#28 - The Expendables

Thanks to the social media crazed, cosmetically enhanced, influencer driven world we now live in, “Things” (be it people or other material objects) fall in and out of fad quicker than Donald Trump changes his underwear. The net result of all of this is while Instagram may have you believe that cars like the 488 Pista, Aventador SVJ and 991 GT2 RS are the only ones worth owning or aspiring to, there is a smorgasbord of proper mental machinery that has fallen off the radar….. or as I like to call them, The Expendables.

Now the thing about The Expendables (much like the film) is that the protagonists sit in an awkward age bracket, too old to be considered relevant to the popular culture of today yet too young to be immortalised into the hall of fame…..and that’s what makes them so great. When people forget about “Things” in the material sense they typically get cheaper. So allow me to shed light on a couple of motors which are quintessentially Expendables.

First up and like any market musings we need to talk about Porsche. With too much hype surrounding anything wearing a Weissach badge, the incredible Carrera GT soring into superhuman status (and with that its price) and the 996 generation coming out of that awkward ugly dated phase and back into vogue, the Porsche Expendable actually comes from the 997 range…..the 997 GT2. Now compared to most cars to roll out of Stuttgart sporting GT nomenclature, the 997 GT2 received a relatively muted launch. There was no fanfare when it went round the Nurburgring in 7 minutes and 32 seconds, nor was there any real publicity surrounding how much re-engineering of the already brilliant 997 Turbo had gone into creating the latest Widow Maker…….no it just appeared, another tab on the Porsche car configurator and a Top Trumps card. In hindsight, the rationale for downplaying the GT2’s arrival is quite obvious; Porsche knew they were going to be bringing out a lighter, faster and much more expensive GT2 RS in a couple of years and didn’t need to make too much hype surrounding the standard car if the RS wasn’t actually to be that much quicker when it arrived. The net result, people kind of forgot about it….but they shouldn’t have. In total it is believed that around 1200 units of the GT2 were produced globally between 2008-2009 and of that around 62 cars were RHD/UK models. At time of writing, you can pick up a nice low mileage/full history RHD GT2 for around £150,000. For a similar RHD GT2 RS you will be paying closer to £450,000. In my eyes, that spread is too overdone and the “standard” GT2 actually looks great value for money.

Next up the Italians; now picking out a Stallone in a line-up of very capable candidates is harder than you may think. The 2000-2010 vintage does offer up some of the best contenders however. The Ferrari F430 seems to get more beautiful by the day as does the Lamborghini Gallardo but both of these are too obvious and already have a dedicated cult following. The same is true of the Ferrari 599 GTB and the Lamborghini Murciélago/LP640 as the last bastions of naturally aspirated V12 analogue supercars. No if Stallone was a car he would be a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. You see the Scag falls off the radar on so many levels that it is not even considered a true contender. Allow me to highlight why that is a gross misperception. The 612 was the second car ever made by Ferrari to utilise an all-aluminium chassis and body. So while it may be a big GT car, it’s also a relatively light one. In fact the Scag chassis acted as the base for the 599.  Furthermore, as propulsion units go, the 5.7 Litre Tipo F133F V12 is a particularly potent heart and coupled to a 6 speed manual gearbox provides for an iconic combination. Then there is the styling; a lot of people didn’t get the 612 visually when it was first released. They misunderstood the front aspect of the car in particular with many only too happy to make comparisons to a fish. If you have ever seen the original 1954 375MM which the Scag pays homage to, you will understand the beautiful rationale of the styling. Which brings me to the price; Right now there is a lovely manual Nero Daytona 2006 RHD car with full history and sub 30k miles offered for sale at just under £100,000. To put some perspective on that, there is a manual RHD 599 GTB with just under 10k miles currently for sale at £500,000……the Scag seems a bit of a bargain!

Now our Expendables line up wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t have a Jason Statham. In my eyes there is only one candidate for this……The Aston Martin V12 Vantage. If you have ever had the privilege of opening the bonnet of a V12 Vantage you will have seen first-hand the monumental task that the folks at Gaydon successfully accomplished in shoe horning a 5.9 Litre V12 into the car……it’s some proper British engineering and a work of art. But what really makes the V12 Vantage such an underappreciated icon and thus a brilliant Expendable is just how un-Aston Martin it was. First up some sweeping generalisations (I will go stand in the naughty corner later); If you were buying an Aston Martin, you bought a Vanquish or DB9. If you couldn’t afford either of those you bought a Vantage. However, what was grossly misunderstood by the Aston Martin buying population of the time was that the Vantage, albeit cheaper, was actually the more engaging and better drivers car…..there is a reason why it was used for the factory race cars after all. However with the V12 Vantage it went one step further. If you wanted to buy one, you were parting with similar money to the DB9 for a car that 95% of the population would considered as just another baby Aston Martin…….ie you were a proper petrolhead! What most don’t realise is that the V12 Vantage is more than just an engine transplant. The chassis and suspension have been completely reworked, the wheels have some massive carbon ceramic anchors behind them and the bonnet louvres aren’t just there to look pretty, they have the mammoth task of helping circulate air and keep that gargantuan engine cool and performing properly…..as I said earlier, proper British engineering. The result of all this is that today, you can buy a high specification, low mileage manual 2012 car with full history for just under £70,000. For the money, there is little that will offer the same driving experience and sense of occasion that the V12 Vantage can muster……and would you look at what we have for sale atm?!

Happy Motoring,

Greg