Steve Petrovich

Thanks to James Bond 1960s Aston Martins are an automotive icon for the ages – not that the marque really needed any help from 007. Among collectors the extremely rare competition versions of the street legal swifties are highly prized, of course; one such model, a 1963 Aston Martin DB4 GT, one of only 75 built, will cross the auction block on Jan. 21 during RM Auctions’ Automobiles of Arizona event at the Biltmore Resort & Spa in Phoenix, which this year features a special night of Britain’s best. The example on offer is the last DB4 GT built and sold by Aston’s Newport Pagnell Factory.

The competition variant of the DB4, the model was formally introduced in September 1959 at the London Motor Show the year Aston won the World Sportscar Championship title. It was based on the race winning prototype SP199/1, which won its first outing at Silverstone in May 1959 with the great Stirling Moss at the wheel and was one of the first cars away at Le Mans that June. The car underwent a complete restoration and handles beautifully even when topping out at 150 mph. Expected to fetch $950,000 – $1,000,000, we say it’s cheap at twice the price.