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I have mentioned before my plans to do some customization of the interior of my DBS but I'm finally making a little bit of progress finally... As spring is nearly here. Turns out my projects with my Ferrari has devoured most of the winter (still not done).
My idea for the DBS was to go in a more classy and richer look in the interior.. Moving away from the sportier carbon fiber bits and adding more leather, piano black wood and polished finishes to the cars dash and console areas. While I've got other plans for some diamond quilted stitching on the seats and door cards, right now I'm concentrating on these areas. The DBS can certainly play the part of both an amazing sports car as well as the ultimate GT but to me it's most definitely the latter as I'm fortunate enough to have my Ferrari to scratch my wild side
Anyways..the plan is to install the glass switches, have my steering wheel rebuilt using piano black wood and leather with white stitching to match the cars existing interior and then refinish all the alloy bits in the interior (shift **** and surround, Hvac/stereo ***** and bezels and the heat/ac duct trim pieces. I never really cared for the anodized finish on these parts. All these pieces are solid aluminum.. Either billet or cast and there's many different options available in my opinion that would give the cars interior and much "richer" appearance.
After researching every possibility I could think of in addition to sending multiple pieces out for a sample finish, I finally made a decision on the direction in which I'm going to proceed.
I found a plating and polishing service in the Chicago area who specialize in concourse level plating of all types. Everything from chrome to sterling silver.. Polished, brushed, satin finishes in all varying degrees are possible.
Originally we tried stripping the original coating and just polishing one of the aluminum parts to a mirror finish (which is what I thought I wanted). I just didn't like the constant finger prints left visible on the part from a purely polished finish. So after some other samples I finally decided on a combination of polished and lightly hand turned brushed nickel finish for all the pieces. I didn't want EVERYTHING polished or EVERYTHING brushed so the shop suggested this method of using a combination of both on each piece to give them a very unique and custom look. More pictures coming soon.. But here's the "prototype" part. You see the outer area of the bezel (where your fingers make contact typically) has the lightly brushed finish and we've polished closer to the center where you wouldn't be touching as much to help keep finger prints to a minimum. Nickel is a very durable finish so this should hold up well on parts like the shift **** where there's obviously quite a bit of handling.
I think (hope) the end result is worth the time and effort. While it may seem like a lot of work for relatively small return, to me that's just where we are with these cars.. They're already really pretty darn perfect.
I should have been more clear that the top picture of the single bezel piece is the first completed item.. The other pictures is just the parts before any work obviously.
Regarding the steering wheel.. I'm working with Ivan at DCT Motorsports again. He did the wheel in my DB9 and I was thrilled with the results. He's got my DBS as well as the wheel from my Ferrari 360 right now working his magic.
Agreed , so many of upgrades these days just seem to be "lets bolt on tacky bits of carbon fibre everywhere and put some butt ugly black wheels on it , lower it so low that a if you ran over a piece of discarded gum it will bottom out "
Oh and than lets wrap the whole thing is some gawdy metallic wrap .
Agreed , so many of upgrades these days just seem to be "lets bolt on tacky bits of carbon fibre everywhere and put some butt ugly black wheels on it , lower it so low that a if you ran over a piece of discarded gum it will bottom out "
Oh and than lets wrap the whole thing is some gawdy metallic wrap .
I couldn't agree more.. I don't know what's happened to the world of car customization. It makes me feel old... Wait.. I've gotta go get these darn kids off my lawn!!
Great...I enjoy reading where someone is adding class to their car and not going nuts with the carbon fiber...I really look forward to seeing the finished pictures...Good Job!
I get it man.. I love carbon fiber too. I'll post some pics of the interior of my Ferrari I just finished up.. Lots of carbon fiber and alcantara. For me a British GT is natural materials.. leather, wood and alloys. If I had a sportier Vantage I may do it a bit different.
The Vantage did not come with wood door uppers because they thought wood could not make the bend (the DB9 has curved upper panels), however Aston Works discovered burr walnut could make the bend and special built a wood interior on my first Vantage. My mistake was also to use two tone leathers which I think made the interior too busy. I prefer wood more than other interior options (now I have Piano Black), so if I keep my 15 GT I'll probably switch my ski slope dash to Bamboo (light grey interior), or if I order an 18' Vantage order it with wood options.
On a side note my grey interior seats and doors have black alcanterra inserts - I'd prefer all grey leather should anyone want to trade. The total cost of all the custom wood work was just $2,995 in 2007 from Aston Works!
My 07 Vantage has the same sandstorm interior and carpets , all one colour no accents .
The walnut door caps and waterfall would look awesome in my car if I can get them ?
I may be an outlying Vantage owner but I have been considering a walnut waterfall for my Vantage. It is Tungsten Silver car with a charcoal/black interior (mostly black with the charcoal seats and a charcoal Alcantara headliner). Growing up, every British car my family owned had a wood dash of some sort. I may be old school but I would prefer to have that look again. My car is an 07 without factory navigation so the waterfall is one continuous piece with just the start button and air vents.
I am curious what you are doing with the shifter/bezel as I do like the DBS **** but am not a fan of the stock finish. The coating takes away from what should be a cool looking aluminum part. I have the metal ***** for my stereo controls so I could refinish them to go with a custom DBS shifter. That one part looks amazing and I look forward to seeing the other parts. Great idea!
03-11-2017, 09:48 AM
