Aston Martin Vantage Zagato (1986)

Only have one.

 

I love these cars. There's a good site here..

http://v8vantage.com/vantage.htm

Follow V8 for the zagato registry and lots of pictures.

Cheers
Simon

 

Everyone has a right to their opinion. Maybe I am just young, but I cannot stand almost any cars (excluding Ferrari) that were made in the 80's, they're all ugly to me. Ferrari seems to be the only company that stuck to their roots and built gorgeous cars while everyone else built crap.

 

I agree. That car is angular and unappealing. I don't see any beauty in it at all. It's one of the few Astons I don't like. The front looks buck-toothed with the overly large lights, the chopped grille does not look elegant and the sides are slabby. There is too much glass, making it look like a tall greenhouse. And all the straight lines and flat panels are very dull and unimaginative. It looks like someone started with a basic car shape and slapped lights and fascia on, lego-style. The stance is also very regular, not the broad-shouldered, squat look that makes current Astons so gorgeous. It is also does not appear to be lithe and light ...some volvo station wagons look sleeker.

A while ago there was an interview in Classic Car Magazine with another designer (not sure if it was Peter Stevens) who had also submitted designs for the Vantage. His drawings were a million times better. The winning design (Zagato's) did not even conform to the design brief, but (according to the article) Zagato's reputation and some back-door politics won them the contract.

I am with you 100% on this, Ferrari 03248. The market was not fooled, either. Aston only sold 70-odd units of these butt-ugly cars.

 

As I understood it there was no contract to be won here. The AMV8 Zagato was something dreamed up by Victor Gauntlett and Mr Zagato to boost sales in the 80's. It was always going to be Zagato.

It could have been a total failure but almost by chance they ended up with an amazing motor car. When it came out in '86 it was, I believe, the fastest production car available. 189mph and sub 5 seconds to 60. The CD was 0.28. Then came the F40 and 959. The styling is a matter of taste I grant you, but I was 17 when I first saw one and fell in love immediately. And its loud...no cats, still carb'ed. I'm also a big fan of the ES30 Alfa Romeo, voted ugliest car ever a few years ago by some magazine.

BTW don't mix up the coupe and the convertible...they are not the same car under the skin...the coupe is a very fast beast, the conv. was fuel injected and lost about 100hp although there are a few conv. with tweaked engines arouund.

Cheers
Simon


Re. production numbers, it was only going to be limited to 50 cars...the coupes...then they added 27 or so convertibles.

 

I am very sure there was a contract to be won. Three deisgners were asked to submit their interpretation of a design brief. The winning design was dreamed up by Zagato in response to a request by Aston. And it actually did not conform to all of Aston's requirements. The article that I am referring to had pictures of all three designers' drawings, and a detailed writeup of the original requirements.

The car's performance is impressive, no doubt, although handling is not mentioned.

 

Handling was also pretty impressive I think. The basis V8 Vantage chasis was a heavy beast but still a handy car....no lotus elise mind The Zagato was considerably lighter. My girlfriend also thinks the Zagato Aston and Alfa are two of the ugliest cars she's ever seen, but I love 'em.

Cheers
Simon

 

I quite like the ES30 as well. Except from the rear.

 

Pictures of Tom P.'s car from Autosport Design:

http://exoticcarforums.myphotoalbum.com/view_photo.php?set_albumName=7-13-02&id=Aston_Martin_Zagato

http://exoticcarforums.myphotoalbum.com/view_photo.php?set_albumName=7-13-02&id=P1010002

http://exoticcarforums.myphotoalbum.com/view_photo.php?set_albumName=7-13-02&id=P1010026

http://exoticcarforums.myphotoalbum.com/view_photo.php?set_albumName=7-13-02&id=P1010030

http://exoticcarforums.myphotoalbum.com/view_photo.php?set_albumName=7-13-02&id=P1010035