Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato
| Aston Martin | |
|---|---|
 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato (1960-1961)
|
|
| DB4 GT Zagato | |
| Production period: | 1960-1961 |
| Class : | Sports car |
| Body versions : | Coupe |
| Engines: |
Otto engine : 3.7 liters (231 kW) |
| Length: | 4362 mm |
| Width: | 1676 mm |
| Height: | 1270 mm |
| Wheelbase : | 2362 mm |
| Empty weight : | 1257 kg |
| successor | Aston Martin V8 Zagato |
The Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato is an exclusive sports car with British technology and an Italian body. The car was created in 1960 and 1961 in collaboration between Aston Martin and the Zagato body shop in Milan . The vehicle designed by Ercole Spada is considered to be one of the most beautiful cars ever built. Over the years, 19 original vehicles and eight factory replicas were built.
construction
The Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato was technically based on the Aston Martin DB4 GT , which in turn was a sportier, shortened version of the standard Coupé DB4. The 1959 DB4 GT, initially intended for motorsport use, had proven to be too heavy compared to Ferrari's vehicles , so the factory was looking for a way to build a lighter version of the sports car. Tony Crook , at that time the largest Bristol dealer and British agent for Zagato, put Aston Martin in contact with the Milanese Carrozzeria, which was known for the production of very light automobile bodies , in the fall of 1959 .
Zagato used the technically unchanged chassis of the DB4 GT.
The six-cylinder in-line engine with a displacement of 3.7 liters, known from the DB4, served as the drive. The compression has been increased to 9.7: 1. Three double Weber carburettors prepared the mixture. This “noticeably” increased the engine output compared to the DB4 GT. According to the factory, the engine made 314 hp (234 kW) 14 12 hp more than the DB4 GT. Observers, however, consider this to be a "fantasy figure": According to general opinion, 270 hp were not exceeded. The car accelerated from 0 to 100 km / h in 6.2 seconds and reached a top speed of 246 km / h.
The body of the DB4 GT Zagato was designed by Ercole Spada , who shortly before had become chief designer at Zagato. It was the first car that Spada was solely responsible for design. His design goes back to a - hardly known today - coupé that Zagato had produced in 1959 for the British car manufacturer Bristol. This one-off, known as the Bristol 406 S , and the Aston Martin looked very similar.
The body of the DB4 GT Zagato was strongly rounded and designed for low weight. Zagato used for the outer skin of aluminum , the hand-over a wood model in the form driven was. The windows were made of acrylic glass ; In addition, decorative parts and comfort equipment were dispensed with. The body was supported by a frame made of 8 mm thick steel tubes. Unlike the factory DB4 GT, the vehicles had regularly recessed headlights that were covered with acrylic glass. However, a single vehicle carried the front end of the production model.
production
Aston Martin and Zagato planned to produce 23 copies of the DB4 GT Zagato. However, only 19 vehicles were actually built between 1960 and 1961 due to low demand. They are the original copies of the DB4 GT Zagato. In 1988 four more vehicles were built, which are known as the Sanction II models. Two more copies, which were completed in 1996 from spare parts manufactured in 1988, are called Sanction III .
19 copies: The original Zagatos
Aston Martin delivered ready-to-drive chassis to Milan and Zagato handcrafted the body and put it together on the chassis. Then the cars were transported back to Newport Pagnell , where Aston Martin completed them. The vehicles vary considerably from one another in details. Zagato took customer requests into account when it came to individual design issues. Some vehicles were tuned for racing, others designed so that they could be street legal. During the construction period, findings from the models that had already been delivered were also incorporated into the models under construction.
The Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato was first introduced at the London Motor Show in Earls Court in 1960. The exhibition specimen did not have an engine, just a wooden dummy. When it was first introduced, the car cost £ 5,400 , the equivalent of eleven Minis . The price over the regular DB4 was £ 1,500; compared to the factory DB4 GT, the Zagato was £ 600 more expensive.
The sales did not meet Aston Martin's expectations. The very expensive GT Zagato was reluctant to sell. The last vehicles were sold from the factory at a discount in 1962.
Today the DB4 GT Zagato is one of the classics in demand. In 2010 a copy was sold for 1.2 million euros; five years later, a model sold for £ 14.3 million at auction in New York.
The DB4 GT Zagato Sanction II
In 1988 Aston Martin decided to build four more models with the previously unused serial numbers 0192, 0196, 0197 and 0198, which corresponded almost entirely to the original. The reason for the decision was a marked boom in the classic car market in the late 1980s, which meant that millions of euros were often paid for classic automobiles.
Zagato, the creator of the bodywork and who has been back in business with the British company via the Aston Martin V8 Zagato since 1984 , approved the new building. The technical layout was almost the same as that of the original vehicle; only the electrics had been reworked, and the new build ran on slightly smaller tires; after all, the engines were noticeably more powerful thanks to different carburettors.
