special bodied aston martins

Aston Martin by Bertone, 2013. Credit Bonhams Auction.

By Wallace Wyss

Sometimes it’s the odd one that appreciates the most…

At one time, race cars were fetching a lot more at the major auctions than car show one-offs. The idea was that if you buy a race car, if you’re lucky you get one with history. You buy a show car, a one-off what do you get? A momentary bauble. A flavor of the moment as it were. Designs that came and went, mostly forgotten.

Well this 1960Aston Martin DB4 GT Bertone Jet coupe, chassis 0201L, Engine no. 370/-201/GT was sold at a May, 2013 Bonhams auction for the top dollar sum of 3,249,500 GBP ($4,928,697 USD) which is more than some Aston Martin DB4GT race cars go for even with some racing history.

There is a reason for this. This particular car was the last DB4 GT chassis—and the last of any series is worth more than the ones in the middle.

First a little bit about the Aston Martin DB4 GT as a model. “DB” means “David Brown” by the way, he being the owner of Aston after WWII. The DB4GT was introduced as the competition version of the DB4 sports saloon. First launched in in 1958, the Aston Martin DB4 was a direct challenge to Ferrari. It had an all new steel platform chassis with disc brakes all round, and a race-developed twin-cam six-cylinder 3.7-litre engine, all clothed in a perfectly proportioned aluminum body designed by Touring Superleggera of Milan.

Press release photo of the Giugiaro Aston.