Ian Callum Wants To Turn The Aston Martin Vanquish Into A Strangely Beautiful Wagon
Ian Callum is arguably one of the finest automotive designers of our time, having worked on several of the most timeless cars of the last 40 years, including the millennial Aston Martin Vanquish. Now in charge of his own design firm, Callum Designs, he's proposed a more practical take on the V12-powered grand tourer, revealing a concept for a Vanquish Shooting Brake, something that Zagato did back in 2017. However, that design was based on the Vanquish of the time, and Callum's is based on the one he penned for 2001, trying to find a place somewhere in the middle. There's just one thing holding this car back from becoming a reality: an interested buyer.
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A Slightly Odd Wagon
The Vanquish 25 Shooting Brake, as it's been named, is listed on the 'Portfolio' section of the Callum Designs site, where the firm shares the ideas it has for reimagining future cars in the hopes that wealthy buyers will take a liking to them and ask for one to be commissioned. These are purely conceptual until that happens, so we won't see Callum's Vanquish wagon on the lawns of Pebble Beach at Monterey Car Week this month. If it ever does get there, it'll certainly look unique. The modernized lower side intakes look like something Jaguar might have produced around this time (where Ian Callum wound up after being contracted by Aston Martin), and the vented hood is also reminiscent of that era's Jag XKR. The diamond-faced wheels add a touch of modernity, as does the beveled glasshouse, and the side skirts with their lower leading edge and gilled flics call to mind single-seat racecars. At the back, the rear view will be narrow, but the car will look dramatic, with the muscular rear arches flowing into an upturned ducktail spoiler. Further down, more carbon fiber either side of the redesigned diffuser reduces the visual height of the car, though from the front three-quarter angle, this vehicle almost has a crossover-like stance to it. In profile, the front two-thirds of the car looks particularly modern, but the rear gives this writer images of a BMW Z1 from the late 1980s, and the wheels make me think of a Tesla, especially with red brake calipers behind them.
Does Anybody Want A V12 Wagon?
Whether we agree on the looks or not, Callum would surely allow some tweaks to be made, promoting this project as something that would be made 'exclusively for you,' calling it 'a bespoke masterpiece built around your vision, down to the last stitch' – but the looks aren't as exciting as the concept of a practical V12-powered GT that can fit skiis and luggage, something that Ferrari customers have desired and received since the FF. That must be enticing to someone, and the fact that there will certainly be far fewer than the 99 Vanquish Zagato Shooting Brakes out there surely counts for something. Naturally, this sort of bespoke creation will be deep in six- (if not seven-) figure range.
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