Rare 1-of-9 Aston Martin Convertible Sells for $2.3 Million

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Posted on 10 May 2015 by Zach Doell

 

 

Two million dollars can buy you a lot of things, this 1962 Aston Martin DB4 is however not one of them. That’s because this car – a rare Series IV Vantage Convertible – rolled across the Bonhams auction block at Aston Martin’s own factory on Saturday and fetched an incredible $2.3 million final bid. 

 

But there’s more to a car than simply its price tag, and for the DB4 that x-factor is its style. The Aston Martin DB4 made its debut in 1958, wearing timeless sheetmetal styled by Touring of Milan, and became the first of Newport Pagnell’s cars to affix the carrozzeria’s lightweight ‘Superleggera’ alloy body panels – in the process making a name for itself as a strong performer and an even better looker.

Expectedly, those signature lines have earned the DB4 a treasured spot in the Aston lineage, and this iconic look would survive throughout the rest of the David Brown Aston Martin era. Production of the DB4 concluded in the spring of 1963, and spanned around 1,100 built in total across five series.

This car, a Series IV, bore witness to Aston’s revised seven bar grille, recessed taillights, and wielded the company’s new performance-tuned ‘Vantage’ engine, good for 266 horsepower. With only 70 manufactured in total, the DB4 convertible is the rarest of all the David Brown Aston Martins, apart from the Zagato, with this DB4 known to be one of just nine Series IV convertibles produced.

It isn’t without its touch of celebrity provenance either. This Aston Martin was delivered new to original owner, actor, writer and diplomat Peter Ustinov in July 1962. Also of note at Saturday’s Aston Martin sale – a 1966 DB5 Vantage Convertible that sold for $2.3 million, as well as a ’62 4.0-liter DB4 convertible that sold for $1.2 million.