Exclusive: Aston Martin DB6 Mk2 Unrestored - a Manual Masterpiece | Tyrrell's Classic Workshop

Summary

This video features a 1970 Aston Martin DB6 Mark 2 Vantage, an extremely rare car that is a one owner example from new. The car is discussed in detail including its unrestored original condition, Vantage high performance engine specifications, and manual transmission. A road test demonstrates the tight feel of the original car compared to many restored examples. The history and significance of the DB6 model is covered along with insights into features like the cam tail design. Driving impressions highlight the precise steering and smooth gearbox. Overall it is a privilege to work on this special car with such provenance and originality.

Takeaways

• 😯 This video discusses a rare 1970 Aston Martin DB6 Mark 2 Vantage owned by one person since new
• 👴 The original owner purchased the car new in 1970 and still drives it today at 54 years old
• 🎓 The DB6 Mark 2 was the last of the DB series with curvy bodies before the V8 and DBS successors
• 🔢 Only 240 DB6 Mark 2s were produced over 13-14 months, with 71 being Vantage high-performance models
• 🚘 This car retains its original, untouched Connolly leather interior in fantastic condition
• ⚙️ The car features a 325 hp Vantage tuned straight-6 and a factory 5-speed ZF manual gearbox
• 🤝 The presenter has serviced Aston Martins for 40+ years and considers working on this car an honor
• 🛠 The car came in for brake service due to binding, but was road tested and found to be in great shape
• 🔧 Some improvements like recalibrating the tachometer were noted to optimize car performance
• 😊 The presenter thoroughly enjoyed driving this unique, honest, historic one-owner Aston Martin

Q & A

What make and model of car is featured in the video?

A 1970 Aston Martin DB6 Mark II Vantage.

What makes this particular DB6 special?

It is a one owner car from new and is mostly original and unrestored.

How many DB6 Mark II Vantages were produced?

240 total, with 71 being the Vantage high performance model.

What transmission and other options did this car have when new?

It has a 5-speed ZF manual transmission, the Vantage engine, and power steering.

What work has recently been done on the car?

The brakes were refurbished due to binding issues.

What did the host notice needs some additional work?

The tachometer needs recalibrating and some other minor tune-up work should be done.

How can you identify a DB6 from other DB Aston Martin models?

The DB6 has a 'cam tail' rear end for improved aerodynamics.

What made the DB6 steering unique for the time?

It had standard power steering which also allowed more direct, higher geared steering.

Why does the host say this car drives differently than restored cars?

Since it's mostly original, it still has the factory correct setup for good handling.

What does the host say is often overlooked on restored cars?

That they actually function properly and drive well, not just look good cosmetically.

Outlines

00:00

🎥 Introduction to the rare Aston Martin db6 Mark 2 Vantage

The video introduces a rare, one-owner unrestored 1971 Aston Martin db6 Mark 2 Vantage. It has covered just 54 years and 27,000 miles. The original interior and patina give it a beautiful aged character. This rear-wheel drive grand tourer was hand-built in very limited numbers.

05:02

📈 Details of the db6 Mark 2 Vantage model

The db6 Mark 2 was made for only 13-14 months from 1969-1970. Only 240 were produced, with 71 being the Vantage high-performance version. This right-hand drive Vantage has a 5-speed manual transmission and other rare specs, making it likely one of only 25-30 examples built.

10:03

💡 Design elements like the aerodynamic cam tail

The video analyzes unique design elements of the db6 like the 'cam tail' rear end. This innovative inverted aerodynamic shape was first used in the 1930s for reducing drag. The db6 was the first Aston Martin to feature this.

15:04

🎛️ How the electric windows highlight British craftsmanship

The video demonstrates the db6's electric windows made by the British company Piper. Unlike slow mechanisms in other contemporary cars, these windows are remarkably quick and precise due to limit switches, showcasing exemplary mid-century British engineering.

20:05

☑️ Driving impressions highlight the integrity of an unrestored original

The video host shares driving impressions of the db6, noting how the tightness and handling dynamics reflect the care given by its one owner. This contrasts with many restored classics, which often have issues from being disassembled and reassembled.

