Aston Martin customers had been clamouring for an eight-cylinder car for years, so Aston Martin designed a larger 2-door saloon for V8 applications. The engine was not ready, however, so in 1967 the company released the DBS with the I6 Vantage engine from the DB6. Two years later, Tadek Marek's V8 was ready, and Aston released the DBS V8. With the demise of the straight-6 Vantage in 1973, the DBS V8, now restyled and called simply the Aston Martin V8, became the company's mainstream car for two decades. It was retired in favour of the Virage in 1989.