TOURING PARTY

Lamborghini 350 GT and Aston Martin DB4 Vantage: two 1960s super-GTs with a special Carrozzeria Touring connection. But which thrills the most?

- Peter Tomalin

LONG, LOW AND LEAN, its upper structure seemingly fashioned almost entirely from glass, and quite unlike anything else seen before or since... Sixty years on from its launch, the first production Lamborghini still looks brilliantly, beguilingly exotic. It's not often that an Aston Martin DB4 Vantage isn't the immediate centre of attention, but today is one of those days. Not least because the 350 GT is so very rare, and chances to see one, let alone drive one, are so fleeting, especially here in the UK. At the time of our shoot, as summer gives way to autumn, this is reckoned to be the only example in the country. Until earlier this year this 350 GT had spent its whole life in South Africa. When it was delivered to its first owner (in Johannesburg, December 1965) it was the first Lamborghini on the entire African continent, and its life there helps explain why its body and underlying structure are in such sound condition. It's gently patinated, almost entirely original and mechanically completely standard. In short, this 350 GT looks really rather wonderful.

Current owner Bryan Webb acquired it when he sold his Cape Town-based classic car dealership. 'I was paid partly in Lamborghinis - a Countach, an Aventador Roadster and this!' he smiles. That was seven years ago, but it's only since he brought the 350 GT to the UK in February - specifically to undergo a full bare-metal restoration by Hertfordshire-based Colin Clarke Engineering - that he's begun to appreciate just what a special car it is. 'I'm seriously impressed,' he says. "It's a car I very much intend to keep!'