25:08

🤗 Concluding thoughts on preserving this automotive history

In closing, the video host reflects on the honor of maintaining such a rare historic vehicle in original condition. He advises exercising restraint when driving it to avoid damage. The gearbox and drivability showcase Aston Martin's achievements.

Keywords

💡Aston Martin DB6

The Aston Martin DB6 is a high-performance grand touring car produced by the British manufacturer Aston Martin from 1965-1970. It is discussed extensively in the video as the car being worked on in the workshop. The DB6 was the successor to the DB5 and the last of the 'DB' series before the V8 models. Only 1,321 DB6 cars were produced.

💡One-owner car

The DB6 featured in the video is a special one-owner example, meaning it has had only one owner since new. This makes it extremely rare and special, as most classic cars have had multiple owners. The video stresses how a one-owner car that is unrestored has an 'honesty' and originality that restored cars lack.

💡Vantage specification

The DB6 in the video is one of only 71 cars made with the more powerful Vantage specification engine. Vantage indicates a higher performance version of the standard car, with 3 Weber carburetors instead of 3 SU carbs, producing 325 bhp vs 282 bhp in the normal DB6.

💡Factory original condition

The car retains its factory original and untouched interior, including the Connolly leather and carpets. This level of originality is very rare in a 50+ year old car and adds to its value and appeal as a collector's item.

💡Manual transmission

The DB6 has a 5-speed ZF manual transmission, unlike many which had automatic gearboxes. The video praises the smooth shifting and precision of the manual gearchange in this car, as a mark of its original mechanical integrity.

💡Tuning

The video mentions tuning the DB6 by adjusting the carburetors, ignition timing, etc. to optimize the engine's power and performance. Proper tuning allows the car to reach its full potential power and drivability.

💡Road test

After working on the brakes, the video shows the presenter road testing the DB6 to evaluate the car's performance and feel. Key observations include the tight, solid feel and handling from its one-owner history.

💡Restoration

The video argues that many restored classic cars fail to drive and handle properly, unlike unrestored original examples like this DB6. Attention to mechanical details, not just cosmetics, is vital in high quality restorations.

💡Provenance

As a one-owner car, this DB6 has full documented history and provenance from new. This greatly adds to its value as a collector's item. Lacking provenance makes a classic car's history uncertain.

💡Connolly leather

Connolly leather was used for the interior trim of the most exclusive British cars like Aston Martin, Rolls Royce, etc. The video frequently references the aroma and feel of the DB6's original Connolly leather interior.

Highlights

The car is a 1970 Aston Martin DB6 Mark 2 Vantage, one owner from new and unrestored

The original Connolly leather interior, carpets and headlining are still present

Only 240 DB6 Mark 2 cars were made over 13-14 months, with 71 being the Vantage high performance version

This car has the factory 5-speed manual transmission and power steering, which was rare at the time

The carburetors are very rare Weber 45 DCOE 9s, which are now extremely valuable

The cam tail design by Professor Cam improved aerodynamics and high speed stability

Electric windows were very rare in the 1960s, but this car's Piper mechanisms work beautifully

As a one owner car, the tight feel likely comes from original factory setup rather than restoration

Many restored cars look good but don't function properly due to lack of attention to detail

Higher oil pressure, like in this engine, allows tighter bearing clearances for performance

Power steering enabled more direct, higher geared systems for better steering feel

The rev counter needs recalibrating, so the engine hasn't been pushed hard recently

Driving it is a privilege due to the rarity and untouched originality

The smooth, precise ZF 5-speed gearchange is extremely satisfying to use

The car feels well-planted and lovely to drive even gently due to inherent integrity

