This is how vintage cars are made from the factory

Aston Martin has practiced this too: in 2017, the company revamped the DB4GT from the 1960s for £1.5m each, and then pushed forward another 19 copies of the DB4GT Zagato. Expensive Fun: Because it was only available in a double pack with an existing DBS Zagato, it cost over eight million euros.

The absolute highlight of this development is the DB5 from the James Bond film Goldfinger, which the British re-released for the 25th anniversary of the 007 series – featuring rotating license plates, machine guns filled with empty cartridges behind headlights, and bullet traps. For the money and good words in the rear the passenger only ejection seat is not available – although 25 customers have to pay four million euros for the car.

Although over time the game has become a predominantly British feature, it has recently found a major imitator in Italy as well. Because at 25,000 working hours, an unnamed collector in Switzerland had a prototype of the first Countach built in Lamborghini. However, according to Lamborghini man Alessandro Farmeschi, there is one key difference: the original was a one-off, unlike Jaguar & Co., which was also destroyed in crash tests.

There’s nothing legally wrong with replicas, says Frank Wilke, classic car specialist at Classic Analytics in Bochum. At first, the manufacturers made no secret of the new model year. Secondly, unlike outside companies, they will have all rights to such reproductions. Third, he strived for maximum authenticity.

And, as Wilke defends continuity series: they not only use outdated construction drawings, materials and methods, but often justify replication with fatal gaps in production figures.

And yet Frank Wilke thinks it is a waste of money, with which producers cannibalize their history and secure an income. “We are not a club, but a business and we have to make a profit,” the Jaguars justify the Man Foster strategy.

Bentley colleague Mike Sayer echoed his response even more: “Projects like this allow us to develop new capabilities to care for, protect and preserve historic Bentleys – both original and continuing,” he says. . “So that these special cars will be operational for the foreseeable future.”