Those with good memories might remember an incredible collection of Aston Martins being sold by Nicholas Mee on PH. Back in 2021 it offered up a trio of DB5s - a Silver Birch Vantage, a Caribbean Blue Pearl Volante and a stunning Shooting Brake - for £4m. What an addition to any collection they would have made. Now it’s at it again, the Aston specialist listing for sale a DBZ Centenary Collection. For a little less than the DB5s, too.
A quick refresher of the DBZ duo, because five years is a long time in any context - and right now 2019 may as well be a two hundred years ago. The Centenary Collection launched in Zagato’s 100th year, the idea being to celebrate Aston’s enduring relationship with the Milanese coachbuilder. So the collection - customers had to buy both cars together - was a DB4 GT Continuation and a DBS GT Zagato. For £6.1m plus local taxes. Just 19 couples were produced.
You can read what the DB4 was like here (hint: wonderful); if anything it’s the DBS that makes for the more intriguing car now because little was known about it. The resurrection of perhaps the most famous Aston-Zagato collaboration (and one of the most beautiful cars ever) in the old DB inevitably hogged a lot of the headlines, especially as a few people got to drive it. The mystery of the DBS makes it really intriguing.
Based on the Superleggera, it not only had more power than standard (at 770hp) but would also have been lighter thanks to an all-new carbon body. Including, of course, the double-bubble roof. There was active aero at the front, too, plus a redone (if recognisable) Zagato-spec interior. Today the GTZ is described as ‘the modern zenith of the classic Zagato recipe’, which it feels hard to contest. Remember just 19 were (and will be) ever made - compare that to 150 Valkyries…
So the chance to acquire one of the Zagato pairs is a huge opportunity for Aston collectors of the world. There were very few, and neither car was ever sold individually. The Collection offered up by Nicholas Mee is in the US at the moment and registered over there; both DB4 and DBS are left-hand drive, finished in Caribbean Pearl (just like that old DB5 Volante) over Dark Blue interiors. Both are said to have covered ‘nominal’ mileage since 2019, and have been professionally stored for the only owner since purchase. Good as new, basically.
And with a discount of sorts, too. This must be the first time that almost £4m has represented a saving, but at £3.75m (presumably excluding any transport costs) the asking price is a fair bit less than the original six-mil outlay. Good things come to those who wait, as the saying goes. At any rate, it's unlikely another Centenary Collection will be available any time soon. So for all the Aston collectors out there, if not now, when? And for everyone else, this Saturday’s rollover is just in time - it leaves another £3.5m spare for somewhere nice to keep them…
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