Page 145 - Bespoke Issue

Launchedin1947DB2wasthe rstAstonMartin to carry the now famous DB nameplate, and it impressed as it took 2nd and 3rd in its class
at Le Mans in 1951. By nurturing Aston Martin’s talents for blending performance on the track with luxury comfort, elegant design and dedicated craftsmanship, each new car edged the company further into the limelight. The race bred DB3 and DB3S were followed by the exquisite DB4 and its high performance sibling the DB4GT, before the now historic collaboration with Zagato produced the DB4GT Zagato.
Aston Martin have launched a quartet of Zagatos. One of the most enduring and creative partnerships in the automotive industry reached another milestone with the debut of the Vanquish Zagato Volante, followed by a Coupe, Speedster and Shooting Brake. This family of four Vanquish Zagato models will total three hundred and twenty ve cars. As the rst member of the family, production of the Vanquish Zagato Coupe started in late 2016. The next to enter production was the Vanquish Zagato Volante, once again strictly limited to ninety nine cars (all of which have been sold). Of the two remaining models the Vanquish Zagato Speedster is the rarest of them all, with a production run of just 28 cars. As you would expect from one of the most collectable and covetable Aston Martins ever, all of the Speedsters have been sold.
All the cars are based on the Vanquish S, which means the Zagato Speedster enjoys the combination of a 600ps naturally aspirated V12 engine mated to the smooth, slick shifting touch tronic III transmission. Along with adaptive damping which has been tuned to suit the Speedster. All this promises exceptional driving that is every bit as stimulating and memorable as their Zagato design.
The Speedster represents the extreme of the Vanquish Zagato family. With its uncompromising roo ess design that expresses the raw excitement of an open-topped ultra-high performance two seater sports car. The boldest aspect of the Speedster’s design is the Speed Humps that rise up to form streamlined cowls that ow back from the seats, representing Zagato’s signature ‘Double-Bubble’ roof. All of the body panels are made from carbon bre (like all the cars in the Vanquish Zagato family). While shared details, such as the Aston Martin Vulcan-inspired ‘Blade’ tail lights and the repeated 3D Zagato ’Z’ motifs in the front grille and the rear vent meshes, create an unbroken stylistic thread that connects the otherwise individual creations.
Aston Martin CCO, Merek Reichman said of the Vanquish Zagato family, “We haven’t released Zagato models as a family before, at least not in this way, but the idea is not without precedent. Think back to the DB7 Zagato and DB AR1, or the V8 Zagato Coupe and Volante for example. We’ve simply taken things a few steps further. Why create a family of Zagatos? Well, many of our customers want different things.”
“Some prefer the purity of the Coupe, but others love the idea of something more extreme, like the Speedster. And yes, some of them have ordered one example of each. There is always an over demand from our clients and patrons. We could easily ful l demand for more cars than this, but we want Zagato to remain something very special. We’re creating collectables, future concourse cars.
With only three hundred and twenty ve cars worldwide, divided between 99 coupes, 99 Volantes, 28 Speedsters and 99 Shooting Breaks - they are still the rarest of the rare”.
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