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Aston Martin V8 Vantage Zagato (1986 - 1988) |
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The Italian coachbuilder created one of the greatest and truly most beautiful cars of all time with the DB4GT Zagato back in 1960. They say that lightning doesn't strike the same place twice. But the lightning bolt that is Zagato, struck Newport Pagnell for a second time in 1986 with the brutal Vantage Zagato. Announced a year previously at the 1985 Geneva Motor Show, the eventual unveiling a year later and every one of the 50 production cars had been pre-sold to customers placing a £15,000 deposit for the £87,000 machine. The standard Vantage was at the time one of, if not the fastest cars in the world; by reducing the wheelbase, loosing the rear seats, tweaking the engine and fitting a new slippery body with flush fitting glass, the Zagato became the ultimate Aston. Unfortunately, many were not overly impressed by the final styling of the new Zagato. One of the most controversial aspects of the design was the 'power bulge' which was so necessary to house the airbox for the massive Weber 48 IDA carbs bored out to 50mm. Although a flat bonnet was originally intended with a fuel injection system underneath, this would probably not have produced sufficient power to achieve the promised 300 kph top speed. |
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| The above car was the very last constructed, chassis number 61, photographed whilst visiting the Newport Pagnell factory in 2000. The car in finished in Hunter Green with Tan leather and dashboard with walnut veneer inserts. |
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The V8 Vantage Zagato was displayed at the 1986 Geneva Motor Show where three examples were shown; one on the AML stand, one on the Zagato stand, and on top of a lakeside hotel. This car (yes there're the same one), was one of those at Geneva, chassis number 11, the second of the two pre-production prototypes. It's now finished in Aston racing green and fitted with V600 style Dymag wheels |
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The interior of the Zagato was simple and modern when compared to the standard Vantage. Some of the later cars received walnut veneers to the dashboard and other cars had a 3 spoke Nardi steering wheel in place of the two spoke leather item shown here. |
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The French blue car (left), chassis number 15 was photographed whilst being
displayed on the AML at the Birmingham Motor Show in 1986. It also featured in
the film, 'The Tall Guy' staring Rowan Atkinson and Jeff Goldblum. The dark blue metallic Zagato to the right is the same car, but 13 years later. The car now has a 7 litre R.S.Williams engine and has been converted to left hand drive. |
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The Vantage Zagato was never designed with racing in mind (unlike its contemporary, the Ferrari 288GTO). Only in more recent times during AMOC events have Zagatos actively competed. An here is one such car which has been extensively modified for the race track including a 7.0 litre R.S Williams fuel injected engine. The first photograph shows the car in road going form. The second picture, taken in the paddock during a 1999 AMOC meeting, shows the Zagato still in it's original metallic blue finish with minor racing modifications. The third photograph, taken during the 2000 season shows many changes including stripped out interior, enhanced brakes with V600 style wheels, a modified air intake in the power bulge and a change of colour to Aston Racing Green. For the 2001 season, the bonnet air intake was ditched. |
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And here is another such car, once owned and driven by the exceedingly famous comedy actor, Rowan Atkinson and prepared by Works Service at the Factory in Newport Pagnell. |
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Performance from the 432bhp engine fitted to the prototype
car was phenomenal and even now is just about the fastest production Aston of all time. The true maximum speed of 185.8mph was achieved by the French magazine Sport Auto on an
empty piece of motorway whilst the French Police were at lunch, just short of the planned 300kph. The 0 to 60mph time came up in just 4.8 seconds.
Power output of the remaining production cars was pegged at around 408 bhp with
the addition of power sapping emission equipment. But the factory service
department could uprate them for the owners.
A very good friend of mine and visitor to this site, Robert Westall, would very much like to know of any sightings, information or photos(!), however vague or incomplete of Aston Martin Vantage Zagatos or Volante Zagatos. Please E-mail robert.westall@btopenworld.com. He is very interested and will both reply to all sightings and is more than happy to answer questions. There are only 50 Production Vantage Zagatos and 37 Production Volante Zagatos, so there is a high probability that the cars you see out there are of great interest to Robert , myself and to visitors of this site |
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| Page Updated Montag August 25, 2008 |
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