Classic cars

The Bromley Pageant of Motoring will be held at Norman Park, Bromley, on Sunday the 13th June with celebrations for the centenary of the Alfa Romeo and the 75th anniversary of the Aston Martin Owners Club.

The Pageant is a one-day extravaganza of classic cars, bikes, trucks, motorcycles, tractors, stationary engines and much more, with exotic sports cars through to thoroughbreds on show. So if you fancy a looking at Morris to Porsches, Mini’s to Ferraris, or Triumphs to Jaguars plus plenty of American Muscle then it could be a great day out.

Tickets for adults start from £10.50 for Adults and £4.50 for children, when booking in advance. For car entries, trade stands and general information you can call 01775 768661.

Aston Martin

DVLA Personalised Registrations has teamed up with Everyman racing to come up with a perfect competition for supercar lovers. If you fancy winning one of the 25 tickets on offer you could be driving a Ferrari, Lamborghini or Aston Martin, round one of the UK’s leading race tracks.

All you need to do is to go online and play the Plate Match Game where you have to link an array of personalised plates with various supercars. The competition closes on the 29th January 2010.

The Car Design Yearbook 8

The Car of the Year Design Yearbook 8 is available now and if you are interested in car designs of the future, it features car prototypes, new production cars and concept cars.

Available at £22.95 from Merrell Publishers it provides an A-Z of more than 100 new cars or designs, from the £1 million Aston Martin One-77 to the Zagato Perana Z-One.

Ford has announced the sale of its Volvo subsidiary to Chinese car-maker Geely for about 2 billion US dollars (approx £1.25bn).

With Ford having also sold Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover over the past three years that leaves the Detroit based car maker with three core brands, Ford, Lincoln and Mercury.

The deal is likely to be completed in the first quarter of 2010.

Carbon Black

Aston Martin is releasing two top-of the-range special editions for their DBS and V12 Vantage sports cars. They both feature Carbon Black metallic paint with each car undergoing 50-man hours of hand painting.

The V12 Vantage side strake gets a real carbon fibre finish backed by a black mesh to compliment the gloss black 10-spoke diamond turned alloy wheels, plus a bright finished grille and front parking sensors to complete the exterior package. Inside the theme of carbon continues with Piano Black facia trim, centre stack and centre console, anodised black tread plates and unique sill plaques.

Final pricing is expected in the New Year with cars available from March 2010.

Cygnet

Aston Martin has released the first official pictures of their new luxury concept commuter city car. The Cygnet is an extremely efficient small car with great green credentials but also carries the prestigious brand name of Aston Martin.

Work on this new concept is ongoing and Aston Martin is hoping to release the car sometime in 2010.

Aston Martin Rapide

Aston Martin has now released prices for their eagerly awaited Rapide four-door sports car, before being launched in early 2010. Each car will take approximately 220 specialist man hours to build just like the existing range of DBS, DB9, V12 and V8 Vantage.

The price of the Rapide will start from £139,950 and features an impressive level of standard specification including Bang and Olufsen Besound audio system, heated memory seats, dual cast brakes and Adaptive Damping System. The car can easily accomodate four adults and has a spacious boot of 317 litres with the seats up or 886 litres with seats down and is ideal for touring.

Bradford Classic

The Bradford Classic, which takes place over the weekend of the 18th and 19th July, is expected to attract over 25,000 visitors. There will be four famous Le Mans cars from Aston Martin Racing, Jaguar Heritage and Ginetta all going on display, as the event is celebrating the Le Mans 24-hour race.

The event promises to be an amazing weekend including an auction of over 1,000 model Jaguars and automobilia at the Great Victoria Hotel on Saturday and on Sunday, the day is dedicated to Jaguar. Over 150 classic and perfomance cars will be on show over the weekend at the Centenary Square Bradford.

TV presenter and former rally driver, Penny Mallory will also be on hand to judge the cars, plus providing commentary to the thousands who will attend. On Sunday if you have a classic, they are also organising a valuation service in an “Antique Roadshow” style format and if you are interested in registering, the site is www.thebradfordclassic.com

The Cygnet

Aston Martin has developed a new luxury commuter concept car based on the Toyota iQ. The “Cygnet” will offer customers a new distinctive, exclusive solution for urban travel while travelling in style and luxury.  The new car is highly fuel efficient as you would expect from Toyota but combining this with Aston Martin’s prestigious brand makes this new car an interesting proposition.

Aston Martin Chief Executive, Dr Ulrich Bez said: “Now is the right time for Aston Martin to take this first bold step to embark on this special project – made possible with the support of an organisation of Toyota’s stature and capability and the intelligent design and perfect city car package of the iQ. Much work is required, but I am confident that this project could become reality in the not too distant future”.

The concept is based on a similar basis to a small boat attached to a luxury yacht and Dr Bez went on to say: “The offering of a Cygnet with a DBS, DB9 or Vantage is a unique combination of opposites and a novel transport solution allowing intelligent and sensitive mobility on an exclusive and innovative level”.