This Special Edition Aston Martin Vanquish S Is A Red Arrow For The Road

Aston Martin has launched an unusual special edition Vanquish S after picking up on a special commission from one of its dealers.

The company’s Q bespoke operations division allows dealers to build custom specifications to fulfil any customer’s individual desires, but in this case it was Aston Martin Cambridge itself that requested 10 examples of what has now been christened the Q by Aston Martin Vanquish S Red Arrows Edition, after the world-famous British aerobatics display team.

The unusual story was picked up by Aston Martin HQ, which has apparently adopted the limited run as an officially-recognised special edition.

A new red paint shade, mimicking the red of the Red Arrows’ Hawk aircraft, takes its name from the display team’s motto: eclat, an old French-derived word meaning a brilliant display. There’s white and blue carbon detailing, a white stripe on the side that mimics a smoke trail, and a carbonfibre roof panel complete with a design reminiscent of that found on fast jet aircraft canopies.

Pinewood green trim inserts inside the car are a reference to classic flight suits and Martin Baker ejector seat fabric, and a really cool touch is that the 10 cars to be built will each have a unique, numbered engine inspection plaque signed by the equivalent number Red Arrow pilot. There are no rear seats, but buyers will instead get provision to stow two matching helmets.

There are all sorts of minor but super-cool aviation-themed details, like toggle switches, black and yellow hatched patterns on the door pulls and a graphic of the classic high-g ‘vixen break’ Red Arrows display formation.

Buyers can add things like matching luggage sets that come with a detailed 1:18-scale model of the car and another of the Red Arrows Hawk, or even a specially designed car cover or ‘build book’.

What’s more, Aston is giving the 10th of the 10 to the RAF Benevolent Fund, who we can only assume will sell it to raise funds for its charity work.