Transcripts

well hello and welcome to another tur's

classic Workshop this time round we're

talking about this car an Aston Martin

db6 Mark 2 Vantage bit of a mouthful but

it does rather cover it this car is

particularly interesting because not

only was it a very rare car in us and

Martin history but this car is wait for

it one owner from new and

unrestored so the gentleman who owns

this car now bought it new in 1970 how

about that um and he's still driving it

and the car is still in very very

presentable condition um and it's got

the original untouched uh connly leather

interior carpets headlining everything

um and it's even got the original

handbook with it uh it's all there put

your head in the interior

and sit in it and it's like sitting in

the most beautiful old Gentleman's Club

the aroma of Rich um finest on the

planet leather which Connelly was um and

still is actually in a way just the

aroma of everything having spent the

last 54 years maturing is just

delightful and this car is in fantastic

condition considering uh its provenance

considering the fact that it's now over

half a Century old um The db6 Mark II is

a very interesting car as a model it was

the last of the um of the sort of

formula that came out when Aston Martin

moved from falam to Newport Pagel they

had this shiny new car in 1959 the db4

uh which famously David Brown sir David

Brown of DB uh nomenclature he uh made

them all at a loss and um a customer

wanted a db4 and they said to him can I

please please have it at Cost price and

he says by all means and asked them to

pay £50 I think it was more for the car

than anybody else did because he lost

money on every car he made bit like the

mini BMC did that with the mini when it

first came out as well and I think for

most of the production run but anyway

this is the very last iteration of that

so A few videos ago I covered another

car that we had in for work an Aston

Martin V8 fuel injection one of the very

early DBS V8 cars as they were called

with the quad headlights across the

front

um and that car was also from 1970 I

think from memory 69 maybe um so they

made the two cars uh concurrently which

is very strange really uh I don't know

quite why Aston Martin did that I'm sure

there are some Aston Martin historians

who can fill in the gaps but um The db6

Mark II was the last Harrah of the

straight 6 engined um very curvy bodies

that uh that the V8 replaced and the DBS

6 is replaced um they made them for 14

months only 13 14 months from August um

69 to November

1970 and they were um what ason Martin

were doing was standardizing a lot of

parts so uh they they moved to the wider

wheels of the DBS uh V8 and they had so

consequently the DB 6 Mark I's had this

flared wheel Arch front and rear to

accommodate The Wider tires bit of

marketing as well actually um I'm sure

they could have cleared them anyway but

you know there we

are they made 240 in total of the of

this model only

240 in those 13 or 14 months um this is

the Vantage uh this badge isn't just

here for show that's been on it from new

and that means that it's one of 71 so

we're narrowing it down now uh made with

a more highly tuned engine three vber

carburetors instead of three suus um to

get really nerdy for a moment the

carburetors on this car are 45 dcoe

9s um which was sort of Weber's stock

large side draft car bre at the time um

and they're very very valuable now and

you just can't get hold of dco 9 they

were only fitted in period you can buy

Modern uh Weber Replacements which bolt

straight on um 45 dcoe 1.15 tws um which

are a different carburetor Al together

and have an extra phase of transitioning

from idle to um to light load Cruise Etc

they have steps or phases between them

re are three-phase and the 152s are

four-phase so it's a more modern version

but actually the originality is key

particularly with this car so it's one

of the 75 71 fitted with the Vantage

engine 325 brake horsepower against 282

I think for the the uh the standard

engine um this car also has the factory

manual ZF 5-speed gearbox which is a

delight to use on the road and it also

has power steering as standard um

because of partly because of the wider

tires and partly because people's

expectations were

improving um having said that the

Ferrari Daytona did not have power

steering even as an option which was uh

a sort of rival to this car by this time

this came along but this is nowhere near

as fast as a Daytona it's a four- seater

but they were both very expensive GT

cars

nevertheless um and the um this but this

car is very special because it's one of

71 uh vantages made it's not an

automatic as a lot of them were it's a

manual car its original right-and Drive

um how many were made to rightand drive

four-speed uh 5-speed manual Vantage

specification of the 240

built probably 25 30 something like that

