If recent Zagato restylings of Aston Martin cars have been said to be too close to the original designs, the V8 Vantage Zagato of the late 1980s did not have this issue. In fact, it was barely recognizable as an Aston Martin at all — the Italian carrozzeria dramatically reworked Aston's wedge-shaped coupe. But none of them made it to our shores, despite the V8 Vantage Zagato having been the most productive collaboration between Aston Martin and Zagato in years.
In a couple of weeks bidders will have the opportunity to purchase one of these rare coupes at RM Sotheby's Villa Erba auction in Italy, as Zagato's centenary year sees rare examples emerge from the world's top collections.
The Aston Martin V8 had already been on the market for almost a decade when the automaker and the Italian styling house collaborated on a limited run of coupes and cabrios. Powered by a 430-hp V8 engine, the model enjoyed a relatively quiet tenure between appearances in James Bond films — the supercar bubble of the 1980s largely caught the automaker asleep at the wheel, as most of its designs were quite dated by the middle of the decade. The project itself kicked off by accident: Zagato and Aston Martin had neighboring booths at the 1984 Geneva motor show, and soon decided to renew the relationship that had not produced any cars since the DB4GT Zagato.
Two years later, the fruit of this partnership debuted at the same motor show, powered by a 5.3-liter four-cam V8 and wearing a futuristic and aerodynamic skin. This was much more than a reskin as Zagato shortened the wheelbase and cut quite a lot of weight out of the V8 model — Zagato's version was 10 percent lighter, having ditched the rear seats, among other items.
A total of 52 coupes and 37 cabriolets were produced — the cabrios arrived a year later and stayed in production until 1990 — making the V8 Vantage Zagato one of the most exclusive British sports cars of the decade. Its design was controversial at the time, but understated when compared to the Lagonda sedan that was still in production. And if anything, it previewed the look of the Virage that debuted in 1988, adopting a slightly larger footprint but a very similar profile.
The car that RM Sotheby's will offer at the end of May is one of just 14 left-hand drive examples out of a total run of 52 coupes, and is finished in a visually quiet Javelin Grey color. This example reportedly "underwent a recent recommissioning" in November of last year, perhaps needed due to infrequent exercise, and now shows 15,500 kilometers or 9,631 miles on the clock.
The mileage is about average as far as these cars go — we've yet to see a really high-mileage example — and given the fact that all of these live in collections the report of recommissiong is hardly surprising.
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