Royal Wedding Vintage Aston Martin DB6

Prince William and his new bride, the former Kate Middleton pulled one on the whole world by driving off to their resting place in a vintage Aston Martin. The newly crowned Duke and Duchess of Cambridge smiled cheekily as they pulled off the impromptu and unprecedented move – driving a dark blue vintage Aston Martin covered in ribbons and balloons with the tags “JU5T WED” at the back and “EBY 776J” at the front. The cheering crowd definitely approved of the move. This sneaky move puts a modern touch to a wedding that was traditional from the arrival right down to the balcony kiss.

The royal blue vintage Aston Martin car belongs to Prince William’s father, Prince Charles and is made by Aston Martin Lagonda Limited, a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars. The company was part of the Ford Motor Company from 1994 to 2007 before it was purchased for 479 million pounds by a joint venture company. Ford retained a $77 million stake in Aston Martin and now the company is valued at $925 million. Prince Charles’ beloved vintage Aston Martin DB6 is billed as a British grand touring motorcar introduced in September 1965. Back then it had improved aerodynamic over its predecessor, the DB5. The final DB6 according to Wikipedia was produced during the first week of January 1971, giving the model the longest production run to date of any Aston Martin model.

Prince Charles received his Aston Martin from the Queen as a 21^st birthday present and in 2008, as part of cutting his carbon footprint campaign; the prince converted the classic car to run 100 percent bio ethanol fuel distilled from surplus British wine. The Prince’s aides said at the time that although he only travelled two or three hundred miles a year in the Aston, he wanted it to be environmentally friendly. The car, which is kept at Highgrove averages ten miles a gallon, the equivalent of 4.5 bottles of wine for every mile. The bio ethanol is slightly cheaper than conventional petrol and it is estimated to produce 85 percent less carbon dioxide.

There were so many unforgettable moments at William and Kate’s wedding but the one moment everyone will no doubt be talking about years from now is when the newly married Duke and Duchess of Cambridge took a surprise unscripted ride in the Prince of Wales’ Seychelles blue convertible Aston Martin Volante DB6 MKII accompanied by a Search and Rescue helicopter in a special fly past paying tribute to Prince William’s job as a Search and Rescue pilot.