1960 Aston Martin DB4GT ZAGATO
Well here’s another first, a car featured on Ebay, of all places. This isn’t a build thread as such, but there are some great behind the scenes build images of this gorgeous Aston Martin that I thought would be a shame to lose when the auction is over. I have re-posted all of the text and images in the post below. Sadly, the $2.4mil USD asking price is just sliiiightly out of my range.
Thanks to Michael for submitting.
1960 Aston Martin DB4GT ZAGATO RECREATION
INCREDIBLE RESTORATION 1960 ASTON MARTIN DB4GT ZAGATO 5 SPEED AIR CONDITIONED
HAND-CRAFTED ALUMINUM BODY BUILT SUPERCHARGED DB7 MOTOR
When the Sultan of Brunei and his brother Prince Jeffri were buying any and everything they wanted, their automotive collection was grouping together the best cars from every performance brand. This included several custom built Aston Martins including a Vantage Special Series I. Taking almost all of it’s cues from the classic DB4 Zagato, these modern interpretations were sketched out specifically for the sultan mimicking the 1961 race car which was sent to Turin and bodied by specialist coachbuilder Zagato. Of the original 19 built,we, the people involved in this project, started out trying to form a more perfect union by combining the past with the present (as did the Sultan of Brunei). It was a simple, yet ambitious premise. Take the elegance and timeless styling of a 1960 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato, merge it with the power & advanced technology of a present day Aston thus creating the absolute best of both worlds. This car would have the look of one of the rarest & highly sought after cars in the world along with the drivability of some of the top rated sports cars available today.
Planning was meticulous and thorough. first, we had to build a complete new aluminum body, including the zagato coachwork. the frame was sent to world renowned coachbuilder, Clive Mmart, at the Shapecraft facility in Newport Pagnell, England. There, the Aston body was meticulously crafted out of nothing more than premium aluminum and the skill of the artist’s hands manipulating their english wheels. Stateside, plans were engineered to accommodate a supercharged DB7 with a 5 speed Getrag transmission from an Alfred Dunhill edition. Then another slow boat back to the USA, where assembly of the engine, electronics, upholstery, exhaust, suspension, etc. began. When it was all complete and the last little bit of perfection had been lavished on it – we decided to market the car.
That in and of itself was not easy as, after all, we had created this car out of nothing. However, as uncomfortable a notion as selling may have been, it was nothing compared to what was just around the corner. After we unveiled our creation through several websites and Ebay, we were blindsided by something totally unexpected. Someone from halfway around the world was claiming to have another Aston with our same VIN plate. We were dumbfounded and devastated as we had nearly 40 years of title and ownership history. We had no choice but to cease marketing until we could unravel the truth. To this day we have never seen a single picture of this “other” car or one shred of evidence that ours is not the genuine article. But in the interests of fairness to a potential buyer, reputations, exorbitant international litigation cost and who knows how much lost time, we felt the ethical & logical thing to do was reveal the facts of what we knew. With much anguish we secured an unencumbered title with a new VIN plate issued by the state of texas.
Since that time we have learned that record keeping in those early days at Aston was not efficient and duplicate VIN plates were not unheard of. We believe this car to be the genuine article, but we know it is 100% Aston Martin.
Everything in this car is either hand-made & fabricated brand new. No expense was spared with new parts that were bought. Multiple disc’s will be provided with pictures. Actual receipts included.
Custom arias pistons, brand new Borrani wheels.
Tec GT engine management system with unlimited programming.
Eaton supercharger was completely rebuilt by marston aerospace & jet coated.
Supercharger has undersized pulley for increased performance.
As some examples the ring set alone for the pistons were $2300.
Water pump $2400.
$4200 for a new clutch kit and disc.
Four wheel disc brakes. AP Racing front and DBS rear.
DBS control arms throughout.
Custom stainless exhaust.
Rack and pinion steering.
The interior has the finest matched hides which are custom stitched and embroidered.
Air-conditioning.
Navigation system. Pioneer head unit.
2x diamond audio amps 650 watts @4 ohms.
Diamond audio speakers & subwoofer.
CLICK HERE for the Ebay auction link.
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Original: Build Threads