In one of our less perceptive moments, PH yesterday reported on two separate Aston Martins testing while suggesting it was just one. The Zagato Speedster - as seen here without a roof - is expected as a concept at Monterey. The Volante is the car with the roof that we knew about beforehand and should reach customers soon. And as we should have identified by the cars having steering wheels on different sides... Apologies! MB
ORIGINAL STORY, AS REPORTED 25/07/2017:
The Nurburgring climate holds no mercy! If you've been to the Nordschleife you'll know that it always rains at some point, typically when you're least expecting it. And as proved by Aston Martin here, with this Vanquish Zagato Volante prototype; don't worry about the leather, pre-production cars get crushed...
Volante has a roof, Speedster seemingly not
This car follows on from last year's
Vanquish Zagato coupe
and joins an exclusive list of drop-top Aston Zagatos: the DB AR1, the
V8 Zagato
Volante of the 80s and the previous-gen Vanquish Roadster Zagato are the only three we know of.
It's also, rather interestingly, even more dramatic than the concept seen at Pebble Beach last year. Note here the more the more pronounced double bubble rear haunches, a spoiler we haven't seen before and what seems to be even more gold. Perhaps it just shines brighter in a dank Nurburg summer.
Beyond that the details are as we saw last year, with Vulcan inspired lights, new bumpers, a wider grille and more prominent rear diffuser. You're not going to miss it, basically, even in the rain and even in matt black.
After the debut of the concept at Pebble Beach in 2016, a debut of the production version is expected in California later this summer. We'd be stunned if any of the 99 are still for sale, so expect the Zagato to take its fair share of attention on the immaculately mowed lawns of Monterey.