One-77 – The Ultimate Aston Martin

Building cars is a business. There isn’t a manufacturer out there that builds cars for the hell of it. There are sales projections, demographic studies, profit margins and build costs factored into the development of every car. And deep within that, every part of a car is subject to further financial investigation and research. Can you make the wing mirror housings with a bit less plastic, thus saving a few quid over a production run of 300,00 cars? That kind of thing. We like to think that cars are born out of passion and the furious scribbling of pencil on drawing board, but the reality is far more… fiscal.

There are, however, exceptions. Within the myriad accountants and production managers tutting about material costs, there is the occasional glimmer of lunacy. Cars that are brilliant, but equally daft. Not daft in a comical sense, more daft in comparison to the norm. A case in point would be the mighty Aston Martin One-77. A car built for no other reason than because Aston Martin wanted to. Because it could. Brilliant. 

Aston isn’t exactly a brand you associate with the dull. But even so, it has to build cars that make a profit. Except, of course, for when it doesn’t. Which is what brings us to the mighty One-77, a car that was built for no other reason than to showcase just what Aston Martin is capable of. Of course, at £1,150,000 when new, it wasn’t cheap, but that’s not the point. Instead, the One-77 is a tangible glimpse into what Aston is thinking about when the financial Excel spreadsheet window is minimised. The One-77 is the fantasy doodle, it’s the dream idea.

It was first unveiled, sort of, at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. We say sort of because A) it was a 1:1 scale model rather than a proper car, and B) it was mostly covered with a Savile Row tailored cover, so we couldn’t see a lot of it. We could see enough though. Big wheels, massive brakes, air-hungry vents and more could all be made out. We knew that this was going to be something special.

Roll on to the 2009 Geneva Motor Show and there was no cover. Instead, Aston proudly showed the motoring world its newest, halo car. It would be called the One-77. It would laugh in the face of 200mph and it would feature the most powerful naturally-aspirated engine in the world. Bold claims, but could the car really live up to them? Well, as it happens, yes.

This brings us neatly to the car featured here. It’s currently for sale with Nicholas Mee & Co for a cool two million quid, and we happened upon it by accident when we were down there to shoot and drive an older Aston V8. But, as the One-77 was there, sitting pretty, we thought it rude to not point the camera at it and have a closer look. And let us tell you one thing – it is exquisite. 

The One-77 is a big, big car. It’s 4.6 meters long and it’s some 2.2 meters wide, yet it’s only 1.2 meters tall. It’s like a wheeled stingray, low, long and impossibly wide. But they’re the first ingredients in the hypercar cookbook. Low means it cuts through the air, long means it’s stable and wide means it can handle business through the corners. Though it’s not just the dimension that help the handling. There is some seriously clever tech at play, too.

Up front, there is double wishbone suspension with pushrod-actuated coils springs, all of which is electronically adjustable. And it’s the same at the rear, too. The set-up features anti-dive geometry along with adjustable bump and rebound and settings, meaning this sucker can be set to go to the shops, or got to Spa. 

Braking is handled by gargantuan 398mm carbon ceramic front discs with six-piston calipers, while the rear has 360mm carbon ceramic discs and four-piston calipers. And of course, there is EBD, ABS and traction control to help keep you out of a ditch.

It’s impressive stuff, but it gets even better if you delve deeper into the car. That bodywork, for example, is all hand-formed aluminium. Given the intricate and detailed nature of the One-77’s form, the fact it was all shaped by hand is mind-blowing, though it also helps you understand why Aston only made, as the name suggests, 77 of these cars. The hours and hours of work gone into the body alone – this isn’t something you can do in big numbers. The same can be said for the carbon-fibre monocoque, which again was all laid out and formed by hand, though not by Aston. Instead, it entrusted the job to Canadian engineering outfit, Multimac. With accolades such as the RUF CTR and the Ford GT, Multimac was more than qualified for the job. 

But what about the main attraction of the One-77 – the engine? It’s a masterpiece for starters. A 7,312cc V12, it features quad overhead camshafts and 48 valves, along with variable valve timing. Naturally-aspirated, this engine develops 750bhp and 750Nm, it can shunt the One-77 to 60mph in under 3.6 seconds and it will go to a top speed of 220mph. This is no slouch. It’s also more than just a big engine. The thought that has gone into the engineering is staggering. The carbon fibre cross bracing under the bonnet, for example, is hollow and also serves as ducting to feed the engine with cold air from the nose of the car. The bodywork further makes use of the air passing over it by ducting it and channelling it around the car so as to get the most grip and downforce. It’s all very clever.

Inside, the cabin is oddly warm and welcoming. One you’ve calmed down after witnessing the manner in which the doors open, the One-77’s innards are warm, cosy in fact. It’s not a stripped-out shell, it’s more GT cruiser than apex-clipper. The aluminium around the centre console and the air vents was, I’m reliably informed, hewn from individual billets of metal rather than simply being pressed. The seats are hand-stitched, the carpets too. It’s magnificent, but then for seven figures, so it should be.

The One-77 stands as a moving showpiece and a slice of true motoring exclusivity. Of the 77 built, 76 survive (one was written off in Tokyo) and each one is now worth well in excess of what Aston sold them for new. But that’s not the point, that’s not why Aston built it. It built the One-77 to show the world that while its cars are good, its ideas are better, and it’s that where the One-77s value lies. There are concept cars, there’s rhetoric about what a company might do, and then there are exercises like this, where the company gets on and does it.