GET ready, Aston Martin lovers, Bonhams is about to offer you an exclusive opportunity to acquire a single-owner collection of nine commemorative hand-built Aston Martin V8 models.

The collection - privately commissioned in 1987 in order to celebrate the 21st anniversary of V8 production in 1990 - will be sold by Bonhams on June 4 at Aston Martin's works service facility in Newport Pagnell.

Believed to be the only time that such a series of vehicles has been built, these nine V8 models are all consecutively registered and finished in identical Hunter Green coachwork with tan leather upholstery, burr walnut veneer and dark green carpeting.

The collection has been fastidiously maintained by the present owner.

Each car - all showing minimal mileage ranging from less than 400 miles to a maximum of 1,591 miles - carries a card in the glove box recording every occasion it has been used.

Last year, all nine models were featured at Aston Martin's new factory at Gaydon in Warwickshire during a visit by the Prince of Wales.

The year 1990 marked the launch of the Virage and the end of production of the existing V8 range, which had all developed from the original 1969 V8 Coupe.

The V8s proved immensely popular and were in production for 21 years.

For the past ten years the collection has been housed in a purpose-built, climate-controlled environment by the current owner and every model is offered effectively 'as new'.

The collection comprises:

Aston Martin V8 Coupe (price guide £70,000-£100,000)

Aston Martin V8 Volante (£70,000-£100,000)

Aston Martin V8 Vantage Coupe (£70,000-£100,000)

Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante (£80,000-£100,000)

Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante Prince of Wales Specification (POW) (£120,000-£150,000)

Aston Martin Lagonda (£40,000-£60,000)

Aston Martin Vantage Zagato (£80,000-£120,000)

Aston Martin Vantage Zagato Volante (£80,000-£120,000)

Aston Martin Virage Coupe (£40,000-£60,000)

Although the vendor has expressed a preference to sell the collection in its entirety as one lot (for which the price guide is £600,000 to £900,000), the vehicles will be offered -subject to an acceptable private treaty offer - individually as consecutive lots at the auction.

James Knight, director of Bonhams' UK Motoring department, says: "I've been tracking this exceptional group of cars since they were manufactured, and now I'm delighted that we've been appointed to offer them for sale on the open market.

"I'm particularly excited with the prospect of offering perhaps the best example of the 21 produced POWs, and to offer, for the first time, one of the mere handful of Zagato Vantage Volantes, both of which have covered less than 700 miles.

"With past sales such as The Patrick Collection to its credit, Bonhams has proved time and again that cars with limited ownership, low mileage, and those offered 'as new' are highly sought after by collectors and enthusiasts."

Kingsley Riding-Felce, Aston Martin's director of works service and customer relations, adds: "Over the past few years the Bonhams Aston Martin auction has become a regular fixture on the motoring enthusiast's calendar and has consistently turned up many surprises. For 2005 they have done it again with the inclusion of the Hunter Green Collection.

"I have been involved with this group of cars since they were built and we at Aston Martin Lagonda works service recognise just how very important a collection of cars it is.

"We know each of them very well as they come from an era when we hand-built every single Aston Martin and Lagonda. Together they represent something very special as there is nothing like this collection anywhere else in the world."