By Robert Emslie
Nick Cage may have been jonesing for a Mustang, but me, I like the cars that could be considered British Mustangs. You know them as Aston Martins. My favorite – and the car that I’d consider to be my Eleanor – is the DB4 GT. See that red Zagato Berlinetta version up there? It belongs to my friends Jerry and Dana Rosenstock, and its mixture of Italian sexiness and British muscle makes for a car, that, the driving of which, is equatable to doing body shots at Coyote Ugly.
The standard DB4 arrived on the scene in 1958, and brought with it a Tadek Mereck-designed 3,670-cc Twin-cam six out of which Aston Martin wrung 240-bhp. Backing that up was a proprietary 4-speed gearbox, and the car could top 140 mph. A proper GT body, designed by Touring, wrapped the mechanicals in hand-beaten aluminum and chromium trim.
Out of the 1040 DB4s built, only 75 were the shorter wheelbase GT, and only 19 of those were the achingly beautiful Zagato. These cars, in addition to being lighter, boasted triple 45DCOEs and dual distributors for 302 -315 bhp over the course of the production run.
James Bond drove a DB5, and his car could have benefitted from the GT’s extra push, as Q had loaded it down with all kinds spy gadget weight-gain. Me, I prefer to escape the baddies by blowing their freakin’ doors off.
Driving a DB4 GT is unlike that of the contemporary, and some might think equatable, Jaguar E-Type. While the Coventry car exhibits a lightness and almost quivering dartability at speed, the Newport Pagnell-built machines require a heavier hand, and some might consider them almost truck-like in comparison. That’s not really the case, the DBs simply require a firm hand and a good set of biceps to master.
As these cars are rarer than los dientes de gallina I think I will be hard pressed ever to be lucky enough to have one take up residence in my garage, but I’ve been fortunate to have been associated with people of means and taste, and have experienced these marvelous machines enough to know that I just might want to steal one someday.
Image sources: [sportscardigest, conceptcarz]
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Mr. Jim Clark driving your dream car at the 1962 RAC Tourist Trophy Race at Goodwood.
Scrogg, your search engine must be a supercharged Google.
My Google-fu is powerful. That it true. And, choosing to use this power for good, I amassed a (not so) secret stash of vintage motorsports photos at Flickr.
^ ^ ^ ^ How does this guy do it? Scroggz, you never disappoint!
What a fine selection! Gotta love classic Aston Martins.
This beauty recently sold at RM Arizona for a hefty sum
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” target=”_blank”>http://www.rmauctions.com/CarDetails.cfm?SaleCode=AZ10&CarID=r530&Currency=
That car is so sweet, I almost missed the beauty in the background.
You are the purveyor of good taste my good man!
Mr. Robber, if anyone ever accuses you of having poor taste in cars, I will punch them in the neck. Excellent choice, and definitely lust worthy.
Graverobber wrote this article wearing a Tux methinks.
"James Bond drove a DB5, and his car could have benefitted from the GT’s extra push, as Q had loaded it down with all kinds spy gadget weight-gain. Me, I prefer to escape the baddies by blowing their freakin’ doors off."
Yeah Buddy!
That's funny, mine doesn't weigh all that much. Of course, it's a Corgi toy, one I've had since I was a kid. Hey, an English car that's never given me a git or trouble. Launching the little bad guy in the ejection seat across the room into oblivion (probably the dog ate it) was my fault.
My late great aunt's ex had a DB4 GT, and my dad got to ride in it out to the races at Riverside once. Love the lines of the DB4/5.