Aston Martin had a total of six chassis based on the DB4 GT model manufactured in a special company in Great Britain. Four of them were transported to Italy, where they were dressed in the private workshop of the former Zagato employee who had made the bodies for the original vehicles in the early 1960s. An original DB4 GT Zagato was sent along and dismantled there to familiarize the staff there with the design features of the 1960s. Ultimately, the vehicles received the finishing touches at Aston Martin.
The completion of the vehicles took a long time; The cars weren't ready until 1991. Aston Martin did not have to worry about sales: the four Sanction II models had already been sold in 1988 - within 15 minutes of the announcement of the production decision. They each achieved a price equivalent to 1.2 million euros .
The DB4 GT Zagato Sanction III
In parallel to the four Sanction II models, two more bodies were built in Italy, which - together with the surplus chassis - were initially intended as part carriers . In fact, there was no need for spare parts, so in 1996 Aston Martin decided to use these parts to complete two more vehicles. The cars were completed in a short period of time and are repeatedly referred to as "Sanction III" in British literature.
The Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato in motorsport
Several DB4 GT Zagato were used in motorsport in the early 1960s.
The British Essex Racing Stable team entered two vehicles for the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1961 . One car was driven by Australians Lex Davison and Bib Stillwell; the second was driven by Jack Fairman and Bernard Consten . Both cars broke down after two and a half hours due to defective cylinder head gaskets: a mechanic had not tightened the cylinder heads correctly beforehand. A third DB4 GT Zagato was privately registered by Jean Kerguen and Jacques Dewez . The French completed 286 laps before retiring for technical reasons. In 1962 two DB4 GT Zagato appeared at Le Mans; but they didn't finish.
Essex also registered the two GT Zagato for the RAC Tourist Trophy in Goodwood in 1961 and 1962 . The drivers were Roy Salvadori and Jim Clark . In 1961 both Aston Martin crossed the finish line behind the technically superior Ferrari works cars; In 1962 they were canceled prematurely, one car for technical reasons and Clark's car after a driving error.
literature
- Christopher Balfour: Bristol Cars. A very British story . Haynes Publishing, 2009, ISBN 978-1-84425-407-1 .
- Tony Dron: Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato . In: Octane Classic & Performance Cars , issue 10/2013, p. 74 ff.
- NN: Bristol Fashion . Presentation and driving report of the Bristol 406 Zagato with reference to the relationships between the Bristol 406 Zagato and the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato. In: Classiccars , issue 9/2001, p. 104 ff.
- Andrew Noakes: Aston Martin fascination . Parragon Publishing, 2006, ISBN 978-1-4054-7900-4 .
- Michael Schäfer: Italian Dressing . Presentation of the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato. In: Oldtimer Markt , issue 11/2010, p. 152 ff.
Web links
- DB4 GT / DB4 GT Zagato on astonmartin.com (English)
- DB4 GT Zagato on supercars.net (English)
- Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato - Photos and description on click-supercars.com (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Tony Dron: Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato . In: Octane Classic & Performance Cars , issue 10/2013, p. 74; Frank B. Meyer: 100 masterpieces . In: Auto Bild Klassik , issue 12/2017, p. 42 (here an international jury chose “the most beautiful cars of all time”; the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato took 13th place out of 100 finalists).
- ↑ Schäfer: Oldtimer Markt , issue 11/2010, p. 154 ff.
- ↑ a b Tony Dron: Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato . In: Octane Classic & Performance Cars , issue 10/2013, p. 76.
- ↑ Schäfer: Oldtimer Markt , issue 11/2010, p. 156.
- ^ Balfour: Bristol. A very British story . Pp. 249, 397.
- ↑ Schäfer: Oldtimer Markt , issue 11/2010, pp. 154, 156 (there with a picture of a false Bristol).
- ↑ Schäfer: Oldtimer Markt , issue 11/2010, p. 157.
- ^ Schäfer: Oldtimer Markt , issue 11/2010, p. 155.
- ^ New York - Driven By Disruption. rmsothebys.com, December 10, 2015, accessed March 22, 2016 .
- ↑ Schäfer: Oldtimer Markt , issue 11/2010, p. 157.
Current models: DB5 | DB11 | DBS GT Zagato | DBS Superleggera | DBX | Rapide | Vantage | V12 Speedster
Future models: Valkyrie | Valhalla
Historical models: Bulldog | Cygnet | DB1 | DB2 | DB2 / 4 | DB4 | DB4 GT Zagato | DB5 | DB6 | DB7 | DB9 | DB10 | DBS (1967) | DBS (2007) | Lagonda | Lagonda Rapide | Lagonda Taraf | One-77 | V8 (1972) | V8 Vantage (1977) | V8 (1996) | V8 Zagato | V12 Vanquish | V12 Zagato | Vanquish | Vanquish Zagato | Vantage (1972) | Vantage (2005) | Virage (1989) | Virage (2011)
Motorsport: DBR1 | DBR2 | DB3 | DBR4 | DBR5 | DBR9 | DBRS9 | Vulcan | Lola-Aston Martin LMP1