1961 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato – CRASHED by Jim Clark – set to make more than £15 million

A 1961 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato, driven by Jim Clark and considered ‘the most important DB4GT Zagato in history’ is set to make £15 million at Bonhams Goodwood auction this summer.

The Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato is perhaps the most important and appealing car ever to come from Aston Martin, with just 19 made.

But even within the rarefied realms the DB4 GT Zagato inhabits in the Classic car realm there are two cars which are even more important – the so-called quasi works cars, of which just two were built.

Now one of those two cars – ‘2 VEV’ – is heading for auction at Bonhams Goodwood sale in the summer, not only as just one of two works cars, but one of only three DB4GT Zagatos built to lightweight spec.

As if that wasn’t enough, 2 VEV was driven in period by perhaps the greatest British racer of all time – Jim Clark – who, despite his skill, managed to mangle the Zagato by spinning it and colliding with John Surtees in a Ferrari 250 GTO. To add to that, Robin Benson’s Ferrari 250 GT SWB ploughed in to the two car crash a lap later.

Which, with today’s values, would make it the most expensive three car crash in history.

After its racing life, 2 VEV ended up in the hands of Roger St John Hart in 1971, when he paid the princely sum of £3,600, and it’s been in his family ever since before being consigned for sale this summer.

Bonhams are calling 2 VEV “The most valuable British car ever offered at auction in Europe“, and it will go under the hammer at Bonhams Goodwood Festival of Speed auction on 13 July 2018, when it’s expected to reach £15 million.

But with an ‘ordinary’ DB4GT Zagato fetching £9.5 million four years ago, we wouldn’t be surprised to see it go a lot higher.