Sensational DB4 GT Continuation for sale
Aston made only 25 Continuations, and just two are road registered - best get planning your next getaway...
The popularity of rejuvenating (or entirely resurrecting) old cars with modern technology shows no signs of slowing down. Whether as a private project or limited production run, the appeal is plain to see: the romance, glamour and intimacy of a classic, with the dependability and durability of a contemporary machine. Look at the new Lola T70s for evidence of how cool - and how relevant - a continuation car can be. Its new production methods point towards a more sustainable future for such machines, while also evoking a glorious era in a way something ground up could never.
As the new car market looks trickier and trickier - at least when production numbers exceed double digits and prices are less than seven figures - don’t be surprised if more classics from the legacy brands are resurfaced one way or another. Jaguar has already created E-Type, D-Type and XKSS Continuations; another would surely be a crowd pleaser if the new GT falters. You wouldn’t put another past Aston Martin, either, given its current predicament and the sublime back catalogue.
The DB4 GT was its first (a Zagato followed), a run of 25 chassis numbers picking up where the original 75 left off in the early '60s. And it was exactly what you’d want from such a thing: totally bewitching to behold, sensationally engaging to drive, and such an accurate build that parts were interchangeable between a 1959 GT and a 2019 one. Albeit made to better tolerances, without the kink that apparently characterised all the originals and with a safer fuel storage solution. Every single Continuation DB4 was built to Lightweight spec, of which there were just seven in period, and all were eligible for historic competition.
This one, even by those exalted standards, is extra special. It’s a UK-spec right-hand drive car - the first customer example, in fact - and previously sold by Aston Martin Works. Better still, chassis 0227/R has been road registered; you might remember that R-Reforged launched a programme in 2020 to convert them, and this is said to be one of only two such cars in the UK.
Yet despite being opened up to public highway use, this GT still only covered 261 miles. Clearly it’s going to be pretty hard work, without power steering and with harnesses, but talk about an event on every kind of road. Every detail, from the hand-painted cut-off sign to the wood-rimmed wheel, is absolutely perfect. The short wheelbase and motorsport addenda of a GT lend it an attitude missing from a regular DB4.
The really committed could even drive a Continuation to a competitive meeting, just like the good old days. There’s really not much else that can rival that sort of experience. Best hope for good prize money, though - it’s hard to imagine this is any less than the £1.5m originally asked by Aston Martin…
Smashing car
Smashing car
Smashing car
I’m saying that in the photos the rear wing appears to be a different shade. HTH.
Obviously it's the same moan I and many others have about cars like this, but in 260 miles can you really enjoy a car? Depending on how long those drives were that's a good chance it's spent a fair portion of that mileage with the engine not even warm.
Though having had a tour around a nice purple later DB4 that had GT bits, a Vantage engine and was a 4/5 mix & had plenty of miles (owner at that time had owned it for decades & used it a lot) I think I'd rather that that a new replica with no history or interesting quirks.
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