how many of them are one owner largely

unrestored original probably one this

one that's how unique this car is it's

just reeks of honesty and originality

and there's something for me there's

there there's something it's almost an

honor um to work on a car that is so old

um but yet so original and they it's

quite funny they drive differently

original cars because they're just um

the factory knew what they were doing

they when they set them up the wheel

alignment the way everything bolted

together it was done who by people who

did it day in day out um sometimes that

could be a good thing if it was a

British Leland on a bad day in the 70s

but um they knew they you know I've

driven e type jagu that have been in

restored and they just drive beautifully

because they're bolted together properly

and everything has sort of gradually

worn in um in sync with each other and

um quite often restored cars are uh

bolted together and look shiny and

Beautiful on the Concor lawn but

actually don't function very well at all

um but anyway I uh I digress so it's a

great honor to have this car here and we

we actually have done although we

haven't featured many Aston Martins on

the channel we've done a lot of work on

them I have personally been working on

them for 40 years we've restored a lot

of DB fours fives and sixes over that

time complete ground at Restorations um

I had the pleasure of uh um tuning a db4

GT in South Africa at some time ago

which is again in an earlier video and

um that a very valuable car now um many

millions of

pounds uh so but this is just it's an

honest lovely car this and um the the

owner is actually has been a friend of

the family for 40 years we've known him

um and uh it's just just a delight to uh

to have this car in we we've been

working on the braking system that's

what what it specifically came in for

the brakes were binding and just

suffering from a bad case of anod Domini

um so we've refreshed all those um put

it back

together I think it probably needs a few

more jobs doing to it um I've noticed

some things but I'll confirm that on the

road test uh but um

just try and find another absolutely

unique one owner best arguably the best

specification a few years ago uh we had

the the again the honor the privilege of

rebuilding the engine on the the Prince

of Wales Aston Martin V8 Vantage valante

which was uh built for him by Aston

Martin in 1987 and so there are some

photographs online of uh Prince Charles

as he was then and Diana famously

driving the car um this car is so

important that Aston Martin made 22

Prince of Wales specification replicas

if you will afterwards um and they alone

are amongst the most highly prized of

the Aston m in V8 range but this is the

car that was made for his his Royal

Highness at the time especially by Aston

Martin and they took it so seriously

that um they in conjunction with Connell

leather uh came up with a special

one-off color for this car's interior

and um amongst other things uh here here

is a um a container for um I um sugar

cubes for uh his Royal Highness

Polo ponies also trimmed in the special

one-off Connelly leather color and um

yeah this was uh a very a very

delightful job for us to have done at

the time um and uh he of course has got

another Aston Martin uh a db6 Mark I

Volante which is um again an extremely

rare car uh you're in very thin air with

db6 Mark 2s generally very rarified

atmosphere

well one of the interesting things about

uh this car that distinguishes the db6

as a whole from other as Martin models

um is uh this the back end really um

this is what's called a cam tail

aerodynamicists over the years grappled

with various resolutions to the back of

a a vehicle of any description as to how

it could be the most aerodynamic and

hence the most economical on energy and

speed and all the rest of it and um one

of the aerodynamic things which there

are plenty of uh pictures online of sort

of cars that come to a point at the back

end from the 1920s and things like that

but that was okay but Professor cam

actually came up in the uh the 1930s and

realized that if you actually chopped

off the back of a vehicle of any

description what actually happened was

the air sort of came around and pushed

the the in the vacuum pushed the forward

and it was almost knock for knock

between this type of thing and the the

who wants a car with the pointed tail

that you're going to bang bashing car

parks and all the rest of it not many so

a solution had to be found and um uh uh

Mr cam hair cam Dr cam um came up with

the solution and also on this you'll

notice there's like a a spoiler built

into the uh the top of the boot lid um

that's obviously for that's for

downforce as well so and lots of cars

from um the 1930s onwards um Lots quite

a few um were gradually this began to

come in as a fitment on them one of the

most memorable is the Ferrari 250 GTO

