Would you pay $8M for a legendary sports car? No? How about if it fused the design and engineering prowess of Aston Martin and Zagato? And you got two of them?
The folks over at Aston’s Gaydon HQ in England certainly think there’s enough demand for such a deal. Buyers will get both a DB4 GT Zagato and a DBS GT Zagato.
There will be just 19 pairs available.
Aston is pretty keen on limited edition runs, so this is nothing new. The Vulcan was built in a batch of 24, the One-77 in a run of 77 and the forthcoming all-electric Rapide S will be made in a batch of 155.
So by their own standards, this is one of Aston’s most limited limited-runs ever.
Of course, a cynic will say it’s all about money – and certainly, the $152m dollars will please the bean counters at Aston, especially after the firm’s recent IPO didn’t go as well as hoped.
But there’s another reason for these legendary marques to collaborate. Zagato reaches its 100th anniversary in 2019, making it a year to remember. The project is similar to the DB4 Continuation project, which saw 25 DB4s back on the production line.
The idea is based on a slightly unsuccessful joint venture back in 1960. The deal was to make 25 DB4s, but with Zagato bodies. Demand wasn’t high enough, so the run was cut to 19 – a figure paid homage to by the new production run.
The new car, to be manufactured at Aston’s Newport Pagnell plant in the UK, will be made as close as to the original DB4 as possible. That said, the firm will use digital scanning technology to ensure the new machines are perfectly put together, making a roadside breakdown less likely.
But the new DB4 isn’t a carbon copy of the recent Continuation project car. It will deliver a lot more power than the Continuation’s 331hp – 380 to be exact. This will be made possible by the car’s inline-six engine.
This collaboration is sure to generate plenty of column inches, not to mention cash, for Aston Martin, and we’re guessing that those 19 pairs will be snapped up pretty quick. That’s despite the $8m price tag not including taxes, as well as the fact that the DB4 won’t be road legal in here the US – traditionally a big market for Aston. However, the DBS Zagato will be permitted on public roads – making it the ‘daily runabout’ of the pair – perhaps.
