Rich’s Red 2007 V8 Vantage Project Car
Okay, so right off the bat, this is going to be a bit of an odd thing for me to write because this car’s story is more about circumstances and situations than it is about the car itself. I originally intended the car to be a long-term project but ended up selling it after only two years. So, given this is more about the story of the car just as much as it’s about the build, I’ll be including some superfluous information.
Written by Richard Seidlitz
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The Basics
The Basics
2007 Aston Martin V8 Vantage
4.3L V8 engine
6-speed manual transmission
Ferrari Rosso Corsa paint
Obsidian Black leather with red stitching
Modifications
Redpants oil catch can
Redpants air box deletes
Redpants dry intake filters
Redpants lightweight battery kit
Redpants lightweight lug nuts
BC Racing coilovers
BC Forged HCA383 19” Widepants fitment wheels
Micheiln Pilot Sport 4S tires (265/305)
Motul RBF 600 brake fluid
Motul X-Power 8100 10w60 engine oil
VelocityAP high-flow cats
VelocityAP engine tune
Aston Martin clear tail lamps with grey trim
Aston Installations Infotainment Upgrade with front and rear cameras
LED map lights
Shorty antenna
Previous Modifications
BC Forged RT50 19” Redpants fitment wheels
Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires (245/285)
The Big Picture
My original plan for this car was to use it as a blank slate for a complete build. It was the same year, engine, transmission, and even options as my other V8 Vantage, just with different paint and leather colors, so it would be perfect for a contrasting build. The goal was to build my grey V8 Vantage into a lightweight and razor-sharp streetable track car, while this red V8 Vantage would get added luxury, an upgraded sound system, and supercharged - I wanted it to be agile but ultimately a grand tourer.
Things didn’t work out that way, though - I sold the car after only two years. I did get some work done on it during that time, but the project was ultimately a victim of circumstances. My life changed rather drastically and I sold the car as a result of it. In the end, I decided to fold my ideas for this red car into my plans for my grey one. Even so, I do seriously miss this car. It was just so stunningly beautiful and I kinda wish I could’ve kept it.
Key Modifications
Okay so like I said, this is going to be a little awkward to write because… it involves an ex. I’m not one to talk about past relationships but the context is needed for the sake of telling the tale of this car. To cut through that, let’s sum up the situation really quickly:
My then-girlfriend had a pretty cool car that she ended up selling. We used to do a lot of car events together but she didn’t have a “fun” car of her own to drive when she sold that one. A car popped up for sale and I came up with a great plan: I could get it and use it as a project car for Redpants and she can use it to drive during events. She’d have a fun car to drive and I’d have another car for Redpants that I’d build in a complete different direction than my grey V8 Vantage.
Getting Started
Having your car make it onto Jalopnik for the wrong reason is not a good way to start a project, but… that’s what happened. There was a lot of drama around this incident and it didn’t stop with the negativity of that initial press I got. Even though the transportation driver was neither shown nor identified, he somehow came across the article and started threatening me. I called the carrier and talked to the owner, explaining what happened and was told the guy would be fired immediately. I said if that was the case, I’d leave the issue alone and move on. I didn’t hear anything for a while but then, out of nowhere, I got an email from the driver threatening me again. So again, I called the owner of the carrier and told him what happened and said if he didn’t take care of it, I’d have to get the police and media involved. I haven’t heard from him or the driver since.
While it was an unpleasant thing to deal with, even worse was the repair bills I had to pay to fix the damage from that transportation driver as well as some other issues I found on the car. I decided to go all-in on what was supposed to be my long-term project and get a bunch of work done all at once. I wanted this thing to be perfect.
When the car first arrived, some things had been blacked out by the previous owner: the grille, the side strakes, the wheels, and the roof. However, none of it was done particularly well. The roof was especially bad, with the black vinyl bunched up at the trailing edge above the rear window. The red-and-black scheme was pretty cool, though - it was something of a racy look and I thought we’d be sticking with it.
To continue the scheme, I ordered a set of gloss black BC Forged RZ05 wheels in my 19” Widepants fitment. They arrived and, out of sheer curiosity, I put them on my grey V8 Vantage… and there they stayed. That’s right, the wheels so many people have complimented on my grey car were actually supposed to go on my red one.
Since my grey car now had the black RZ05 wheels, the BC Forged RT50 there were on it were then put on my red car. Around the same time, my ex removed the black vinyl from the car and I was struck with another epiphany: the car in red was obscenely pretty. I mean, it was just pretty. At this point, I decided to change things up a bit from the original plan. My grey V8 Vantage would go dark by having all the brightwork replaced with either black parts or carbon fiber, and my red V8 Vantage would go back to the original brightwork.
I really like contrast on a car, so having red tail lights on a red car really bothered me. In addition to bringing back the bright finishes and putting on silver wheels, I also replaced the original red tail lights with clear ones. To keep the bright theme going, I installed a set of clear tail lights on the car. These were the grey trim variant, which was not only to keep things as bright as possible, but also to show the difference between them and the clear tail lights with black trim, which I already had on my grey V8 Vantage.
Another change I made was replacing the front corner markers and side repeaters with my Redpants version which made a subtle-but-also-huge improvement to the front of the car.
