You know us. We don’t mince words. So when we tell you that, in our opinion, the Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato was one of the most beautiful cars ever made, our hearts are on our sleeves.
Incredibly rare – only 19 were ever made between 1960 and 1963 – you’d consider yourself blessed just to see one. As for getting your hands on one, well that’s nearly impossible. Zagatos rarely change hands and the last time one did, back in 2005, it sold for 2.7 million USD. Furthermore, given the way classic car prices have risen since then, we’d expect it’s worth double that today.
Which is why, dear reader, the 2013 Aston Martin V12 Zagato we present to you here is a relative steal. Just 525,000 USD and it’s yours. True, there will be a few more V12’s than DB4GT’s – Aston has announced it will make 150 in all – but the new model’s a lot faster and more reliable, yet still very scarce so it should be just as solid an investment as its 1960s forerunner.
There have been several other Zagato Astons since the legendary DB4GT but this V12 model marks the 50th anniversary of the first collaboration between the English automaker and the Italian design house. No mere pastiche of the original, it takes 2,000 hours of handcrafting just to make one of these super-lightweight cars and the result is aggressive yet graceful, with the mechanical underpinnings of the current 6.0-liter V12 Vantage.
The V12 Zagato may not rewrite the book but by recalling the days of individualised handcrafted coachwork, it is, in essence, a limited edition piece of Anglo-Italian automotive art.
Model Aston Martin V12 Zagato
Engine 6.0-litre V12
Power 510bhp
Torque 570Nm
0–100km/h 4.2 secs
Max. Speed 305 km/h
Kerb Weight 1,580kg
