Aston Martin announces stunning drop-top Zagato coupe

23 August, 2016

Stunning is a word I try not to use often. It’s not that manly, but sometimes it’s the only word to describe vehicles as beautiful as the Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato coupe. The V12 engine is a stunning piece of machinery, too, with 592hp, a beautiful noise, and the capability to propel the luxury coupe to 100kph in only 3.7 seconds. 

Aston Martin has confirmed this weekend that the Zagato will be accompanied in the showroom by a topless friend named Volante. We’re not complaining either, the Zagato Volante coupe is a thing of pure beauty. It will, however, only be sold in limited numbers, stopping at 99 vehicles. 

Alongside the topless roof line, the convertible will receive touches that the hardtop will not. The interior will feature ‘Z’ embossing on the headrests and doors, and a ‘Z’ quilt pattern will be a standard feature on both the doors and seats. On the outside of the Volante you’ll see bladed LED technology as seen on the Vulcan supercar, and lower carbon-fibre sills. 

This is one Aston that, in years to come, will become a stout future classic. Buy one now folks, before the pricing gets out of control. Well, if you have the coin that is! 

Images: Aston Martin

Merry Christmas from NZ Classic Car magazine

The Classic Car magazine team is taking a few weeks’ holiday from the work computer and heading to the beach for some kickback time.
Merry Christmas, and have a wonderful summer holiday to all our readers, followers, and fans. Enjoy this special extra time with the family. We will be posting archive articles again in mid to late January.
Have fun, be good and be careful out there.

Two engines instead of one?

Popping two motors into a car is not only complicated, it doesn’t always end well. Donn Anderson recalls early attempts, including John Cooper’s ill-fated original Twini Mini built 58 years ago

For a boost in performance, better traction, and perhaps improved handling to some, two motors seems an obvious solution. It would also eliminate the need to develop a larger engine replacement from scratch, but would that outweigh the not inconsiderable technical difficulties?
The idea of using a pair of engines dates back at least 86 years to the Alfa Romeo Bimotor single seater racing car that was officially timed at 335km/h, or 208mph. Taking a lengthened Alfa P3 chassis, the Italians fitted two supercharged straight eight 2.9-litre and 3.2-litre engines, one in front of the cockpit, and the other behind the cockpit.