1974 Aston Martin V8 Sports Saloon

• Formerly owned by John Goldsmith of Goldsmith & Young
• Rare electric sunroof
• Automatic transmission
• Various Vantage-style upgrades

This Aston Martin V8, known as 'Growler', has an interesting history and benefits from the long-term ownership of a marque aficionado (36 years less five or six years when it was entrusted to the customer who funded a comprehensive restoration and upgrade programme). It was owned and restored by John Goldsmith, proprietor of Goldsmith & Young Ltd and a former chairman of the Aston Martin Owners Club, who ran the Aston Martin Racing Team for more than a decade.
Other than having a high specification: electric windows, mirrors, locks and a very rare factory electric sunroof, little is known about the car's early life until John Goldsmith, who was running a specialist Aston Martin garage in Battersea, acquired it for his personal use in the early 1980s.
In the early 1990s one of John's clients saw the car and agreed to purchase it if Goldsmith & Young - by then established in Mere, Wiltshire - would completely restore and upgrade it to quasi-Vantage specification. The works included a mechanical rebuild and upgrade: engine, gearbox and suspension; new sills and body preparation; a repaint in Azzurro Angelico Argento; and a re-trim in the original soft blue leather with dark blue carpets. Vantage upgrades incorporated include the front grille, driving lights, bonnet scoop, and tail spoiler, while the gearbox's change and kick-down points have been altered for a more sporting performance.
Fitted with a handling kit and a high-stall torque convertor, the result is an outstanding driver's car; so good that John insisted on first refusal if the new owner ever wanted to sell. John Goldsmith reacquired the Aston in the late 1990s and kept it for another 20 years before parting with it in 2016. Before sale, it was fitted with an overhauled automatic gearbox and new brake servos. A new air conditioning pump was fitted also.
Since then, the car has been well maintained but has seen very little use. Its condition testifies to the quality of the original restoration: the paintwork is bright; the interior is comfortable and pleasant, with virtually no signs of wear; and the attention to detail shines through when one sees how clean the car's underside is, boasting a profusion of lock-wired nuts to race-preparation standard.
More recently (in 2018) the car benefited from works carried out by Nicholas Mee: alternator; belts replacement; fuel tank vent hose overhaul; attention to brakes, etc at a cost of £2,400 (bill on file). Additional paperwork incudes expired MoTs (x17); correspondence; build details; instruction book; service book (one stamp by Goldsmith & Young in 2016); a V5C document; and MoT to October 2023.