Filed under: Aftermarket, Coupe, Aston Martin, Opel
If James Bond were real, we wouldn’t recommend trying to impersonate him. We get the feeling that 007 wouldn’t take to impostors very well. Fortunately he’s a fictional character – or so we’re led to believe – so the gloves are off. If you’re planning on pulling off the Bond look, you’re going to need a Bond car. And if it’s the Bond of late, you’ll need an Aston Martin. Unfortunately, most of us can’t afford a real Aston, so a group of coachbuilders – apparently in Thailand, world capital of the sex-change operation – have created this replica.
The clone is built on the chassis of an Opel Calibra, a sports-coupe also sold with the same nameplate in different markets alternatively as a Vauxhall (UK), Holden (Australia) or Chevrolet (South America) and based on a Saab-sourced platform. Apparently the Calibra is known as a good starting point for replicas, with reports of Porsche Turbos and others based on the same. Whether this one is any better executed, however, than the Mustang-based Vanquish or the one based on the Mazda Miata is another story.
While reports suggest this a replica of a DB9, to our eyes bears the hallmarks of the DBS that’s been 007’s ride for the past couple of installments. Which is a good thing, because if you’re going to pull off the looky-look, you’d better get the details right. Have a closer look in the gallery below, and for comparison’s sake, an example of the donor car in the one below that.
Gallery: 1989 Opel Calibra
[Source: TopSpeed via CarScoop]
From Thailand with Love: Aston Martin DBS replica based on Opel Calibra originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.