KING OF THE ROAD

Come on feel the noise: as Aston's baby goes drop-top, it's a glorious mix of naughty and nice, with a rock-God soundtrack you'll miss when it's gone

- By DARREN STYLES

On days when good karma comes, life is all right. The sun is shining, I'm behind the wheel of a new Aston Martin Vantage Roadster and it's wearing a registration number that stops traffic, literally. 1 AML doesn't just identify Aston Martin Lagonda's baby drop-top; it announces, in all its limited alphanumeric glory, that what you're driving is something close to the heart of the company.

And so, as the satin-finish light-blue bonnet stretches out beneath skies of a similar hue, and the fabric roof melts away, you realise you're about to have the kind of weekend that teenage you dreamed of, even if – back in the 80s – you'd have had little idea of what it meant to be harvesting Instagram followers at every red light from Guildford to the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

The car – our car, for a scorching long weekend – was a showstopper from 10 paces. A matt finish that drags the eye to one of the best-looking shapes that exists (Marek Reichman's Aston design team is in the form of its life), it's the colour of an expensive silk tie bought in Milan, the powder blue of a 1960s Playboy pool party. Paired with a dark navy leather interior that smells as though a dozen saddlers worked overtime just for you, the aesthetic is pure occasion. Aston Martin is selling theatre, and even before the engine turns over, you've got main character energy.