Aston Martin DB9 Zagato Centennial marks anniversary

And they're stunning. Rather like the progeny of Brad and Angelina, you couldn't expect offspring from Zagato and Aston to be anything less. For the famed Italian design house Zagato, intimately linked with Aston Martin for over half a century, it’s only natural to mark the centenary this year of the historic British automaker, and what better way than to roll out a new Aston Martin Zagato creation.

We can confirm that Zagato will build two examples of a new Aston Martin centenary special, one based on the 2013 DB9 Volante convertible and destined for a customer in the U.S. and the other on a 2013 DBS coupe.

The DB9 Spyder Zagato Centennial was conceived for American car collector Peter Read, a longtime enthusiast and collector of Aston Martins. The DBS Coupe Zagato Centennial, meanwhile, was developed for a young entrepreneur based in Japan.

Their designs draw inspiration from 2002’s DB7 Zagato, which proved so popular that all 99 examples allotted for sale were snapped up before the car had even made its debut at the Paris Auto Show of that same year. The same team responsible for the DB7 Zagato, led by Andrea and Marella Zagato together with Read, also worked on the latest centenary special.

Looking at the renderings, it’s hard to recognise the modern Astons underpinning the cars but there’s no missing the signature of elements of both Zagato and Aston Martin. The double-bubble roof, clean surfaces and squared-off tail all scream Zagato while the grille, fender vents and fastback body tell you you’re looking at an Aston Martin well before the winged badge comes into view.

You’ll also notice that there are clear influences from the V8 Zagato of the 1980s, particularly at the front of the cars. The design team’s vision is best expressed by Read, who said, “the DB9 Spyder Zagato Centennial perfectly merges Aston Martin and Zagato’s DNA by combining the elegance of design, typical of Zagato, with the soul, power and prestige of Aston Martin, all developed over the last 100 years."

No changes were made to the mechanical package of either car, so they both come with Aston Martin’s venerable 6.0 litre V12, good for 380kW. Zagato has been called upon by Aston Martin to develop special bodies for its cars for more than half a century, with the partnership starting with the legendary DB4GT Zagato first shown in 1960. The cars, though expensive, have always been stunning and as history has shown they’ve all become highly sought-after collectibles.

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