Fast-forward eight months and you can imagine my excitement when the press release for the DB7 GT arrived in the office. More power and torque, a more intense driving experience and a voice to rival the Vanquish potentially made it the most focused DB7 in the model's ten-year history, while the enduring gorgeousness of Ian Callum's design made it a prospect almost too good to be true.

Pictures and spec sheets only tell half the story though. To get a real feel for a car you need to scrutinise it in the metal. So it was with an unusual level of enthusiasm that I headed up the M6 to last October's Birmingham International Motor Show to get my first proper look at the GT. This was my first step along the privileged path to Aston Martin ownership; a show debut is often the means by which genuine prospective customers get their first proper glimpse of a new model. Suffice to say I've never taken so much interest in a static display car.

Finished in a resplendent shade of Vertigo Blue, the show car pulled me in like a magnet. The stance, the subtle aggression, the promise of truly honed dynamics: all pointed to the GT being a uniquely evo Aston. Who better, then, to show me around the car than the immaculately suited Ian Minards, Aston Martin's manager of sales operations and former leader of the Vanquish development programme.

Starting with a detailed tour of the GT's exterior, Minards filled me in on the technical and cosmetic refinements, then, in a masterful final flourish, opened the driver's door and invited me to take a seat. I don't mind admitting the undivided attention felt pretty damned good, sitting there discussing the merits of carbonfibre trim over dark burr oak veneer and wrestling with the pros and cons of Alcantara's frictional advantages compared with the aesthetic benefits of full leather upholstery. Pretentious? Moi? You bet your life.

I left the NEC on a high, the swell of adrenalin and anticipation rising in my torso. It was a feeling that would ebb and flow with increasing frequency and intensity through the tail-end of 2002, for there was still some time to wait before I could enter phase two of Aston ownership: ordering a GT to my own specification. This is something that can be done at any of Aston Martin's 96 worldwide dealerships, but as there's also the option to make a visit to the DB7 production facility at Bloxham, near Banbury, I didn't want to miss out on what has to be the ultimate four-wheeled retail experience.

Bloxham is an odd mix of ancient and modern. Amongst the typically anonymous modern factory buildings is a collection of charming Cotswold stone barns, which have been sympathetically converted to form a customer reception area, technician training facility and, most excitingly of all, a studio area where customers get to feel swathes of leather samples, ogle countless curved squares of metal, each sprayed in different hues from Aston's standard range of colours, and generally get a tangible feel for how they want their car to look.

Perhaps the most enlightening element of the ordering process is the high-tech 3D Configurator, which enables you to apply all your individual requirements to a virtual car, then see it rotate in all its pixillated glory on a huge plasma screen. Exterior colour, carpets, centre console, upper and lower dash, headlining, upholstery, wood trim. You name it, you can specify it, either in combinations of the standard options, or in a completely bespoke paint or hide requirement, although I get the distinct impression you'd be politely dissuaded from ordering anything too outrageous, no matter how voluminous your budget.

Having tried countless combinations of colour and trim, and having listened to Minards' suggestions, I settled on a particularly satanic specification of metallic Nero black paint, charcoal upper and lower dash, door panels, centre console, Wilton carpets and headlining, together with charcoal leather and Alcantara seat upholstery and, yes, you guessed it, carbon trim. The result, at least on the screen before me, was stunning in its simplicity, although it will no doubt prove to be an absolute bugger to keep clean.

By confirming my desired specification for the evo GT, I became the lucky catalyst in a mighty logistical chain-reaction. All the components required to build a DB7 converge on Bloxham from numerous outside suppliers. The 6-litre V12 engines, for instance, come from Cosworth Technologies in Northampton. Although the machining of the components is robotic, each motor is hand-assembled by a dedicated engine builder (thanks, Paul Hosier, it's a corker), and then delivered to Bloxham for installation.

The bodyshell is made by Coventry-based Mayflower, and arrives at Bloxham etch-coated and ready for the painstaking process of inspection, preparation and painting with four coats of primer, two of colour and two of glossy lacquer. The seats and interior trim are upholstered and hand-stitched at Aston Martin's Newport Pagnell factory in the finest quality hide, supplied by Scottish tanning specialist Bridge of Weir, before being dispatched to Bloxham and fitted towards the end of the 26-stage production line.

Although modern by Aston standards, the build process for a DB7 remains particularly labour-intensive by mass production standards, with each car taking about six weeks to complete, having passed through approximately 100 skilled pairs of hands in the process. It might mean you have to wait a bit longer for your car (place your order now and you'll take delivery in six months' time), but at the end of the day it's one of the many things that makes an Aston Martin unique.

The main attraction, of course, is the driving experience. Having grabbed the invitation to drive a GT in February for a road test in last month's issue, I already knew what to expect of the Meaden-spec GT. However, it's a mark of the car that when I returned to Bloxham on Monday, March 10 (a dateline I'll always remember) and the doors opened to reveal the gleaming Nero black GT, my face nearly split in two, such was the size of the grin near-painfully stretched across it.

Although only on loan, I already felt a genuine attachment to it, and pride that I would be driving a car wearing one of the most evocative badges in motoring. It's cheesy as hell, but this is as close to a dream come true as I've ever experienced.

And over the coming months I intend to live the dream to the fullest by using the GT as everyday transport. Aside from driving it at every opportunity, there are a number of specific things I want to do. First of these is to attend the dedicated Aston Martin Performance Driving Course, which operates from the Millbrook Proving Ground and is offered to customers wishing to stretch the abilities of their cars and themselves in a safe, controlled environment. When mileage dictates I also intend to take 02 TFU back to the Works Service Department at Newport Pagnell. Mecca for owners of classic and modern Astons alike, such is the reputation of Works Service that fanatical overseas owners have been known to ship their cars over for anything from a simple service to a total restoration.

As the evo office is just half an hour up the road, it would be churlish not to do the same. If routine maintenance is something to look forward to (don't worry, I'll be seated in a comfortable leather armchair when I receive the invoice), life with the DB7 is going to be pretty special.