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Aston Martin announces stunning drop-top Zagato coupe

23 August, 2016

Stunning is a word I try not to use often. It’s not that manly, but sometimes it’s the only word to describe vehicles as beautiful as the Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato coupe. The V12 engine is a stunning piece of machinery, too, with 592hp, a beautiful noise, and the capability to propel the luxury coupe to 100kph in only 3.7 seconds. 

Aston Martin has confirmed this weekend that the Zagato will be accompanied in the showroom by a topless friend named Volante. We’re not complaining either, the Zagato Volante coupe is a thing of pure beauty. It will, however, only be sold in limited numbers, stopping at 99 vehicles. 

Alongside the topless roof line, the convertible will receive touches that the hardtop will not. The interior will feature ‘Z’ embossing on the headrests and doors, and a ‘Z’ quilt pattern will be a standard feature on both the doors and seats. On the outside of the Volante you’ll see bladed LED technology as seen on the Vulcan supercar, and lower carbon-fibre sills. 

This is one Aston that, in years to come, will become a stout future classic. Buy one now folks, before the pricing gets out of control. Well, if you have the coin that is! 

Images: Aston Martin

Coaching from the bench: Casting plastic knobs and rubber parts

16 July, 2026

Casting rubber items is simple if you have a good original to work with. The item doesn’t have to be perfect. You can use plasticine to smooth out cracks, and you can even make whole prototypes out of low-fire modelling clay available from craft stores if you need to. Prototypes can also be made of wood or metal.
You will need mould dams to contain the liquid urethane moulding solution until it cures. You can build boxes out of strips of wood, but I have found that small plastic boxes and bowls such as those you would use for leftovers in your fridge work well if you spray them with a mould release agent.
Temperature is important to the chemical processes involved, so work in an area that can be maintained at around 20 degrees. You will also need adequate ventilation because the fumes can be dangerous to breathe. And you will want to wear latex gloves to protect your hands.

Fraser Cars – low flying into the fourth decade

10 July, 2026

With almost three and a half decades under its belt, Fraser Cars is one of New Zealand’s longest-surviving car manufacturers. The company first opened its doors for business in 1988, during the boom time for kit manufacturers. During the ’80s, around 40 different companies were building kits and turnkey cars for this niche market. Of those, only Fraser and Almac Cars (established 1981) are still in business today.
Most of the new kit car companies were killed off in the cradle by the threat of new legislation that never eventuated and definitively by the sudden availability of high-performance Japanese cars when the floodgates to second-hand imports were opened. The now long-retired founder of the company, Neil Fraser, first came across Lotus Seven replicas while racing Lotus Cortinas in the early ’80s. He regularly found himself racing against a little Caterham, a Lotus Seven–styled car built in England. He was very impressed by its simplicity and handling. In 1986 Fraser built his own Lotus Seven–type car, using the knowledge he had gained from several close looks at the Caterham.