The Aston Martin DB9->ke210 is just about at the end of its line. It’s been a great 11-year run for Aston’->ke13s resident grand tourer, but as always, all good things must come to an end. And so, as the DB9 hits the twilight of its life, XCAR’s Alex Goy took the time to contemplate the DB9’s impact on Aston Martin. Appropriately enough, Goy did it while driving what could very well be the last iteration of the DB9 to come out of Gaydon: the DB9 GT.

Launched at the 2015 Goodwood Festival of Speed,->ke2839 the DB9 GT came with detailed improvements here and there, but nothing too dramatic to slam home the point on how important this model is when we start talking about the DB9 in the past tense. Granted, it’s hard to really do anything drastic on a car that’s 11 years old without turning it into a completely different model so we can take solace knowing that Aston Martin gave the model the swan song it deserved.

The debut of the Aston Martin DB10 in the James Bond movie “Spectre” likely means that the car could be used as the basis for the DB9 successor. It’s unlikely to be called the DB10 since history tells us that Aston has favored the odd-numbered nomenclature for this family (Aston jumped from the DB7->ke352 to DB9 despite the fact that the DB6 existed from 1965 to 1971). So who knows, really. It could be the DB10 or it could be DB11. For all we know, it could be an entirely different name altogether.

But, as Goy seemed to say in his time with the DB9 GT, it’s not really about the name as it is the continuation of a tradition. Ever since Sean Connery took the wheel of the Aston DB5->ke4744 in Goldfinger back in 1964, Aston Martin has been defined by its lineup of DB models. So, as the DB9 begins its exit, we pay homage to a model that did the “DB” name proud.

Aston Martin DB9 GT

Read our full review on the Aston Martin DB9 GT here.