Back in 2009, legendary Italian styling house Bertone built a one-off Aston Martin concept known as the “Jet 2 shooting brake” based on the DB9 platform. This attracted the attention of entrepreneur and Aston Martin fanatic Barry Weir, who contacted the design house requesting to buy it only to be told it was a one-off built for Lilli Bertone and wasn’t for sale.
A few years later, Bertone contacted Weir in 2012 offering to build another Jet 2 shooting brake, only this time the car would be based on the Rapide sedan. The final Aston Martin Jet 2+2 concept was unveiled a year later at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show.
Under the hood is the same 5.9-liter V12 that powers the regular Rapide, but the one-off shooting brake arguably looks even more elegant than the standard car while offering more luggage space and a large glass roof. Weir has owned the Aston Martin Jet 2+2 since he bought it in 2012 but is now selling it along with the original mould. According to Top Gear, he spotted the mould and tooling at an auction after Bertone went out of business and snapped them up before putting them into storage.
“When the car was built, Bertone were keen to build 10 cars and then Aston Martin wanted to put a version into full production,” Weir told Top Gear. “Unfortunately, Bertone went bust and it never happened. It meant, however, that mine became a unique example of an Aston Martin, an entirely new production car which consisted of just one vehicle.”
This one-off shooting brake is very significant, then, since it’s the last ever car ever built by Bertone before the company went bankrupt in 2014.
“Part of me would love to see it reproduced but another part likes the idea that it remains a unique one-off as part of automobile and Aston Martin history,” he said. While a regular Aston Martin Rapide S will set you back just over $200,000, its one-off shooting brake sibling is reportedly being sold for around $4 million according to Top Gear.
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