Aston Martin DB4 GT
Overview
On Saturday, May 2nd 1959, the now famous Silverstone Circuit hosted the Bank Holiday Trophy race. Those in attendance got to witness some of the finest drivers of the era piloting their cars on the very limit. The main race of the day saw legends such as Jack Sears, Jack Brabham and Stirling Moss competing for honours, driving for three different British manufacturers: Austin Healey, Jaguar and Aston Martin.
Car number 54, with the venerable Stirling Moss behind the wheel, went on to take the win. Perhaps not the biggest shock as Stirling’s ability was well known. However, the car he was driving, the then new Aston Martin DB4 GT entered by David Brown, had just won on its debut outing.
Delivery
Fast forward to 2016, and the Aston Martin DB4 GT has long since taken its place in history, and is now one of Aston Martin’s most coveted racing cars – especially in ‘lightweight’ form, of which only 8 were made. The big news was that Aston Martin had just announced their plans to build a further 25 ‘continuation’ cars, to be built at the original factory in Newport Pagnell.
Now in the present day, one lucky owner – whose DB4 GT continuation had recently been completed, and now sat at the Aston Martin Works, Newport Pagnell – needed a reliable partner to transport the car to Australia.
This raised some questions – how do you go about shipping such a vehicle half-way round the world? How do you find someone that truly understands the importance and needs of this cargo?
Thankfully our client knew who to turn to – after all, they already had a strong relationship with Hemisphere and knew of our expertise from the handling and shipping of some notable vehicles in the past, and our assistance with supercar tours across the world. Hemisphere’s experience was just what the client needed, and after in-depth communications, we began to form a plan.
Our thoughts
Results
The decision was made to ship the car by ocean freight, and whilst we began to discuss transport and loading, an added complication came to light – the car had to be exported by a specific date or Aston Martin were going to be charged VAT by UK customs, which if incurred would be passed on to the buyer. We swiftly liaised with the Aston Martin factory to come up with a date that gave them enough time to prepare the car, and allowed us to meet a suitable vessel to export it in time.
Once agreed we quickly arranged collection, selecting our transport partner on the basis of them already being known to the Newport Pagnell factory, which we knew was of importance for this particular move. In addition we planned marine insurance and container loading, the former of course being vital for cargo of this value, and something Hemisphere were able to provide through our broker.
This project is a perfect example of what can be achieved with the right outlook, customer focus, and Hemisphere’s ability to fully understand our clients’ needs and find a solution, even when working under pressure. We very much look forward to working further with the client, which we hope will include rolling out ‘Archie’ again in 2020.
