One of the true beauties of the car hobby is the diversity of enthusiasts that participate. From collectors and investors to racers and tinkerers, the community welcomes all kinds. For those of more modest means, the project car has always presented the opportunity to acquire your dream vehicle. With a project, you invest over time, rather than all at once. Today’s Good Find Friday feature, a 2014 Aston Martin Vanquish Carbon Edition, represents a modern example of the project car.

Someone I’ve been following for years, dating back to his days as a writer with Jalopnik, is Freddy Tavarish. My favorite stories from Freddy dealt with his buying project cars, putting some sweat equity into them, and flipping them for profit. He’s since graduated to YouTube and huge, wild project car builds like his complete rebuild of a wrecked McLaren 675LT.

While project cars still include classic 1965 Mustangs, Porsche 356s, MGBs and the like, are modern project cars, like Freddy’s current McLaren P1, becoming more of a thing? If Freddy can do it, why can’t you or I? A modern project car may be partially wrecked, victim of the tin worm or as in the case of our feature car—subject to a flood.

I’ve always loved the first-generation Aston Martin Vanquish, which first debuted in the campy James Bond film Die Another Day. I’ll admit to hesitation in acquiring one despite their reasonable cost. The drivetrain, with its troublesome and sluggish automated manual, is my main concern. 5-speed conversions are available, but they are staggeringly expensive.

The second-generation Aston Martin Vanquish, launched in 2012, was a significant upgrade in both drivetrain and design over the first-gen car. It featured a lightweight carbon-fiber body and a 5.9-liter V12 engine producing 565 horsepower, paired with a 6-speed Touchtronic II automatic transmission. With a top speed of 183 mph and adaptive damping, the new Vanquish balanced high performance with grand touring comfort. The interior showcased Aston Martin’s typical craftsmanship with premium materials and modern tech, including an improved infotainment system.

A 2015 update added an 8-speed Touchtronic III transmission, boosting efficiency and cutting the 0–60 mph time to 3.6 seconds. Power increased to 568 horsepower, with the Vanquish S in 2017 further enhancing performance to 580 horsepower and sharper handling. Produced until 2018, the Vanquish was a worthy successor to the coveted (and gorgeous) DBS that it replaced. Car and Driver bemoaned the car’s lack of horsepower relative to its competitors, and that’s fair, but they and I agree that it’s one of the most beautiful cars ever made.

Unlike the first-gen Vanquish, the second generation cars still command prices above $100,000 on average. With six figure cars and, heck, mid-five figure cars well out of my price range these days, is a project Vanquish a possibility and are they even out there?

Today’s Aston Martin Vanquish Carbon Edition was found as a classified listing on Ebay Motors and is priced at $36,000 due to significant damage from flooding. The seller is located in Florida, which probably helps explain the car’s waterlogged history. The seller’s father was a supercar mechanic prior to retirement, and picked this up as a project after restoring a flood-damaged DB9 in the past. Sadly, due to illness, the car is for sale as the father can no longer work on it.

Launched in September 2014, the Aston Martin Vanquish Carbon Edition was available in Black or Stratus white and featured unpainted carbon fiber exterior adornments such as mirror caps and diffuser plus lots of other black and carbon trim details. It would appear that the exterior of this car has certainly been cleaned but also suffered minimal damage from its submarine expedition.

The only exterior flaws noted are some scuffing under the front splitter, likely from scraping on steep inclines or the like, and a small area of discoloration on the exposed carbon fiber roof. Typically bargain supercars are accident victims, with significant body damage. I can’t imagine the cost to repair or replace the carbon fiber body panels on a Vanquish! Fortunately, that’s avoided here.

One of water’s fun characteristics is that it will sneak its way into everything. If you’ve ever had a hard rain lead to fog in your headlights, imagine what happens when they’re submerged. While all the lights are now dry, they haven’t been tested and one of the taillights is stained from the experience.

The engine, by contrast, is said to have been analyzed and there was no water found in the oil or other fluid reservoirs. I would probably inquire as to whether photographic evidence of the cylinders is available.

When you get to the interior, it’s more clear where the project begins. Modern cars, unlike my 60’s Porsche for example, are littered with electronic control modules, motors, wiring looms and more. If your iPhone won’t power on after a dip in the toilet, then imagine dropping a car in a lake. These components are normally hidden by the cushy and luxurious carpet and leather panels in an Aston.

Much of this car’s interior has been stripped to assess and affect repairs on these systems. In fact, the seller has already installed a clean new dashboard, which is a significant bit of work already knocked out. The listing fully discloses that pretty much every module will need to be replaced with good used replacements or new parts. This is a daunting task and is only for the most tenacious of DIY-ers.

The lovely 10-spoke 20” wheels look like they’re in very good shape with no damage. Similarly, the brakes supposedly work, but as the car hasn’t had power since the incident, they only function unassisted.

Other issues noted include a deployed side airbag, a cracked windshield, the underside of the seats were not cleaned, the steering wheel and airbag remain soiled, and obviously the car can’t be started for fear of shorts and causing more harm.

One inescapable challenge with a salvage car is that it will still have a title brand when it’s been rebuilt, and therefore will never be worth as much as a clean car. It won’t matter if the car is essentially identical to a clean car after repair. There’s no blanket formula for the diminished value of a rebuilt title, but it can be significant, and then hard to sell when the time comes to move on.

If you don’t plan on ever selling the car, or if the ownership experience is more valuable to you, a rebuilt car can be driven on the roads just like a clean vehicle, subject to your state’s particular laws and regulations. Please review the laws for your own locality before undertaking any such project, as I am not an expert in my own state’s rules, let alone yours.

Make no mistake—the perseverance necessary to take on a project like this as involved as the full restoration of a classic car. In some ways, it’s much harder due to the electronic and mechanical complexity of modern vehicles. For a high-performance luxury car like an Aston Martin, it’s surely a major commitment. Watch Freddy’s build series of his McLaren 675LT for a sense of the effort and cost required. Freddy’s sizable YouTube income certainly helps cover his costs, as restorations typically exceed the expense of just buying a good car today.

The prospect of acquiring a car like a second-generation Aston Martin Vanquish at a 75% discount is still tantalizing. I find myself tempted to scour CoPart listings, searching for a good candidate. Would you ever take on a project like this? Let me know in the comments!

Disclaimer: The above article is not intended to serve as advice or a recommendation to pursue this or any other project. Any such project is undertaken at your own risk.

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