In May 1987, Gauntlett and Prince Michael of Kent were staying at the home of Contessa Maggi, the wife of the founder of the original Mille Miglia, while watching the revival event. Another house guest was Walter Hayes, vice-President of Ford of Europe. Despite problems over the previous acquisition of AC Cars, Hayes saw the potential of the brand and the discussion resulted in Ford taking a share holding in September 1987. Although Gauntlett was contractually to stay as chairman for two years, his racing interests took Aston back into sports car racing in 1989 with limited European success. However, with engine rule changes for the 1990 season and the launch of the new Aston Martin Volante model, Ford provided the limited supply of Cosworth engines to the Jaguar cars racing team. As the "small Aston"/DB7 would require a large engineering input, Ford agreed to take full control of Aston Martin, and Gauntlett handed over the company chairmanship to Hayes in 1991. A qualified pilot from his time in the RAF, Gauntlett owned a number of aircraft through his life, including De Havilland aircraft a Dragon Rapide, Tiger Moth, Leopard Moth, Fox Moth, a Dove, Chipmunk; a North American Harvard, a Douglas Dakota C-47; and a Mk1a Spitfire; he had also sponsored aerobatic teams through his Petroleum Companies. He was known to attend historic aircraft auctions and indeed purchased a General Aircraft Cygnet from the former Strathallan Collection and donated it to the National Museum of Flight at East Fortune when the Museum dropped out of the bidding due to budget constraints. Gauntlett was a long-standing council member of The Air League, which promotes all aspects of British aviation, and had been due to assume the league's chairmanship in June 2003. He was a trustee of the RAF Museum and the Maritime Air Trust and a retired trustee of the Museum of Army Flying at Middle Wallop. He was appointed Honorary Air Commodore of No 4624 Squadron of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, based at RAF Brize Norton. Gauntlett married his wife Jean in 1966, and the couple had a daughter and three sons: Sarah, Michael, Mark and Richard, and three grand daughters Victoria, Lara and Olivia. Victor Gauntlett died on 31 March 2003.