FEELING SUPERSONIC
To mark the anniversary of Concorde’s final flight, British Airways have partnered with Aston Martin to create a limited-edition sports car that honours the supersonic aircraft.
They flew faster than a speeding bullet, at twice the speed of sound, whizzing more than 2.5 million British Airways passengers across the Atlantic in half the time, and enabling Phil Collins to play both the UK and US Live Aid on the same day. And now the airline and Aston Martin have announced the creation of a sports car built out of Concorde. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, eat your heart out.
Called the DBS Superleggera Concorde Edition, the supersonic car, which launches in October 2020, features paddle shifters made from the original titanium compressor blades used across BA’s supersonic fleet. Underscoring their unique heritage, each limited-edition model also comes with its own Civil Aviation Authority-approved registration number and Chatham Flag tailfin.
On the exterior is a hand-painted livery in BA’s colours, a black-tinted carbon fibre roof featuring a silhouette of that instantly recognisable plane, and on the inside, a Mach Meter graphic embroidered on the driver’s sun side visor.
It’s another beautiful-looking car from Aston Martin Lagonda, the creator of luxury, exclusive cars and SUVs, who fuse high-end technology with hand craftsmanship and timeless design. Previous models have included the Vantage, DB11 and Rapide AMR, and in 2021, it will relaunch as the world’s first luxury electric vehicle company.
Did we mention it was limited edition? Just as there were only 10 Concorde planes built in Britain, just 10 of these super-cars will be produced. Priced at £321,350, they’ll be available to buy exclusively from Aston Martin Bristol – located just three miles down the road from RAF Filton, where Alpha Foxtrot, the final Concorde made in Britain, touched down for the last time in 2003.
Proceeds will go towards the Air League Trust, a not-for-profit organisation teaching under privileged children how to fly and work in engineering.