By last century’s end, the traditional Aston Martin V8 was running out of road.

The last model to have been designed before the Ford takeover in 1987, the hand-built Virage Coupé (and accompanying Virage Volante, launched in 1990) remained unapologetically old school in approach.

Powering both models was a 32-valve iteration of Tadek Marek’s storied 5.3-litre V-8 engine.

Adding twin-superchargers gave the steroidal Vantage of 1993, a car the public took to their hearts.

Virage and Virage Volante sales were slow in comparison, hampered mostly by high prices.

Works commissions and a steady trickle of demand for the latter Volante kept Newport Pagnell ticking over between the discontinuation of the Virage Coupé in 1994 and the introduction of the 1996 V8 Coupé—a naturally aspirated, smooth arched version of the Vantage that otherwise shared its styling cues.

As the last of the (retrospectively) “narrow body” Virage Volantes were finished in 1997, an open companion to the V8 Coupé wa...