If you’re here you may well be looking for something almost, but not completely, unlike what you found. Here is a roundup of my favorite resources for Aston lore, Pacific Northwest driving, or something I think you’ll wish you’d found if you haven’t already:

·       My trusted source of truth for all things Aston, and perhaps the greatest gift to Aston afficionados after the factory: Mike Beake (ex-Aston engineer) of Bamford Rose on BamfordRose - YouTube.

·       Another great gift to the Aston community, particularly if you are into DB9s and might want to do some of your own maintenance, from Steve McEvoy of Aston1936. His buying advice after the cost of ownership analysis is spot on (e.g. dealer maintenance record is more valuable than low mileage).

·       Detailed Vantage how-to videos and a North American parts supplier in the form of Richard Seidlitz of Redpants - YouTube. Of particular note are his buyer’s guide (especially if looking at 4.3 liters) and his maintenance guide.

·       An extraordinary local hub for drivers and cars of all kinds in the Northwest is Avants: car club, plus exquisite magazine, plus events, plus social media, plus, plus … Avants - Drive Everything

·       For Aston owners there is the Pacific Northwest Aston Martin Owners group on Facebook. See my post here: A Brief Homage to the PNW Aston Martin Owners Group — James Afield

·       Meticulous, curve-by-curve detailed and curated awesome drives in the Northwest. I intend to do them all: Dan's Drives (dansdrives.com).

·       General blogging about Northwest car culture: Rain City Supercars. (including “Dan”, above) Now with Avants.

·       I can recommend Exotics@RTC as a great car show. Free to attend and free to show, every Saturday weather permitting. It is staggering to see the number and quality of rare cars in the Puget Sound area – hundreds attend.

·      There is a shiny new (as of this writing) Buyers Guide from Hagerty that tells you to get a qualified PPI, but links out to the valuation data, which is helpful.

·       If you are down to choosing cars from online ads a thing I find very helpful (after Carfax) is this page on Aston Martin Newport Beach’s website where picking one of the many Aston colors will bring up cars they have or have sold with many pictures of the actual paint on different models in different light. This gives you a much better idea of what the car you interested in really looks like. Jet Black | Aston Martin Newport Beach

·       Here’s the best balanced manual V8 Vantage Roadster review (2007-2008): Fifth Gear: Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster - YouTube

·       And here’s the best (of only a very few) manual V8 Vantage Roadster reviews (2009-2017): Aston Martin Vantage // 16000 Miles and a manual - YouTube. The runner up out of the 3 that I know of: MotorWeek | Road Test: 2015 Aston Martin Vantage Roadster GT - YouTube (irritating, but less so than the 3rd). This absence of reviews makes me wonder if the lack of interest and coverage for the 4.7 Roadster is because the production numbers in 2006-2008 (4.3 era) were roughly double what they were in 2013-2016. Or that the value of the 4.3 liters has come down to the point they are relatively accessible and a lot of car for the money. Or perhaps it’s simply that a Vantage Roadster is pretty rare and a manual is that much rarer still.

·       A newer and pretty comprehensive write-up on the V8 Vantage from Hagerty is here.

•   Another recent and very balanced review of the V8 Vantage with lovely footage to match is here.