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New owner intro: 2011 Rapide (Doug Demuro review car)
Warm greetings to all in Aston Martin land from chilly Wisconsin. Just dropping a quick note to make introduction and get some opinions on a potential modification. My first Aston Martin ownership experience. And so far, it's outstanding!
The car was delivered just last week after purchasing from an auction. Lots of the normal concerns over purchasing an auction vehicle remotely, but I had a cursory inspection carried out and it seemed to check out on all of the vital aspects.
no real surprises upon delivery except that sticky fingered thieves as is often the case went through and stole anything that was not bolted down including owner's manual, RSE headphones & remote, umbrella, you name it.
I ran a VIN background through EpicVin and discovered that this is the actual car used in the Doug Demuro review video of the 2011 Rapide. I imagine if I ever sell the car that ought to about double the price!
As for the question I have for which I would like to get some feedback and opinions, let me just say that I'm not a big modifier of vehicles, in fact in many cases, if I buy a vehicle with even tinted windows, I'll remove it just to restore the original look.
However, if you examine the photo below of the Rapide in racing form, it features a rather interesting driving light assembly on the front grille, hearkening to the old V8, V550, etc among other greats. It seems like a pretty simple procedure to remove the stock grille and simply replace it with a donor grille modified with the driving lamps installed.
Would this be ridiculous?? I can't decide as I'm somewhat of a sucker for the look..
Here she is in the sunshine.. I sold my 86 928s to help finance a business venture but kept the plate.. I was considering several other possibilities for a plate on the Rapide:
AML V12
NOTESLA
SPECTRE
But in the end, I think the German phrase suits it well..
40k miles. Absolutely perfect condition interior. Only slight surface indications on the exterior. Stoked.
But in the end, I think the German phrase suits it well..
Considering it was built in Austria, the plate is fitting. Enjoy your Rapide. Would suggest the remote valve controller which default to open valves as the only mod you'll "need".
YVR - thank you very much for your prompt follow-up with your example and the link to the instructions - I am going to make this happen.
EJ Rapide - the auction site I bought this from was - gulp - Copart...
The biggest risk I've ever taken on a vehicle purchase without a doubt. The reason I was searching Copart was not for an Aston, but rather an XKR or XJR. I had a beautiful XKR with which I killed 2 deer last year October on a business trip to St Louis - I hit these deer 8 miles apart. I'm still pretty salty about that. The damage was to the bumper, hood, door, mirrors, headlight, etc. All pretty repairable but unless I could buy it back for pretty cheap - they offered me a $13K buyback, so I was out - I do not have that sort of time for a repair project. I asked my insurance agent where the car goes once hauled away - he mentioned Copart. So I signed up and waited for the XKR to come up. It did not make minimum price the first time around, so the minimum was removed and the KXR sold to someone from Oregon for $3200! Unlike what some ***** did to me with raiding the Rapide of every loose item, for the XKR, I actually hid the owners manual, various spares, all the records, etc in the back of the spare tire well where some future owner would eventually find a very nice stash. So I started watching for interesting things to pop up on Copart - and a few weeks later, bought an excellent condition 2013 RRS - also with very light deer strike damage - for $4200. I replaced the blown airbag and repaired the headlight and have since added 40,000 flawlessly reliable miles. The timing chain tensioners were either formerly replaced or this was one of the rare instances when they hold together longer than 90k miles. It's a great vehicle for my business trip driving in all weather conditions to say the least.
It was really hard to get to the bottom of why this Rapide was on a Copart lot, yet appeared to be in great overall condition.. As I mentioned, I had a cursory inspection performed and it checked out at that minimalist level. My first drive upon delivery revealed the reason: apparently the former owner had lost control and skidded into a curb along the driver's side as both front and rear wheels were bent. I've purchased a full replacement set of the "tuning fork" 10 spoke wheels and will be selling the two good f/r original "multispoke" wheels. Once they're installed, the next step will be to validate that the hubs and suspension bits were not damaged along with the wheels. I've had the Rapide up on my lift already and cannot find anything amiss as of yet with the suspension.
I'm leaving for a business and leisure trip to Austria, Slovenia and Croatia next week - ironically staying in Graz the first night! With winter setting in, it may be some time before I can actually put some miles on her. It will however afford me some time to do the driving light project, change all the fluids, plugs & coils, do the PCVs, etc..
YVR - thank you very much for your prompt follow-up with your example and the link to the instructions - I am going to make this happen.
EJ Rapide - the auction site I bought this from was - gulp - Copart...
The biggest risk I've ever taken on a vehicle purchase without a doubt. The reason I was searching Copart was not for an Aston, but rather an XKR or XJR. I had a beautiful XKR with which I killed 2 deer last year October on a business trip to St Louis - I hit these deer 8 miles apart. I'm still pretty salty about that. The damage was to the bumper, hood, door, mirrors, headlight, etc. All pretty repairable but unless I could buy it back for pretty cheap - they offered me a $13K buyback, so I was out - I do not have that sort of time for a repair project. I asked my insurance agent where the car goes once hauled away - he mentioned Copart. So I signed up and waited for the XKR to come up. It did not make minimum price the first time around, so the minimum was removed and the KXR sold to someone from Oregon for $3200! Unlike what some ***** did to me with raiding the Rapide of every loose item, for the XKR, I actually hid the owners manual, various spares, all the records, etc in the back of the spare tire well where some future owner would eventually find a very nice stash. So I started watching for interesting things to pop up on Copart - and a few weeks later, bought an excellent condition 2013 RRS - also with very light deer strike damage - for $4200. I replaced the blown airbag and repaired the headlight and have since added 40,000 flawlessly reliable miles. The timing chain tensioners were either formerly replaced or this was one of the rare instances when they hold together longer than 90k miles. It's a great vehicle for my business trip driving in all weather conditions to say the least.
It was really hard to get to the bottom of why this Rapide was on a Copart lot, yet appeared to be in great overall condition.. As I mentioned, I had a cursory inspection performed and it checked out at that minimalist level. My first drive upon delivery revealed the reason: apparently the former owner had lost control and skidded into a curb along the driver's side as both front and rear wheels were bent. I've purchased a full replacement set of the "tuning fork" 10 spoke wheels and will be selling the two good f/r original "multispoke" wheels. Once they're installed, the next step will be to validate that the hubs and suspension bits were not damaged along with the wheels. I've had the Rapide up on my lift already and cannot find anything amiss as of yet with the suspension.
I'm leaving for a business and leisure trip to Austria, Slovenia and Croatia next week - ironically staying in Graz the first night! With winter setting in, it may be some time before I can actually put some miles on her. It will however afford me some time to do the driving light project, change all the fluids, plugs & coils, do the PCVs, etc..
