20 Jul 07
The team who built the final Vanquish
Newport Pagnell is famous for three things: the motorway services, the coach station, and the Aston Martin factory. The first two are still going strong, but as of yesterday the factory isn't.
The Works Service workshop on the other side of the road is doing more business than ever and will stay in the Buckinghamshire town for the foreseeable future, but the factory ceased to be a factory when the last Vanquish came off the production line on Thursday lunchtime.
Aston is keeping the last car for itself
That was the end of a turbulent 53 years of Aston Martin presence on a site that had previously been home to a coachbuilder, Salmon and Sons. Aston Martin is now 93 years old, and it's had six homes, but Newport Pagnell is the one it's been connected with for the longest by far. The town signs will still say 'Newport Pagnell - home of Aston Martin Lagonda' with absolute justification, even though production is now the preserve of Aston's Gaydon plant.
The final Aston of the almost 13,000 built at Newport Pagnell, a Vanquish S Ultimate Edition, was driven off the line by Kenny Clarke, who has been with Aston since 1963. He's one of one the longest among many long-serving workers at a plant that has provided work for more than one generation of many a local family.
The workers went to school together, they drank together, they strolled home across Tickford Bridge together. Many a Newport Pagnell sofa is upholstered in Aston leather, and at least one fishing tackle box is topped by Aston Martin seat foam covered by Aston leather.
