1962 Aston Martin DB4GT Berlinetta

Lionel Martin founded Aston Martin to construct competitive automobiles for private entrants like himself. Developed through a half century’ s evolution, the DB4GT Zagato combined the enthusiasm of Aston Martin’s owners, employees and clients in a glorious synthesis of concept, design, materials and assembly. It is the ultimate expression of Aston Martin’s philosophy of building high performance, responsive, beautiful automobiles for a select clientele. It cemented Aston Martin’s reputation at the pinnacle of British grand touring automobiles, at once beautiful, powerful and responsive.

One of only nineteen built and only eight left-hand drive examples, DB4GT/0190/L combines a race-winning history in the hands of Roy Salvadori with the comfort and luxury of a true granturismo.

Aston Martin commissioned Tadek Marek, who had joined Aston in 1954, to create a new six for the DB4. It was designed in iron but produced in aluminum, a lucky consequence of suppliers’ capacity which in the end complemented the lightweight coachwork of Zagato. Simultaneously Aston turned to Milanese coachbuilder Touring for the design and, particularly, Touring’s proprietary superleggera construction technique for the DB4. Touring required a platform chassis to integrate with the superleggera technique’s armature of lightweight steel tubing supporting a skin of thin aluminum panels, a departure for Aston Martin but one that would prove once again to be fortuitous in the development of the Zagato-bodied DB4GT.

Touring’s design for the DB4 derived directly from Aston Martin’s earlier GTs, with a gently curved continuous line from the front wings through the doors culminating in the rear wings and a sloped fastback roofline with large rear glass with complementary tapered quarter windows. Based on suggestions from Don Hayter, the DB4 was contemporary, shapely and embodied now-traditional features like Aston’s characteristic radiator grille and a functional bonnet air scoop. Touring added details that have become part of Aston Martin’s visual repertoire, particularly the front wing air extractor vents. A four-seater like the DB2/4 and DB Mark III before it, the DB4’s light weight and powerful 3.7 litre engine made it England’s fastest GT, a worthy counterpart to the best from its Italian and German competitors.

Simultaneously Aston Martin was busy campaigning its svelte, streamlined DB3S and DBR1 sports racers. Their design was distinct from their road counterparts, featuring tightly wrapped bodies with sensuous front and rear wings. Victorious at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1959 in the hands of Roy Salvadori and Carroll Shelby, the DBR1 finally realized David Brown’s long held goal of victory at La Sarthe, then cemented its achievement by capturing the 1959 World Sportscar Championship.

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