it's interesting that this actually

became in a lot of ways uh it was

discovered that this actually um wasn't

as detrimental to aerodynamics as was

first uh anticipated and quite a few

cars these days have got cam tales on

them of one description or another it

sort of slipped into our Consciousness

as something that a lot of cars have it

certainly made the db6 stable at high

speed which was something Aston Martin

grappled with because of the vacuum

created by the the Fastback shape

apparently um this was in the days

before wind tunnels were as seriously

used as they are now almost at every

stage of design and one easy way to

identify db6 from its other db4 and five

siblings

well at the risk of um you know one of

our videos wouldn't be the same without

a bit of nerdiness so at the risk of

being nerdy we're back to the subject of

electric windows and um they were a real

Rarity uh in the 1960s electric windows

um only the very most expensive cars had

them and only one car of that era had uh

hydraulic windows and that was the

Mercedes ben 600 which is for another

video for another time but um the

electric window mechanisms on these cars

these cars I mean generally varied quite

substantially um and a lot of them I'm

thinking of the BMW um E9 the 3 l CSI

that sort of thing they were very very

very slow um they crawled up and down

even when they were new but these

mechanisms were made by a company called

Piper a small British industry um I

think long since gone unfortunately like

so many but um when they are working

properly as these are they are an

absolute Delight um they are unusually

have limit switches at the top and

bottom so they don't just hit the frame

or a rubber stop at the bottom they

actually have a limit switch which can

be finally adjusted so that the motor

doesn't burn out when the when you keep

the switch pressed uh clever stuff but

I'm the car isn't running at the moment

so that it we're just running on battery

power but I'll give you an idea of how

brilliantly these windows

work that's not not

bad very quick and a beautifully precise

uh switch really metallic switch action

very satisfying um just another lovely

facet of these very special

cars so we we've done some work on the

brakes um we're going to take the car

for a run and uh yeah let's see let's

see how it performs on the

road

well uh one of the virtues one of the

many virtues of a one-owner um car

that's been under the same custodianship

from new is um that you know exactly

what's happened to it all the way

through its

life and uh this car is a shining should

I say gleaming example of that because

uh this car it's a little bit hesitant

because of those Weber car

and the fact that it's cold but I'm just

warming it through

gently um but it just feels so

absolutely lovely this car

um we I'm just noticing that the

steering wheel is a little bit offset uh

we can sort that but the the car just

feels tight in a way that um quite often

restored cars don't that there are so

many people who restore cars

um and I'm talking even at the highest

the highest levels uh in the the classic

car restoration business and they they

forget that

um a huge amount of the restoration

completion and signing off process is

that the cars actually work and drive

properly and

um they they can look lovely and they

can be bolted together uh Etc but that

does not make a restored car

um a restored car has to work properly

and so many excuses are made for classic

cars um oh well they all do that well

quite often they they don't all do that

but um but that's just an excuse for

shoddy workmanship and lack of attention

to detail uh but what what I'm trying to

say is that this you can tell this is

not a restored car it's just a

beautifully uh untouched largely of

course it's had had a lot of work done

on it um in the last 50 years but uh 50

odd years but it's it's just got a

feeling of of um honesty that so many

restored cars just don't

have um and yeah it's just uh it's a

lovely place to be actually lovely I

noticed that the oil pressure uh it's a

mechanical gauge on these

and they're normally pretty accurate the

oil pressure is very good it should be

very high on these Aston Martin

engines both this engine the tadex

straight 6 and the V8 which was largely

tadex work as well the Polish very very

uh clever polish engineer so the car is

the the oil is getting warm now it's not

up to full temperature but the oil

pressure is still

showing

um uh at about 2,2 2,500 RPM it's still

showing 90b per square in which is

probably double what the equivalent

Jaguar XK engine is maybe even a bit

more um and the only other engine that

ran at this pressure of this era was the

Lamborghini V12 they were both

exceptionally high oil pressured engines

just it's um a matter of bearing

clearances the capacity of the oil pump

[Music]