One of the big projects this car would be used for was the development of a new set of coilovers, which I did with BC Racing. The first set of prototypes were put on the V8 Vantage that Freddy “Tavarish” had at the time, and we took the lessons learned from that to do a complete overhaul to the setup to make them more practical and usable, then I dropped my red V8 Vantage off at BC Racing’s North America HQ for fitment.
They’d set the ride height a bit low for my liking, but it looked really good. I later raised it up a bit for more clearance and dialed the valves to a slightly-softer setting.
Since I’d taken the wheels original meant for the red car and put them on my grey one, I let my ex pick out another set of wheels. She picked something really interesting: the BC Forged HCA383 with a polished clear finish barrel and brushed Royal Gold spokes. It wasn’t my cup of tea, but I didn’t hate it. They were different than you’d see on almost any Aston Martin and popped quite a bit and, ultimately, I did say it was entirely up to her. I think I’d have loved these wheels if they were on a white car - the gold spokes would look great on that.
The sizing of these wheels were the 19” Widepants fitment and they were wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires.
The HCA383 wheels were held on by a prototype set of my Redpants lightweight lug nuts in clear finish.
The last cosmetic change I made was actually the first: replacing the factory roof antenna with a Shorty antenna. This is one of the quickest, cheapest, and easiest mods available for the early V8 Vantage coupe.
Grand Touring Functionality
Since my primary goal for this car was to make it more of a grand tourer, I needed to add some amenities that Aston Martin didn’t have available at the time. That meant upgrading the infotainment system to support navigation apps like Waze and streaming audio, and adding front and rear cameras for easier parking.
I saw the opportunity to put together a small event wherein I’d have James from Aston Installations come to Florida, where I was living at the time. He’d do a presentation and we’d install some of his Infotainment Upgrade Kits in the cars of anyone that was interested - my red V8 Vantage included. The event was quite the success and everyone I talked to said they had a fantastic time and really enjoyed meeting me, James, James’ business partner Lenny, and other Aston Martin owners.
My red V8 Vantage came with Premium Audio from the factory but I still wanted to find ways to upgrade it a bit - primarily focusing on additional bass output. Alas, I sold the car before I got to that, but it’s something I’ll be doing with my grey V8 Vantage.
More Power and Missed Plans
The basics of power-adders were done by adding my Redpants intake filters, a set of VelocityAP 200-cell high-flow cats, and a VelocityAP engine tune. I didn’t need to replace the clutch while I had the car, but my plan when the time came was to install an AMR twin-plate clutch package. While I’ve had the VelocityAP twin-plate clutch package in my grey V8 Vantage for a while and have been extremely happy with it, I planned to use the AMR kit simply for testing and comparing the two in two side-by-side cars. But, since I never needed to replace the clutch during my ownership of the car, that didn’t happen.
Having my two cars alongside each other and each having a different clutch, the weight of the clutch pedal was really highlighted when going back and forth between the two. The pedal factory single-plate clutch in this car felt sooo heavy while the pedal in my grey car felt sooo light. I appreciated how light the pedal was for the clutch in my grey car for the sake of my bad knee, but I did like the weighty feedback of the stiffer clutch in my red car - if it was halfway between the two it’d have been perfect, I think.
And even if I had needed to replace it, I may have not gone with the AMR kit after all… One plan that came up for this car was supercharging it, and I’d have wanted ta beefier clutch like the V12’s twin-plate clutch that’s used in the VAP kit. I ended up supercharging my grey V8 Vantage well after selling my red one, so it’s a moot point anyway.
And Then, It Was Gone…
While I had so many grand plans for the car, in the end, not many came to fruition. My then-girlfriend and I broke up and I had this car that reminded me of her, and that I’d have to explain I’d gotten for her to drive when we were together, which was usually way more awkward than writing this article. I decided to wipe away the past by also selling the car and folding my plans for it into my grey V8 Vantage. It really was bitter-sweet watching its new owner drive it away because goddamnit that car was so beautiful.
But it had to be done, and I’m better off for it. As much as I miss it, it was the right thing to do and it still serves as an inspiration for me with my grey V8 Vantage.
About the Owner
What’s there to say that most of you don’t already know? Well… a lot, honestly, but that’s a story for another day (or a book, as I’ve been encouraged to consider writing). The quick version is I’ve lived in several States around the US, was in the Marines for five years, and had a great career as a defense contractor before leaving that to run Redpants as my sole job.
My life revolves around Redpants so it’s basically my job, my hobby, and my passion all in one. I’ve added Redpants Unzipped to share my travel adventures in more depth than you’ll see on Redpants. Cars are a huge passion of mine as is travel (and the cultures, food, people, and experiences that go with it), so Redpants Unzipped is my attempt at bringing all of that together.
Aside from that, you can find a little more about me on the About page, through all my public-facing content, emails and phone calls, or by meeting me in person - I attend AMOC events whenever possible and travel quite a bit so it’s not too hard to run into me at some point! I’m pretty much what you see in videos, but usually way less awkward because I’m super uncomfortable on camera.
And yes, I totally copy/pasted this from the Build page for my supercharged V8 Vantage.