One to Buy: 397 mile 1 of 1 in Gladiator Red / Parchment 1987 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Zagato
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Having seen how quickly Ferrari shifted over 200 examples of its premium priced 288 GTO, Aston Martin decided to get in on the act with their own low volume special: a short wheelbase Zagato-bodied version of the V8 Vantage tuned to V580X trim.
Unsurprisingly, the limited run of 50 customer cars sold out even before the first prototype had emerged and, over a two-and-a-half year period following the late 1987 Stock Market crash, speculators hyped prices up to extraordinary levels. As the market peaked during mid 1990, some examples of the Zagato-bodied V8 Vantage had traded hands for in excess of $800,000 or £500,000 which represented a mark up of over 500%.
With cars like the V8 Vantage Zagato having become the latest high-yielding asset class, it was unsurprising that quite a few covered tiny mileages in the years that followed. Even today, the odd almost delivery mileage example will occasionally emerge.
Currently, just such a machine can be found at the Dylan Miles showroom in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, where chassis 20049 resides with just 397 miles recorded on the odometer.
Uniquely configured in Gladiator Red with Parchment leather upholstery (the other Gladiator Red cars all had either Tan, Magnolia or Black leather), chassis 20049 also received a desirable manual transmission. The car was collected from Newport Pagnell by the Stratton Motor Company on November 12th 1987.
Stratton then sold it to a Mr Saunderson, who never took delivery, and during subsequent changes of ownership the car never left Stratton’s storage facility. 20049 was eventually registered as a new car in January 1990 following its sale to one Michael Fleming.
Having been professionally stored for its entire life, chassis 20049 effectively remains in as-new condition.For more information visit the Dylan Miles website at: https://dylan-miles.com/
