British power combined with Italian beauty and craftsmanship.
Before the classy, silver screen fame Aston Martin DB5 there was the DB4. A handcrafted grand tourer, that embrace Aston Martin’s ego of comfortable road cars with the spirit of motorsport. The slightly sharpened DB4 GT with a shorter more agile chassis, reduced weight by 85kg, and engine upgrade made it a success on the track. That’s only the start.
In 1960, Italian coachbuilder Zagato got their hands on the racing DB4 and made it better starting with what they know best, bodywork. Zagato redesigned and handcrafted a new curvier, more elegant aluminum body that was more aerodynamic and lighter than the original fintailed DB4. Thanks to the new body, an additional 45kg was shaved from the DB4 GT and an incredible 129kg lighter than a standard DB4. But Zagato didn’t stop there, Zagato also tinkered with the engine’s compression ratio which brought the power from 302hp in the DB4 GT up to 314hp and thus the DB4 GT Zagato was born.
The Italian remade DB4 went racing up against some true Italian beauties like the Ferrari 250 GTOs. Imagine being back in that glorious time seeing these two go wheel to wheel and going sideways through corners with the skinny cross ply tires desperate for grip that once in awhile led to more than just trading paint. As F1 legend Jim Clark demonstrated.
Can you imagine this happening today at the Goodwood Revival. The thought of the repair cost makes my heart skip a beat.
25 Zagato enhanced DB4 GTs were originally planned but due to lack of demand only 19 were built and to this day is considered as one of the most desirable Aston Martin ever made.
This is a gorgeous cast by HW in 1/64, I wonder why HW haven’t used this cast after just 3 releases in the Cool Classics and part of a Walmart exclusive set shown here. They’re on good terms with Aston Martin as evident with the recent James Bond DB5 re-release but the Zagato part could be the hurdle that prevented them from reusing it.
For years, I’ve been searching for this cast and been on the top of my wish list but constantly fail to acquire it. I even missed out on our buddy Sn210’s recent sale with the elusive car as one of them in the lot. And so, with a decent tax return this year, I decided to treat myself at the same time make a personal leap of purchasing a diecast from… The Evilbay!!! *gasp* With all the dreadful stories of scalpers on Ebay, I stay away as far as possible and prefer doing trades or buy from the community I trust. This marked as my first time buying from Ebay and I’m glad to report I return without sacrificing any of my limbs (or any body parts). The price was beyond reasonable being within the single digit while most I’ve seen going for more than double the price without sporting the classy wire spoke wheels wrapped in Real Riders that made its debut with this cast which IMO fill the wheel well gap much better compared to the plastic wheels.
I’m glad I finally added this car to my collection.