Beschreibung:

The DB4 GT is, with the exception of the Zagato, arguably the most sought after of the David Brown Aston Martin road cars, only 75 were built between 1959 and 1963. The GT was, of course, a high performance development of the DB4 sports car that had debuted at the London Motor Show in 1958. The new car’s competition potential had been recognized from the outset, and the factory lost no time in developing a lightweight version suitable for racing, the resulting DB4 GT debuting at the 1959 London Motor Show. The model had already been proven in competition earlier that year when the prototype (‘DP/199’) driven by Stirling Moss won its first race at Silverstone. Extensive modifications to the standard car took 5” out of the wheelbase and replaced the rear seats with a luggage platform on all but a small number of cars. Together with lighter, 18-gauge bodywork, these changes reduced the weight by around 200lb (91kg). The GT used a tuned engine which, equipped with a twin-plug cylinder head and triple Weber 45DCOE carburettors, produced a claimed 302bhp at 6,000rpm, a useful increase over the standard car’s 240bhp. Maximum speed, of course, depended on overall gearing, but 153mph was achieved during testing with a 0-60mph time of 6.1 seconds recorded. The DB4 GT was also one of the first cars to go from standstill to 100mph and then brake to a dead stop on under 20 seconds, a tribute, in part, to its up-rated Girling brakes as used on Aston Martin’s competition sports racers of the era. There was a choice of five rear axle ratios and a Power Lok limited slip differential, an option on the DB4, was standardized. Viewed from the front, the GT was readily distinguishable by its faired-in headlamps with Perspex covers, foreshadowing those of the DB4 Vantage of 1961 and the later DB5. The rear screen and quarter windows also were made of Perspex on many examples; bumper over-riders were deleted and the wind-down windows were frame-less within the doors. Twin, quick-release, Monza competition fuel fillers were added atop the rear wings, leading to a 30-gallon fuel tank mounted flat in the boot, which it shared with the spare wheel. GTs were fitted as standard with lightweight Borrani 42-spoke wire wheels with alloy rims and three-eared ‘knock-offs’. The interior was trimmed to full Aston Martin road car specification, with fine Connolly leather upholstery and deep-pile Wilton carpeting. The evocative instrument binnacle on the GT benefited from the addition of an oil temperature gauge to the standard array. DB4GTs offered a strong challenge to the prevailing Ferrari dominance in GT racing, examples entered by the works and John Ogier’s Essex Racing Stable enjoying numerous victories. Driven by the likes of Roy Salvadori, Stirling Moss, Jim Clark and Innes Ireland, the DB4GT earned its stripes every day on the racing circuit. In December 1959, at the Bahamas Speed Week, Stirling Moss won driving a standard customer DB4GT ‘borrowed’ back by the works following the demise of Moss’s intended DBR2! The DB4GT was indeed a true dual-purpose car, equally at ease on both the circuit and Grand Tour. ‘0156’ was completed by the works in the first week of January 1961, as copies of its original build sheet testify, they note that it was fitted from new with engine 370/0142/GT and gearbox ‘401’, as it still retains today. When new it was liveried in Snow Shadow Grey with red Connolly leather interior. Within the first month the car was serviced and tested before being shipped with 918 ‘running in’ miles on the clock, to its first owner, Dr. Michael J.R. Dawes of Brookline, Massachusetts, through New York City Aston Martin Agent J.S. Inskip. An early note on the service records states ‘made contact with owner at Sebring’ – suggesting he was an active enthusiast, though it is not known whether or when he may have campaigned this car in America. The meeting precipitated a replacement crown wheel and pinion in May that year, which is noted on the records