When William Towns’ aggressively beautiful V8s reached the end of their long run, Aston took an altogether different aesthetic direction once again.

Out went any kind of homage to steroidal pony cars, in came a more modern sculpted look underpinned by de Dion tube rear suspension and a double wishbone unit at the front.

Still a fabulously indulgent hand-built car, the Virage managed to retain its gentleman’s club ambience in the face of cost-cutting measures from new owners Ford: measures that included raiding the Ford, GM, Jaguar, Volkswagen and Audi parts bins for all sorts of lights, mirrors, switches and other components.

Suitably reworked by Callaway Engineering of Connecticut, USA (using 'four-valve' cylinder heads, hydraulic tappets and Weber electronic fuel injection), its 5340cc 'quad-cam' V8 engine not only satisfied forthcoming emissions legislation but also developed some 330bhp and 350lbft of torque.

In automatic guise, the Virage could reach 60 mph in about 6.5 second...