Aston Martin has always made some pretty swank cars, styled to perfection with some of the plushest interiors this side of a Roles Royce. Unfortunately, reliability and robustness were never an AM strong point. Introduction of the new Vantage marked a change for the Brit automaker; this was to be the most popular Aston ever, so reliability was a key issue.

Having already completed a 24 hours endurance race at the Nϋrburgring in a production-standard Vantage, 30 AM employees celebrated the production of its 30,000th car by attempting to drive another Vantage 30,000 miles in 30 days.

The team lead by AM chief Dr Ulrich Bez drove the car day and night through the German Autobahn network completing the task and even displaying the car at the British Motor Show.