“Here is a car with the performance and handling of a racing car and the luxurious appointments of a limousine, with none of the accommodation or visibility drawbacks of mid-engined supercars” (Motor Sport, April 1978).

Like one of those massively built rugby players who can despatch the 100 metre sprint in a smidge over ten seconds, there was something wonderfully incongruous about Aston Martin’s original V8 Vantage.

Introduced on February 18 th 1977, it remains notable as Great Britain’s first true supercar.

Capable of rocketing from 0-60mph in 5.2 seconds and onto 170mph plus, the sumptuously appointed 2+2-seater impressed contemporary road testers by proving more accelerative than a Ferrari BB512i, Lamborghini Countach LP5000 or Porsche 930 Turbo.

Mr Hyde to the standard V8’s Dr Jekyll, the Vantage was masterminded by Aston Martin’s Chief Engineer, Mike Loasby (whose CV encompassed previous stints at Alvis, Coventry Climax and British Leyland).

Developed on a shoestring budget...