I am extremely careful, have a lot of car knowledge, and just trying to be helpful as to what works and doesn't.

You all should be happy if A) you still have your car and enjoy it and B) it looks to be in similar condition 25 years from today.

 

Really appreciate that. My plan is to have this car for a very long time. I haven't looked around yet for a 'top cover' for the Vantage. Who are the good manufacturers?

 

When you wash the car you should have no problems what so ever. Like someone else mentioned ... a good installer is Key for a great install and peace of mind that the bra is installed correctly and getting water under the bra would really only happen if an edge lifts or dirt build up near and edge that did not stick right from the start. Takes us back to the installer and the preparation before the installation. I am sure you can get a good referral from someone here on the forums or maybe other car enthusiasts in your area.

 

Oh my God I love this car ... I went through a half tank of gas tonight just having fun and re-learning how to shift smoothly (at least that was the story I was going to provide to the officer if necessary). Which reminds me ... any opinions on the best laser/radar detector for the V8V?

 

Congrats on the car. I'm sure you'll love it.

Not sure if this was mentioned above or not, but Aston makes a soft fleece cover for the Vantage (and the other cars I assume). I have one that came with my V8V. It's black with some white piping on the sides and the AM logo at the front. It fits the car perfectly and looks great. As will come as no surprise though, it's expensive. I think it's like $600?

 

That's cool I didn't know that. The initial owner of the car put just about everything on this car so I wonder if he has that. I'll put in an inquiry through the dealer.

On another note, I was thinking of pulling fuse 22 or the vacuum hoses on the exhaust like everyone does ... until I fired it up this morning at 7:15 to bring it in to work ... ... just warming up it was so loud that I think my neighbours would probably kill me if I let it loose completely. Have to look into getting one of those fuse 22 switches I guess ...

I also notice that the headlights have condensation on the inside but from what I've read this is pretty common.

 

Aston Curious
I agree pulling Fuse 22 gives a great sound, but you want an easy way to control it. Here's what I bought and it installs very easily. Since it is rated at 15A the wires can be plugged in as a direct replacement for the 20A fuse. You can even control it with the Home-link buttons on your Rear View Mirror if you want.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000PI9E4K

 

Extreme -AW covered the clear bra material/basics - I have 3M material installed by someone that was very good and I use a product on the clear bra, maintenance is about as often as waxing your car only a lot easier (spray and wipe).
My car cover is a 180 from your needs up North - mine was needed to protect from the FL sun yet dry very quickly if caught in one of our very frequent/flash rain storms. Material is very light, thin, syn. and fitted. Would not recommend any fannel/cotton material outdoors in FL.

 

I installed a similar remote switch in my car. It's great to have. Keep in mind, however, that the car will be loud after start up regardless because the flaps only open after 1500 rpm on the V8V (2000 rpm for the V12V). Therefore, a switch for toggling between (i) OEM operation and (ii) flaps always open operation will not do much to make the car quieter upon start up. It would help, however, on drivebys out of the neighborhood.

 

I have one for the DB9, it's a fantastic piece of kit. They retail at £300 in the UK, but I got mine on eBay for £150! And when it turned up, it was from HWM, one of the more famous Aston dealers.

Happy days and worth the investment if you can get one at a resonable price.

 

Reading back through the thread... most owners I know live with the occasional stone chip, and have the front end repainted every couple of years! Car bras are a very US thing, no idea why. You guys also have those big thick black vinyl ones, always laugh when I see them over there

Also the salt issue; we get a lot of that in the UK, it'll start this month probably. I certainly wouldn't take my '72 Alfa out in it as it'd dissolve instantly, however, the Aston is a modern car and well made, it will cope with no problems. This from Rick at DMS (one of our foremost specialists), he said it's just not a concern and enjoy it when you can. Jet it out every now and again with a pressure washer and it'll be fine.

I'd be more worried about the cold tyres than anything else

 

Congrats on getting this marvelous car. Curious about the comment regarding this being your first real car.
Anyway, enjoy it all you can. You're living the American dream...especially with your son who it seems will enjoy the passenger seat for years to come.

 

Bingo! That's exactly what I was looking for. I had read references to this sort of thing in a few old threads here and on AMOC but had not found the details. The car has the dimming mirror as an option so the buttons are there for me to use. Thanks for this DT.

 

Marcos you and I must have a similar eye for cars ... The early 70's Guilia's are one of my all time favs ... in fact when I started this sojourn to actually get a pure pleasure car for myself, I passed on a nearly immaculate red '71 1750 for $14k in Toronto and have been kicking myself ever since (actually if I'd bought that I probably wouldn't have ended up buying a V8V so I would've saved myself a bundle!).

Anyway, the whole bra thing has come a very long way since those ugly black vinyl ones as I'm sure you're aware. The invivible ones are $$$ though. I hand't thought of a repaint on the car, where would you find a shop that could match the beauty of the original? Take it back to the factory? Not an option for us over here ...

 

Well, I've always just put the family first for my cars so I don't consider myself as ever owning a car for me. My dismal previous garage contains an '85 Jetta (put 300k kms on it), and 4 successive minivans (one Dodge and 3 Toyotas) ... so when I say this is my first _real_ car ... I think you now know what I mean