Launched at the 1958 Paris Salon, the DB4 ushered in an exciting new era for Aston Martin and its road models. It would also serve as the basis for the competition-oriented DB4 GT, authorized by Aston Martin racing manager John Wyer who wanted a GT-class customer racing car capable of defeating the Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France. Based on the DP199 prototype, which won its first race at Silverstone with Stirling Moss, the production DB4 GT debuted at the London Motor Show in 1959, the year of Aston Martin’s brilliant 1-2 victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and World Sportscar Championship title. The DB4 GT was shorter, lighter, and more powerful than the standard DB4. Featuring thinner, 18-gauge aluminum-alloy body panels, the new Aston Martin’s wheelbase was shortened by approximately five inches. The rear seats were removed on all but a few special-order cars, helping achieve a 200-lb. weight reduction.

Built with an aluminum block and twin-plug cylinder head, the Tadek Marek-designed 3.7-litre DOHC engine of the DB4 GT was extensively modified, featuring higher 9:1 compression and three Weber 45 mm carburetors, yielding 302 factory-rated hp at 6,000 rpm. Girling dual-circuit, four-wheel disc brakes were shared with Aston Martin’s sports racers of the era. Distinguished by its Perspex-covered headlamps, lightweight rear and quarter windows, deleted bumper over-riders, and frameless side windows, the DB4 GT also included twin competition-style, quick-release external fuel fillers, an extended range fuel tank, and alloy-rimmed Borrani wire wheels. In typical Aston Martin fashion, interiors were luxuriously trimmed with Wilton wool carpeting and fine Connolly leather covering the lightweight seat frames.

Raced from 1959 by both the Aston Martin Works team and John Ogier’s Essex Racing team, DB4 GTs were piloted by the era’s greatest drivers including Roy Salvadori, Stirling Moss, Jim Clark, and Innes Ireland. In December 1959, at the Bahamas Speed Week, when another car intended for Moss failed to arrive, a DB4 GT just delivered to a Caribbean customer was “borrowed” and driven by him to victory in the next race.

As Aston Martin’s successful reply to Ferrari’s 250 GT Tour de France, the DB4 GT was countered in 1960 by the 250 GT SWB, itself inspiring Aston Martin’s lighter-weight DB4 GT Zagato in 1961, only to be countered in 1962 by the 250 GTO, its nemesis from Maranello. Aston Martin built a mere 75 DB4 GTs between 1959 and 1962, plus another 20 Zagato-bodied examples and one Bertone-bodied special. Of the standard DB4 GTs, 45 were right-hand-drive cars and 30 were specified in left-hand drive for export markets.

Not only is this car one of the exclusive left-hand-drive DB4 GTs, it also possesses a remarkable pedigree, having been delivered new to one of the great motor sports personalities of the era and then campaigned in a variety of races, rallies, and hill climbs by its second owner.

According to factory records, chassis DB4GT/0154/L was completed in June 1961, finished in the sophisticated color scheme of Goodwood Green with red Connolly leather upholstery. The Aston Martin build sheet further notes that it was equipped with Dunlop RS5 tires and a 3.54:1 rear axle with Powr-Lok limited-slip differential. Upon completion, the DB4 GT was dispatched to Hubert Patthey’s garage in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and delivered to its first owner, Georges Filipinetti.

Based in Geneva, Filipinetti was well known in racing circles for establishing one of Europe’s most successful private racing teams. Founded in 1961, Scuderia Filipinetti participated in major international events throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, including the premier sports car races and even in the Formula 1 championship during the 1962 and 1963 seasons. Wealthy and well connected, Filipinetti’s team always campaigned the latest, most competitive machinery and was known for fostering up-and-coming talent, including some of the best Swiss drivers – Jo Siffert, Herbert Müller, Heinz Schiller, Dieter Spoerry, and Rico Steinemann.

Always one to upgrade to the latest model, Filipinetti kept the DB4 GT through the end of 1961, driving it some 3,800 km before trading it back to Patthey Garage.

In February 1962, 0154/L was sold to Dr. Gwer E. Reichen of La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, who sent the DB4 GT to the Aston Martin factory soon after purchasing it. At the Newport Pagnell Works, this car was prepared for future competition use, including the fitting of shorter gears and a Bosch brake servo.

By the end of 1962, the Aston Martin had accrued an additional 10,000 km in road and competition use. According to various sources, the DB4 GT participated in a variety of events, including hill climbs (St. Ursanne-Les Rangiers, Mitholz- Kandersteg, and Rochefort la Tourney) and slaloms (Dübendorf and Payerne). Several photographs of 0154/L racing in period are featured in the definitive book on the model, The Aston Martin DB4GT by Stephen Archer and Richard A. Candee.

Throughout the 1960s, Dr. Reichen was a regular entrant in the European Rally Championship (ERC) with a variety of cars. In October 1964, Dr. Reichen and co-driver Michelle Vouga entered 0154/L in the Swiss round of the ERC – the Rallye International de Geneve, an annual event organized by the Automobile Club de Suisse. According to period event coverage, the DB4 GT was involved in an accident during the multiday rally, which necessitated ordering a complete new front body clip from Aston Martin. That November, Patthey Garage repaired 0154/L, repainted it blue, and fitted high-performance valve springs sourced from Oskar Ruegg in Pfäffikon, the noted spring maker and also an owner of a DB4 GT.

Records on file show that Dr. Reichen drove the DB4 GT regularly over the next three decades, with the odometer showing nearly 100,000 km by the early 1990s. Around this time, respected Swiss Aston Martin specialist Roos Engineering overhauled the car’s engine, gearbox, and rear axle. In the early 2000s, Garage Eyra of Le Locle, Switzerland, undertook additional restoration work, returning 0154/L to its original road specification.

In 2010, the DB4 GT was presented at Retromobile and sold, via Gregor Fisken, to Constantin von Dziembowski, a German collector with an impressive stable of sports and racing cars. The Aston Martin was then shipped to the UK, where it was extensively and sympathetically restored by the highly respected Marksdanes Restorations Ltd. around 2012.

The consignor acquired 0154/L in 2016 and imported it into the US, where it has since resided in an exceptional collection of postwar sports cars. Under his ownership, the DB4 GT was driven on a tour in France’s Provence region and maintained by noted Aston Martin specialists Steel Wings of Ivyland, Pennsylvania.

Today, this Aston Martin looks the part of the quintessential gentleman’s GT, finished in its original and highly attractive Goodwood Green livery over an interior trimmed in green leather and equipped with a period Motorola radio. Its outstanding presentation is further complemented by the inclusion of an original DB4 GT instruction manual, period event plaques dating from Dr. Reichen’s ownership, and a file of supporting documentation including recent service records and a copy of the factory build sheet, which confirms that this car retains its matching-numbers engine, no. 370/0159/GT.

A factory left-hand-drive DB4 GT, one of 29 surviving examples, with a superb provenance and period competition history, 0154/L must be considered among the most desirable of all Aston Martins. These purpose-built machines represent the ultimate evolution of the DB4 series and proved to be very successful at the height of international GT racing in the early 1960s. Without question, the DB4 GT is one of the finest dual-purpose GT cars of its generation, with its only serious rivals being Ferrari’s 250 SWB and Jaguar’s Lightweight E-Type.

Delivered new to motor sports legend Georges Filipinetti, then kept by its second Swiss owner until 2010, this DB4 GT has had only four caretakers throughout its 60-year existence. Its fifth owner will be acquiring an Aston Martin of unusual quality and distinction, which ought to serve as admission into every desirable event in historic motoring.

*Please note that this vehicle is titled as 0154L.