Aston Martin and Zagato had already been collaborating since the ’50s, but in the early ’80s, the British manufacturer gave the Italian design house its most challenging task yet: Take the V8 Vantage, already one of the most powerful cars of its kind, and make something that could take on the Porsche 959 and Ferrari 288 GTO. The result was a car less aesthetically pleasing than either of those two, but just as brutally fast. Zagato’s makeover of the car was comprehensive: Its wheelbase was shrunk down, its bodywork was revised, and it was around 10% lighter than a standard Vantage.
A limited run of 50 units was planned, and all had been sold by the time the car was unveiled to the public at the 1986 Geneva Motor Show. Unlike the Ferrari and the Porsche, no effort was made to set a production car speed record, although an initial test of the prototype car saw a maximum speed of 185.52 mph, a few mph short of the 288 GTO. Perhaps this was what doomed the Aston to end up forgotten while its rivals have become icons. Either that, or it was the divisive styling. It might have been fast, but few could argue that the Vantage Zagato had an exceptionally pretty face.
Today, the Zagato is only marginally more valuable than the standard Vantage. Considering it was one of the fastest cars in the world at the time of its release, the Zagato seems criminally under-appreciated.
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