Etc

and one of the other things uh about the

db6 Mark I specifically uh was that the

fact power steering was actually

standard on them and uh it makes a big

difference one of them is obvious

because it's power steering and it makes

the effort lighter but also what

manufacturers did was um they took the

opportunity to make the steering more

highly geared more direct um uh because

a lot of power steering systems or a lot

of steering systems in general sorry in

the 1950s and 60s and' 7s were very

vague they were quite low geared so you

could move the wheel and it didn't have

a great deal of effect on the direction

of the car necessarily but this one you

just move it a tiny bit and it sends the

car off in a different direction pot

holes not

withstanding um and that uh what

manufacturers did was actually alter the

gearing ZF or Burman or whoever made the

steering assembly actually made them

more High geared so that um because you

they could afford to be that way because

you had the advantage of power

assistance uh obviously the the quicker

the steering is the less the more effort

you have to put into maneuvering Etc

because you haven't got as much

mechanical

advantage um with uh higher gearing so

in other words the more the more you're

making the front wheels move the more

effort you have to put into actually

doing that so power assisted short

result of all that is power assisted

steering cars uh such as the Lamborghini

asparta Series 3 uh this some cars that

went into power steering during their

production cycle the steering is

actually more direct and therefore more

relevant to Modern use um and this is

where the these electronic power

steering systems fantastic though they

are they don't actually give you higher

geared steering more direct steering

they just reduce the the effort so um

that's a very long winded way of saying

power steering is good because it's

power assisted and it also makes the

steering work

better um but uh I'm not pushing on in

this car too much for two reasons first

of all because she's an old lady and

um uh also because the brakes are brand

new that's obviously what it's been in

for but the um I don't want to push the

engine too hard because the rev counter

one of the things I've noted and we're

going to I'm going to have a word with

the owner um who as I mentioned before

is a family friend but um one of the

things that uh that I noticed is that

the ref counter has actually gone quite

wildly out of calibration so it's uh

allegedly doing 3,000 revs this engine

when it's not it's doing about

2, uh 400

2,300 so we can uh we can recalibrate

the spring loading in the rev counter to

bring it down to the correct values but

that makes what what it would see make

the result of that is that it looks as

of the engines revving higher than it is

so if it was at the red line which is

5,500 RPM

M um on the rev counter it's actually

doing only doing about 3 and 1 half

4,000 RPM in real life and that means

it's probably a long time since this

engine has actually been driven hard so

for that reason I do not want to be the

one who runs the risk of breaking it so

I'm going to just um pole along in this

car very slowly uh I did have the

opportunity to uh I was invited to

um tune a db4 GT Aston Martin in South

Africa um and there is a there is

actually a video much earlier in the

series of uh me working on that car and

db4 GTs

are uh very specialized from memory I

think they made uh about 70 of them and

they're now worth many millions of

pounds um and I did a tuneup job and

afterwards uh Wayne who was then curator

of the museum and myself took it for a

road test and the noise was glorious the

engine is is uh almost the same as this

slightly smaller capacity so if you do

want to hear um an Aston Martin straight

six engine in Anger uh look no further

than the db4 GT video but

um it's just so it's so uh satisfying

and so pleasurable to be in a one owner

db6 Mark I Vantage manual it's such a

excruciatingly rare car possibly unique

uh for the reasons I explained

earlier this is It's just lovely to

drive such a piece of History not only

is it one owner but it's in such lovely

untouched condition uh the leather Etc

um it's just just an extremely rare

example of of uh of a very very nice car

and uh yeah I'm uh I'm thoroughly

enjoying this even though it's not pedal

to the metal um it's just just coming

through this sweeping Bend pressing on a

bit it feels lovely so well

planted just

beautiful I'm going to uh going to have

a word with the owner and just see if we

can do a bit more work on this

car um because I think it would actually

uh reap great rewards get the rev

counter working

properly um give it a bit of a tuneup

but uh nevertheless I I consider it a

privilege to work on this beautiful

historic

car one of the things thing about this

particular car is it's got the uh the ZF

gearbox um in it that the uh the db6 is

had and the later DB FS but they they

did slightly um they did some work on it

uh ZF and we ended up with uh a very

very satisfying uh gear change uh they

they also put this extremely high-tech

gear knob on the db6 Mark II but um it's

just it's it's a great thing to operate

strange

and you can change gear with one finger

once the gear box is nice and warm as I

shall now

demonstrate just lovely um even my

little

finger just

beautiful absolutely lovely Precision

just a a feeling of mechanical um uh

integrity and smoothness and precision

just absolutely lovely

well that concludes another tur's

classic Workshop video um thanks very

much for liking and subscribing and for

watching and we'll be back with

something else very

soon