Kahn Vengeance: The Vision

21 February 2019 Redazione News, Tested, Tuning

KAHN VENGEANCE

The Vision

Words by Max Gonzaga

Photos: Kahn Design

“This car is the final shape of a dream, it was created for the purpose of realizing a model exactly as I always wanted it” – by now you’ve heard these words thousands of times and at the dawn of 2019 we can also admit that many have been able to give voice to their dreams, in some cases even sharing them with wealthy customers who seek that unique piece, at times to stand out, sometimes to chase a passion that knows no limits. The story of British designer Afzal Kahn is one of these, but with the awareness that it is not necessary to overturn the concept of beauty to give shape to something that is actually valid. He has shown it in the past and not only by putting his hands on various models, offering the possibility to customize them with more exclusive aesthetic kits and interiors, but giving birth to a grand tourer modeled on the lines of one of the major style icons, the Aston Martin DB9.

Called Kahn Vengeance and produced in limited series to preserve its exclusivity and at the same time to guarantee a potential increase in value, it is a GT built by hand and deeply revisited from an aesthetic point of view, so much that it almost seems like a sort of missing link between the “old school” attitude of the DB9 and the avant-garde look of the phenomenal DB11. In all this we are literally enraptured by shapes and details that are detached from those soft and elegant lines familiar to those who know what to expect from a contemporary or simply modern Aston Martin. I choose these words carefully because observing the Vengeance, I have the feeling of being dragged back in time, also because of the awareness that the house of Gaydon has always fueled interesting collaborations with exclusive coachbuilders, which have given us some of the most beautiful models that have never walked the roads of this planet. I am pretty sure you will immediately think of a certain Zagato and you’re not doing that by chance.

This project began to take shape in the now distant 2006, giving the DB9 more generous curves and a distinctly retro look, an authentic bulwark on which the Vengeance was built. To the detriment of the name, the emotions that this model arouses in the observer are anything but rancorous. You feel almost a sense of inner peace in welcoming those classic details that make it so different from the donor car. To stand out is certainly the aggressive front grille, a huge mouth with vertical profiles and that allows air to enter and cool the V12, the well-known naturally aspirated 6-liter capable of delivering 600 horsepower and 490Nm of torque on the rear axle. The automatic transmission is a six-speed that just as on the DB9 is not so much about crushing bones with speed and accuracy, but rather exalts the desire to travel long distances in fluency and face a hypothetical daily life without problems.

Virtually the entire exterior of the car has been remodeled and finished with carbon fiber and aluminum, such as the engine bonnet, now invigorated by a prominent protuberance that also continues on the roof, or the rear, where we find one among the most marked differences with the original car, especially in the choice of the pair of round LED headlights, another feature that pays homage to a classic design very dear to those who will look at this car with serious interest. The cockpit has not been turned upside down and in this case all the attention seems to have been turned towards the seats, hand-sewn and modeled always recalling the Astons of the past. Separate argument for the wheels, where we have a reminiscent design set of the iconic spoked wheels or more precisely of the roulette wheel (yes, that of the casino), in this case in aluminum and optimized, not only in design but also in resistance, in order to offer ride comfort and driving precision. Specifically, they measure 20 inches at the front and 21 inches at the rear, with respectively 16 and 18 spokes.

It is handmade, produced in a limited edition and still takes 4.5 seconds to shoot from 0 to 100 kph, accompanied by the glorious sound of its 12 cylinders, still faithful to the original model. Logically remembering an Aston Martin, but not that much, and although it is able to offer the same driving pleasure and involvement typical of a prebred grand tourer, it costs about £400,000, pretty much twice the price of a DB11, clearly more at ease as far as performance expected from a car of this caliber. In short, you must have a close connection with Mr. Kahn’s vision to choose it instead of a pure Aston, but what is certain is that it is still a beautiful creature.