Launched at the 1958 London Motor Show, the DB4 offered outstanding performance against its peers, with a 140mph top speed and 0-60 in 9 seconds. The DB4 was also the first production car capable of 0 to 100 to 0 mph in less than 30 seconds, a remarkable feat for a road car at the time.
Factory records for the early years of chassis DB4/501/R read as almost every other DB Aston Martin of the period – service work, tuning and parts replaced under guarantee. It is not until the mid 1980s, when it was acquired by Peter Livanos, that life became interesting! Livanos was, at the time, the owner of Aston Martin and it was the factory that restored the car for him. They stripped the car back to component form, going so far as to remove the Superleggera body from the frame. Once the restoration had been completed in the United Kingdom, the Aston was shipped to the USA where after some years, Livanos sold the DB4 to U.S. based Canadian Jack Boxstrom. Boxstrom made some mild modifications so as to partake in Aston club racing.
DB4/501/R was repatriated to the UK in 2013. Although only a mildly modified road car, the current owner still completed a 59 second lap of the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, beating a race prepared DB4 GT. As a respected restorer, he has maintained the car himself, including a full engine rebuild and repaint.
This rapid DB4 is a superb fast road Aston Martin.
