Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, One of the Marque’s Most Celebrated Competition Models, Set for RM Sotheby’s Monterey Auction

One of 19 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagatos built, chassis 0186/R retains its original engine and Zagato coachwork, combining Australian competition history, major concours honors, and exceptional authenticity. It will be offered at RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction with an estimate of $12,000,000–$15,000,000 USD.

• One of just 19 original Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagatos built, retaining its original engine and original Zagato coachwork
• Chassis 0186/R is powered by its original Tadek Marek-designed inline-six engine
• The only DB4 GT Zagato originally sold new into Australian ownership, with period competition history driven by Doug Whiteford, Ian Geoghegan, and first owner Laurie O’Neill
• Named Best of Show at the Louis Vuitton Concours d’Elegance, with later class awards at Villa d’Este and Pebble Beach, and an appearance at The Quail
• Offered at RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction with an estimate of $12,000,000–$15,000,000 USD
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BLENHEIM, ONTARIO, CANADA – June 2, 2026 – (Motor Sports NewsWire) – RM Sotheby’s is set to present a highly significant Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato during Monterey Car Week: chassis 0186/R, one of just 19 original examples built. Retaining its original engine and Zagato coachwork, 0186/R combines period Australian competition history, major concours honors, and a level of authenticity that distinguishes it within this already rare group of cars. It is the only DB4 GT Zagato originally sold new into Australian ownership and is estimated to sell for $12,000,000–$15,000,000 USD.

Few cars need less introduction than the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato. Muscular, elegant, impossibly rare, and born from a serious competition brief, it remains one of the most admired British sports cars ever built and one of the great Anglo-Italian collaborations of the 20th century. Created as a lighter, sharper evolution of the DB4 GT, the Zagato-bodied variant arrived at the 1960 Earls Court Motor Show with purpose in every line. Aston Martin had already won the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans, but the DB4 GT needed less weight and more intent to take the fight to Ferrari. The answer came from Milan, where 23-year-old Ercole Spada shaped one of the most beautiful competition bodies ever fitted to a British chassis.

Beneath the hand-formed Zagato coachwork sat serious hardware: a shortened DB4 GT chassis, Girling disc brakes, close-ratio gearbox, twin-plug ignition, Weber carburetion, and a retuned Tadek Marek-designed inline-six producing a quoted 314 horsepower. Only 19 original examples were built, making the DB4 GT Zagato significantly rarer than the Ferrari 250 GT SWB and California Spider models it was built to challenge.

Chassis 0186/R stands among the most compelling of the group, not only for its period competition history, but also for the originality and detail retained through decades of ownership and restoration. Completed in December 1961, it was finished new in Desert White over red leather and delivered to Australian quarrying magnate, Peterbilt truck franchisee, and enthusiast driver Laurie O’Neill. It is understood to be the only DB4 GT Zagato sold new into Australian ownership, and almost immediately after arrival, it was pressed into competition.

Its debut came in February 1962 at Calder, where three-time Australian Grand Prix winner Doug Whiteford drove the car to victory in the GT Handicap. One week later at Longford, Whiteford added wins in the GT Scratch and South Pacific GT Championship, with the Zagato recorded at speeds of up to 145 mph. O’Neill later took a class win at the Silverdale Hillclimb, while Ian Geoghegan also campaigned the car with strong results at Warwick Farm and Katoomba.

That Australian competition career was brief but significant. After local regulations shifted to allow more specialized machinery into the GT category, including Maserati 300 S and Jaguar D-Type, the Aston Martin was withdrawn from further racing. As a result, 0186/R escaped the long, punishing race life that heavily altered many of its contemporaries.

Following later ownership in Australia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the car became the subject of major specialist restorations. John Goldsmith restored the car in the 1990s, after which it appeared at Snetterton, Silverstone, and Goodwood. Around 2000, noted Aston Martin enthusiast Peter Read commissioned Richard Williams to carry out a comprehensive restoration, including a return to Zagato in Milan for coachwork correction and refinishing.

Recognition followed quickly. The car was named Best of Show at the Louis Vuitton Concours d’Elegance and later earned class awards at Villa d’Este and Pebble Beach, while also appearing at The Quail. In 2015, 0186/R was offered at RM Sotheby’s New York sale and acquired by its current owner, who continued its pursuit of correctness with additional work by Kevin Kay Restorations in California.

In 2018 and 2019, with Aston Martin researcher Stephen Archer consulting, the car was refinished in correct Aston Martin Sanction II Works Green, with extensive attention given to finishes, hardware, trim, and presentation details. At the 2019 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, 0186/R won its class in the Zagato Centennial Postwar category, received The Vitesse Elegance Trophy, and became one of only four finalists considered for Best of Show.

Today, chassis 0186/R represents many of the qualities collectors seek in a great post-war sports racing car: rarity, beauty, its original engine, original Zagato coachwork, period competition history, major concours success, and the kind of authentic details that are often lost through decades of use and restoration. With just 19 original DB4 GT Zagatos built, public offerings are exceptionally rare. Its appearance at auction represents a rare opportunity to acquire one of Aston Martin’s most celebrated competition models.

About RM Sotheby’s

RM Sotheby’s is the world’s largest collector car auction house by total sales. With over 45 years of proven results in the collector car industry, RM’s vertically integrated range of services, from auctions (live, online, and Sealed) and private sales to estate planning and financial services, coupled with an expert team of Car Specialists and an international footprint, provide an unsurpassed level of service to the global collector car market. RM Sotheby’s is currently responsible for five of the top ten most valuable motor cars ever sold at auction.

Source: RM Sotheby’s

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