Driven by anglophile Henry Ford II in one of his final decisions, Ford bought a majority stake in Aston Martin in 1987, and assumed complete ownership in 1993. In the latter year, Aston revealed its new DB7 to the public, heralding a new direction for the brand, and the car went on sale in 1994 as a coupe. A convertible, known as the Volante, was introduced two years later.

Through Ford’s ownership of Jaguar, the DB7 was initially powered by a supercharged 335bhp 3.2-litre version of the latter’s straight-six AJ6 engine. A new 420bhp 5.9-litre V12 (Aston’s first unit of this type) was added to the range in 1999.