Million-dollar baby: 1962 Aston Martin DB4C ‘drophead’ with SS engine

We don’t get too many 7-figure cars for Picks of the Day, so here’s the first and perhaps only million-dollar-plus Pick for 2020, a 1962 Aston Martin DB4C Series IV SS Vantage convertible. 

This majestic craft from Great Britain is a rare performance example from the vaunted marque, according to the Astoria, New York, dealer advertising the “drophead” (British for convertible) on ClassicCars.com. 

Only a small percentage of the DB4 grand touring cars were built as convertibles – just 70 out of about 1,100 cars – and fewer still with the 266-horsepower SS Vantage version of the 3.7-liter inline-6 engine fed by three SU carburetors. Add to that a factory overdrive manual transmission, and this example is rare indeed.

“It’s almost impossible to find a DB4 drophead with an SS engine and factory overdrive,” the seller says in the ad.

“This incredibly rare and highly coveted DB4 wears a 25-year-old restoration that still shows very well,” the seller adds. “Matching numbers and mechanically excellent.”

The DB4C does look splendid in the photos with the ad, painted in a lustrous shade of British Racing Green with a right-hand-drive interior of sumptuous-looking tan leather seats and trim, probably finished with Connolly hides.  A truly gorgeous car, styled by Touring of Milan, Italy; the DB4 began Aston’s design trend that carries through today’s models of high-end luxury touring cars.

While Aston Martin is best-known in the popular imagination as the brand favored by fictional British spy James Bond, who drove a later DB5 coupe, the classic David Brown-era cars from the ‘50s and ‘60s are hotly desired collector cars for those wealthy enough to afford them.

This rarely optioned DB4 comes with its factory build sheet that attests to its authenticity, the seller says.

Astons soared in value during the past decade, and this one described by the dealer as “a piece of Aston Martin history as well as a prime blue-chip investment” is priced at a staggering $1,325,000.   But take heart; perhaps there’s room for negotiation.

To view this listing on ClassicCars.com, see Pick of the Day.