Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato Continuation: production starts on classic racer

Image 1 of 14

Car enthusiasts who’ve always dreamed of owning one of the 19 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagatos made in the 1960s are in luck as the British marque has restarted production of the racing-inspired classic.

Built to celebrate the company’s 60-year partnership with the Italian design atelier Zagato, the new DB4 GTs will be assembled at the company’s Newport Pagnell facility in Buckinghamshire. The specifications will be almost identical to those of the original model.

The Continuation will have the same tubular chassis construction as the original model, which was built in the early-to-mid 60s to rival Ferrari’s 250 GTO racing car. The structure is incredibly light, but the car is unlikely to pass any of today’s strict safety tests.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

There’s no sign of any modern materials, such as carbon fibre, on the car. Instead, the bodywork is made by bolting on “thin-gauge” aluminium panels, says Auto Express. The panels are made using a combination of original tooling and modern day technology. The car’s “hand-beaten body” can be directly compared to a digital scan of the Zagatos of the 1960s.

The Continuation model’s motor is a 380bhp six-cylinder motor designed by Tadek Marek, the engineer behind Aston Martin’s historic engines. Power is sent to the rear wheels through a four-speed manual gearbox and a limited-slip differential, which improves traction.

The Continuation, however, cannot be legally driven on the road. That’s because it’s made in 2019 and is therefore subject to the same emissions and safety tests as other models launching this year.

Just 19 of these cars will be built. Buyers prepared to pay £6m to take one home will also get a roadworthy modern-day version of the Continuation based on Aston Martin’s DBS Superleggera.

Details of the DBS Zagato are scarce but design sketches released by the British firm suggest the supercar will feature the iconic “double-bubble” roof of previous Zagato models as well as the “short tail” design, says Autocar.

The Zagato pair’s price is set at £6m but that’s before taxes. Drivers hoping to pay less, perhaps by just buying the Continuation, will be sorely disappointed. You cannot buy one without the other.

But you could say it’s a bargain compared to the price of an original Zagato. An example of the DB4 GT Zagato, nicknamed “2 VEV” after its number plate, sold for £10,081,500 at the Bonhams Goodwood sale last July.