The Aston Martin V12 - Future Collectible?

Much has been written about the new (to the USA) Aston Martin V12 Vantage (http://www.astonmartinofaustin.com/web/1582/vantage12). The car’s track acumen and street appeal have resulted in accolades being heaped upon its bespoked hood. But many have missed one of the most attractive aspects of this 12-cylinder wonder car—it’s potential for long-term collectability.

Though there are no guarantees that a car will hold an increase in value, serious pundits believe the 2010 V12 Vantage holds tremendous potential. One of the reasons is that comparison to the 1962 DB4 Zagato are too numerous to overlook.

Consider that the 1960 DB4 Zagato was created to compete with the mighty Ferraris of the period. Aston turned up the wick on their sporting coupe, giving it a more voluptuous look, better power to weight ratio, superb brakes and sharper handling. Only a few of these rare, exclusive cars were built and even fewer raced. Today, those cars command multi-million dollar price tags and are considered among the most coveted Astons in the world.

The V12 Vantage has a similar pedigree. By engineering the DBS drive train into the Vantage chassis, the car has a wonderful power to weight ratio. The carbon ceramic brakes are fantastic, the sport suspension superb and the body lightened and modified to maximize both aerodynamics and sex appeal. The factory has entered a couple of V12 Vantages in various events successfully such as at the Nürburgring. They have even offered to build spec race cars available to private teams. And like the Series 1 DB4 Zagato, very, very few will be built.

Will the 510 HP V12 Vantage reach stratosphere values someday? No one knows. But with its similarity to the fabled Zagato and small production run, it has the potential to do so over the long term. Few other purchases today offer such upside, nor sound and look so good.