IS THIS BRITTISH ENGINEERING AT ITS BEST?

According to the website of David Brown Automotive the Speedback is one of the most unique and versatile luxury GTs in the world today. Yet many of you will not have come across the small British coach builder before. Here we’ll take a look at what exactly the Speedback is, and give you our opinion on whether it is a truly great feat of British engineering, or a very polished kit car.

The Speedback

The car itself is based on the Jaguar XKR, and uses the same 5.0L supercharged V8 engine. This means that just like the XKR, it produces a very tasty 500 bhp. Apart from the power plant, you will struggle to find any other similarities with the XKR. The Speedback reeks of retro style and class, with the hand built quality and attention to detail setting it apart from the competition. This is apparent when you look at the paintwork, which requires 120 man hours to ensure a finish free from blemishes and imperfections.

So here we have a fantastic concept, an effort to produce a GT car that captures all the style and character of decades past, with the convenience, safety, and reliability of todays engineering know-how. This can then be combined with the quality of master craftsmen and the finest materials our island has to offer. So did they succeed?

The car looks every bit the British icon, with strong design cues from early Aston Martins. Both the front and rear end views are beautiful, however, as beautiful as it looks, it does look a little too long from the side, giving it a slight hint of being a bit out of proportion. Whether this is actually the case, or whether it is because the comparable cars were much smaller all those years ago, we’re not sure. Until we see a couple of road tests popping up, and we can see the car in the real world, it is hard to know for sure.

The unique motor features most of the specs you would expect with a modern luxury car, but does throw a couple of unique features at you, such as the picnic seat in the rear. Have a look at the video and let us know what you think, ‘new British icon’ or ‘close but no cigar’ or simply a ‘modern DB5 ripoff’? Whatever your opinion, producing a car of this quality, using our homegrown craftsmen and materials, must be a positive for our automotive industry, and a massive achievement for the small outfit.

SPEEDBACK VIDEOwatch?feature=player_embedded&v=U5A_CJzItMk

SOURCE: PGTIMES