Aston Martin reveals V12 Zagato Posted 2011/05/22 @ 3:00 PM By Myles Kornblatt
The wait is now over for the details on the Aston Martin-Zagato collaboration. The sports car maker has taken the wraps off the its new V12 Zagato concept.
According to Aston Martin, the company started in 2010 with the idea to build this tribute car to celebrate 50 years since it first teamed up with Zagato. The 1961 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato was born out of the need for a lighter racing version of the Astons. These altered versions of the DB4GT were not successful on the racing circuit, but all 19 examples are considered some of the most beautiful Astons ever produced. The new V12 Zagato concept pays tribute to that car by clearly being based on Aston's current design language, but with some extra aggressiveness added into the mix.
On this golden anniversary, Aston went back to the old-school way of making a car body. In a very PR friendly way, the company says, "the V12 Zagato delivers a beautiful and muscular design not possible using pre-formed panel techniques." The aluminum panels were shaped using an English wheel and beaten over traditionally crafted body bucks. This has led to the V12 Zagato concept to be created from may smaller crafted pieces that were then combined into one flowing panel. The front wing is seven individually created pieces, and Zagato's trademark double-bubble roof was created from five.
The new ultra-exclusive sportscar uses Aston's V12 Vantage as a base. This means the 510 hp 6.0-liter V12 engine will be part of the carryover from the production car (inset laugh here for mentioning of anything from Aston Martin as "production".) One piece that is exclusive to the to the V12 Zagato is the steel safety roll cage, which should help with its lineage to the racing DB4GT Zagatos.
The V12 Zagato is still just a concept with no announced production date or availability. What Aston Martin is really up to now is just biding its time to gauge interest from its exclusive (i.e. rich) customer base. Barring any catastrophes, the V12 Zagato will be hitting the streets in the next few years. The price? Well if you have to ask...
