last year (1978) of the 4 Weber Carbs AM V8 Coupes with hood bulge/ scoop and original aluminum Tadek-Marek 5. 3L V8 engine with a recent full service at renown marque specialists performed in September 2023 which included a full tune up including rebuilt carbs, new plugs and filters, included rebuilding the alternator, cleaning the distributor cap, and replacing the battery. The car will be sold including its original spare wheel and factory tools.
