Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato 1963 Le Mans

This is a a sort-of continuation of my ‘Revell’ GT car thread here. The original idea was to expand the list of beautiful GT slot cars which were available mainly from Revell in the 60s. Revell produced a very pretty Aston DB5, along with the Ferrari 250 GTO, Mercedes 300SL Gullwing, AC Cobra, E-Type Jaguar and Chevy Corvette Stingray.

I’d already made a 1963 Aston DP214 prototype using Graham Poulton’s (GP Models) excellent resin body and when I spotted a DB4 GT Zagato by the same artisan I couldn’t resist it. There never were that many real Zagatos (just 19 were made in the first run) and they weren’t very successful on the racetrack either but they are SO pretty! The Zagato has been made also by Proto Slot Kit and Ocar.

The version I chose to model is perhaps the prettiest of them all, namely the 1963 Le Mans number 19 car entered by Jean Kerguen. This was its third consecutive entry at LM and in traditional Zagato style it failed to finish in all three events.








The model itself needed a bunch of alterations from the GP Models shell, mostly fiddly things like changing the arrangement of the front air intakes, enlarging the side air vents, removing one of the fuel caps and adding the strange duck tail spoiler unique to this particular car. I also upgraded some small bits such as sidelights, door handles etc and gave the driver a makeover.







The most interesting mod to my mind was the chrome surrounds for the faired-in headlamps. These have a big effect on the look of the car and, unlike the DP214, were unavailable in the kit. I used flattened fine solder wire as suggested here and it worked great – you’ve gotta try this!



Looking through my spare chassis collection I came upon an old Riko chassis which fits pretty well into the early 60s slot car ethos, as it’s a shameless copy of the 1963 Monogram stamped brass chassis. It has a Rikochet Mk 1 motor that’s reasonably punchy – I didn’t want this baby to be that fast anyway. The chassis fitted the GP shell extremely well. A set of RS Components wire wheel inserts with Ortmann Revell-style tyres to finish it off was in keeping with the slot cars of this era and looks surprisingly good in my opinion.



Here’s a shot of it with its Aston stablemates. Hope you like it.



All the best

Andy