Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato Continuation cars cost $11m each
British car-maker reveals its most expensive coupe ever, 1960s-era hand-crafted DB4 GT Zagato Continuation carsIf you've got a cool $11 million dollars – or £6m – burning a hole in your pocket, perhaps the latest Aston Martin Continuation collector car will pique your interest?
To be revealed at the 2019 Le Mans 24 Hours race, where its originator raced first in 1961, the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato Continuation is a modern day vehicle built with traditional techniques.
The culmination of more than 4500 hours of "…painstaking and meticulous artisan craftsmanship" it is the most expensive car Aston Martin has ever built.
The new/old car is constructed a lightweight tubular frame, draped in hand-worked 1.2mm thick aluminium panels and fitted with an FIA-compliant roll cage.
Powered by a slightly more potent engine than the original car, which was first shown in 1960 at the London motor show, the DB4 GT Zagato Continuation cars take advantage of a 4.7-litre inline six-cylinder engine that pumps 390bhp (291kW) through a four-speed manual transmission and limited slip diff.
The original car had a 3.7-litre straight six.
Only 19 Continuation vehicles will be built, mimicking the original run of DB4 GT Zagato race cars built between 1960 and 1963, and each car comes with a modern-day Aston Martin DBS GT Zagato, powered by a 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12 engine.
The cutting-edge Aston Martin DBS GT Zagato pumps out 533kW and 900Nm of torque is features a new design compared to its aggressive donor car, the 340km/h DBS Superleggera.
Combined, the package has been dubbed the Aston Martin DBZ Centenary Collection.
Zagato is a famous Italian coachbuilding operation, or custom car shop if you will, based in Milan. It car trace its roots back to 1919, hence the 'Centenary Collection' moniker for this latest creation. The new models also celebrate a 60-year partnership between the Italian and British companies.
Originally built to take on the Ferrari 250 GT and win the Le Mans 24 Hours, the DB4 GT Zagato never took home the honours but is today recognised as one of the most beautiful classic cars ever built, along with models like the Jaguar E-Type.
And if you think $11m is a lot for a car (technically you get two cars) an original Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato sold for $18.4m (£10.1) at Goodwood in 2018.
The second vehicle in Aston Martin's exceedingly expensive Continuation car series after the DB4 GT Continuation cars from 2017, the DB4 GT Zagato Continuation will be followed by the DB5 Goldfinger vehicles in 2020, which feature several working 'gadgets' inspired by the James Bond 007 movie of the same name.
Getting back to the DB4 GT Zagato, the car is faithful to the original in most respects with its Rosso Maja paint job colour matched to the original vehicles, the company going so far as to commission the same paint suppliers (Max Meyer & ICI) to get the hue correct.
Borrani silver painted wheels and polished lips are in evidence while the interior features era-specific instrumentation and Obsidian Black leather upholstery covering the carbon-fibre race seats, door cards, headliner and rear environment.
Black Wilton carpets are also bound in Obsidian Black leather trim.
Like all Continuation cars, this incredibly expensive model is built at Aston Martin Works in the Newport Pagnell in the UK.
Aston Martin Lagonda CEO said Andy Palmer said the new DB4 GT Zagato Continuation cars are "…an achievement that should not be underestimated.
"Indeed, it could well be argued that we are making history with these new cars."
Aston Martin design boss Marek Reichman, who presided over the modern-day DBS GT Zagato, said the twin cars represent a significant milestone for the brand, which is set to launch the world-beating V12 Valkyrie and Vanquish Vision mid-engined machines in due course.
"In the DB4 GT Zagato Continuation we have one of the world’s most beautiful and instantly recognisable pieces of car design. Creating a car fit to stand alongside it was always going to be a formidable challenge, but also a great motivation," said Reichman.
"Sensational-looking and extremely rare, it is the modern incarnation of a timeless icon."
Customer deliveries of the 1960s-era Aston DB4 GT Zagato will begin from September 2019, while the contemporary Aston Martin DBS GT Zagato arrives in October 2020.
How much is the 2019 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato?
DB4 GT Zagato: $10,900,000
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