It was more than 25 years ago that Ian Callum completed his first sketch of what would eventually become the Aston Martin Vanquish. A quarter of a century later, the Vanquish is still a staple within Aston’s lineup—and at least visually, it hasn’t changed much. But as every good designer does, Ian believes there’s still room for improvement.
That’s why, with the formation of Ian Callum Designs a few years back, he set out to perfect his original Vanquish with a modern reinterpretation of the V12 touring car. He calls it the Vanquish 25, and had you not known this was a fully reworked version of the classic, its details might allude you.
Aston Martin Vanquish 25 by Callum
But hidden within that original shape are subtle evolutionary upgrades—new side mirrors, revamped window surrounds, new wheels, etc. In Callum’s own words, the goal was to perfect the Vanquish in a way that he simply couldn’t with the original. This new Vanquish is something entirely his—and he’s proud of that fact.
‘There were things about the [original] that frustrated me… the window surround was made up of bits of Jaguar parts off XK, like rubber extrusions. And they come to the end, and they’re just butt-fitted, and oh, it’s horrible. And it was not what I wanted…
I wanted a second crack at it. It was the one car I could genuinely say, ‘It’s entirely me.’ There was no team involved. On the exterior, there was nobody else involved, so I could legitimately say, ‘This is my car, and I want to redo it. And it’s very seldom you can legitimately say, ‘This is entirely mine.’
Of course, the Vanquish 25 doesn’t merely consist of new details slapped hamfistedly atop an original body. The Callum Designs team tears down and rebuilds each Vanquish 25 by hand, upfitting new carbon fiber pieces, refining the bodywork, and adding all the necessary details. No small task.
‘The downside is that you have to take the whole car apart, right back to the body shell, and rebuild it.’
Part of that rebuild process includes the engine and upgrades to the overall performance. Callum’s team reworks the original 6.0-liter V12 to make an additional 80 horsepower, paired with your choice of an automatic or manual transmission. The company also makes slight tweaks to the suspension to improve handling.
‘Because we took the engine out, we rebuilt the engine—put bigger, equal-length manifolds on there. We redo the front face. We redo the cams and the heads. ECU units changed. So we get another 80 horsepower from the engine. It’s not bad, but you consider most cars, 20 years ago didn’t even have 80 horsepower. Just all these details had a lot of fun doing.’
While Callum personally oversaw the exterior redesign, he enlisted fellow Aston Martin alumnus Neil Simpson to reimagine the cabin.
‘Neil Simpson did the interior, and he did a brilliant job… Every panel has been changed for the interior, including the seats, because I always thought it was a bit doughy-looking, and it just didn’t look cohesive.’
The redesign extends to the instruments, switchgear, and materials. The goal was to create a cabin that feels contemporary while preserving the original car’s character.
‘So we’ve redone the whole interior, including the dials and everything else… And we’ve got our own [interior] pattern as well. Fragmented Tartan, I call it. Basically, it’s a deconstructed tartan pattern. It’s quite fun.’
The end result is what you see here: a stunning, modern interpretation of one of the most iconic touring cars of all time. At £385,000 to start (around $446,000), excluding the donor car, optional extras, VAT, and shipping, you will have to shell out a small fortune for such a beautiful thing.
For Callum, though, the Vanquish 25 isn’t simply a high-end restomod. It’s the culmination of a conversation that started more than 25 years ago.
‘It’s the car that I always wanted it to be, really… When you see one on the road, it looks powerful. And it looks like a brand-new car, which is quite flattering.’
