Aston Martin Built Three DB12 S Coupes Around One 1951 Race Number
Three Cars, One Shared Piece of Racing History
Aston Martin's bespoke division, Q by Aston Martin, has unveiled the DB12 S VMF collection at Monterey Car Week, timed to the 75th running of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. The three one-off coupes take their name and identity from VMF 63, VMF 64 and VMF 65 — the British registration plates carried by the Aston Martin DB2 race cars that competed at Le Mans in 1950 and 1951. Rather than picking a heritage livery off a mood board, Q built each car around the specific colour-coded grille treatment period mechanics once used to tell those three DB2s apart in the pit lane.
Each modern DB12 S wears Carbon Black paintwork with a single accent colour carried over from its namesake — Rosso Red on VMF 63, Speed Yellow on VMF 64, Ellwood Blue on VMF 65 — applied to painted grille vanes, a painted Aeroblade at the rear, and carbon-fibre side strakes. Round number panels reading "75" mark the 75th Concours on the fenders, with matching DB2-style graphics at the rear. Inside, contrasting stitching mirrors each car's exterior accent, the front seatbacks carry embroidered DB2 silhouettes, the rear seats repeat the "75" numbering, and even the start-stop rotary controller and shift-paddle ends pick up the colour theme. Underneath the theatre, all three are full-spec DB12 S cars: a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 rated at roughly 690 hp, 0-60 mph in 3.4 seconds, a 202 mph top speed, carbon-ceramic brakes and the S's sharpened chassis tune.
What Makes a Bespoke Commission Actually Bespoke
The VMF trio is a useful example of the difference between a special-edition paint option and a genuine bespoke commission. A special edition applies a curated look to a run of cars; what Q did here was research a specific historical detail — three real race cars' identifying plates and grille colours — and translate it, panel by panel, onto a current model, down to interior embroidery that only makes sense if you know the story behind it. That's the level of research and craftsmanship clients commissioning through a manufacturer's in-house bespoke division are increasingly paying for, rather than settling for a colour chart.
That distinction matters directly to how serious buyers in this region think about ordering. Dubai and the wider GCC have one of the world's deepest concentrations of buyers who use bespoke programmes — Q by Aston Martin, Bentley Mulliner, Rolls-Royce Bespoke, Lamborghini Ad Personam — not for a unique colour, but to build a genuine, defensible story into a car: a family connection, a specific historical reference, a detail no one else's example will ever carry. The VMF trio is a clear demonstration of what that process looks like when a manufacturer's bespoke division does the research properly rather than offering a checklist of options.