Technically, what you’re looking at here is a 1971 Aston Martin DBS. It doesn’t feel right to call it that, though, because the pros at Ringbrothers spent more than 12,000 hours turning it into something new. It’s now a custom creation they call Octavia, and no matter how I try to sum it up, I can’t do it justice.
Ringbrothers says the only original components left on the car are the power window switches. That should give you an idea of just how much went into crafting this wide, low-slung looker. The chassis comes from Roadster Shop, and dimensionally, the restomod is eight inches wider up front, 10 inches wider at the back, and longer altogether as the front wheels were moved up three inches. Because of this, it takes on an entirely fresh stance.
“It’s nearly impossible to convey all the intricacies that went into engineering this car,” says Mike Ring, co-owner of Ringbrothers. “It pushed us to innovate beyond our comfort zone and create a moving mechanical work of art. We’ve combined the ferocity of American muscle with the stiff upper lip of English sophistication and motoring. Octavia is beyond anything we’ve built before and a celebration of the hot-rodding spirit.”
That’s saying a lot, considering what the Wisconsin-based shop has done before. We’ve covered plenty of builds from the Ringbrothers in the past, including my personal favorite, a 1,200-horsepower K5 Blazer that’s also its own thing entirely. Octavia supposedly cost its owner $2 million.
This being an Aston at its core, there are plenty of nods to James Bond. The name Octavia is owed to a main character in one of the spy series’ installations, and the license plate cleverly says “SHAKN.” I personally like the oil dipstick best, whose handle is shaped like a martini glass with an olive inside. It’s the little things.
I usually don’t wait this long to talk about the powertrain, but there’s just that much going on with this one. Ringbrothers ditched the old 5.3-liter V8 for an 805-hp, 5.0-liter Ford Coyote engine built by Wegner Automotive. Of course, it features a 2.65-liter Harrop Engineering blower on top. Then there’s a Tremec TR-6060 six-speed manual that sends power to a pair of Michelin Pilot Sport Cup2 tires out back. The wheels are staggered at 19×11 inches in the front and 20×13 inches at the rear. Braking is handled by 14-inch Brembos, while handling is made better than any old DBS ever dreamed with Fox RS SV coilovers.
Restomods aren’t always my bag, and doubly so when they’re character-themed, but I can easily look past that to see how magnificent this car is. You’d surely do a double-take if you saw it, even at The Quail during Monterey Car Week, which is where Ringbrothers unveiled it on Friday. Knowing the level of opulence on display elsewhere at that event, it’s clear that they’ve made something worth ogling over.
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