Stand down, parade of glittering vintage Ferraris: One British gent is tired of living in your shadow. This gorgeous 1962 Aston Martin DB4 Zagato is expected to bring no less than $16 million when it goes up for auction at Sotheby’s in New York on Dec. 10. Scroll through the photos and that will begin to seem a lowball.
With only 19 Zagato-bodied DB4s ever built, the DB4 GT is widely considered a competitor—in both looks and performance—to the legendary Ferrari 250 GTO, of which there are a comparatively copious 39 known examples. This car, number 14, will be auctioned alongside other automotive icons—a 1954 Siata, a 1953 Ferrari 250 Europa, a 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Atalante—whose paltry seven-figure prices will pale against the Zagato’s eight.
Chassis number DB4GT/0186/R is the right car to bear the title of Britain’s most valuable. According to RM Sotheby’s, after spending most of its life in sunny Australia, the car was bought by a British collector who had the car completely restored by Aston specialist Richard Williams and Zagato’s own shop in Italy. When it debuted anew in 2002, it won first-in-class prizes at the Pebble Beach Concours and Villa d’Este. Look with your own eyes—the DB4 GT Zagato is a perfect car, prepared perfectly.
Sold in 1961, this DB4 GT used its walloping 300-horsepower, triple-carbureted straight-six to win the South Pacific GT Championship the following year. These days, it motors onto and off of podia. We remain unsure which is the patron saint of Aston Martins, but we’re praying that whatever deep-pocketed plutocrat buys this glorious piece of British motoring history takes it—gasp—for a drive every once in awhile.
The DB4 GT Zagato will be on view in Manhattan with other lots in RM Sotheby’s “Driven to Disruption” sale starting Dec. 5.
