The Aston Martin DBS Superleggera is an enormously fast car, but this newly announced U.K. limited edition is encouraging a comparison that no wheeled vehicle could win. Because while the DBS Concorde will be capable of 211 mph, the aircraft that inspired it was able to cruise at twice the speed of sound, with one example having recorded a record over the ground of 1470 mph.

The Aerospatiale/BAC Concorde is now regarded as one of the high points of commercial aviation, with supersonic performance that allowed it to compress the journey from New York to London to under three and a half hours. Famously, it was quick enough when heading west to land before it had taken off. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Concorde’s first flight, Aston Martin has created a commemorative version of the DBS Superleggera coupe.





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Only 10 will be produced, and they will be exclusively sold though Aston Martin's dealership in Bristol, England, close to the Filton factory that built the British examples of the famous plane. Aston chose to launch the car today, November 26, because it's the 16th anniversary of the last flight of G-BOAF, the final airworthy Concorde, which now resides in a museum at Filton.

Changes to the regular DBS Superleggera have been made by Aston's in-house Q division, and are all cosmetic. The most obvious is a livery inspired by that of British Airways, which operated the Concorde alongside Air France. This includes a white finish—the Concorde had to use the color to help disperse the heat generated by supersonic flight—as well as a red cantrail on the side strake and Union-flag-inspired red, white, and blue details on the front bumper, diffuser and rear spoiler. There are also a Concorde graphic on the carbon-fiber roof, milled aluminum Concorde shapes in the front wing intakes, and small versions of BA’s "speedmarque" logo on the lower wings. Each car will also carry a painted version of the registration carried by one of the original Concorde fleet.

View Photos Aston Martin

The connection to the famous aircraft is no less obvious inside the car. Concorde logos are embossed into the leather of the front seats, and there are miniature red, white, and blue Concorde graphics surrounding the speaker covers on the carbon-fiber door trim. There is even a graphic version of the altitude and speed readout display screen that Concorde used to relay information to its exclusively first-class clientele when in flight. We would far rather have seen a genuine version of this, even if the DBS is incapable of exceeding 0.27 Mach at sea level. The paddle shifters behind the steering wheel are also made from titanium recovered from the compressor blades used by the Concorde's Rolls-Royce Olympus turbo-jet engines.

Aston points out that the DBS Superleggera Concorde edition is its fourth aviation-inspired special; apparently it has already produced a Vanquish S Red Arrows Edition, a Vantage Blades Edition and a V12 Vantage S Spitfire 80 edition. The Concorde Edition will only be available in the U.K., where it will sell at the equivalent of $413,000, or a hefty $124,000 premium over the regular Superleggera coupe's $289,000 price. But then, nobody ever flew on the Concorde because it was cheap.

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