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This Unique Aston Martin Shooting Brake was the Last Bertone Built
A unique 2013 Rapide commissioned from Bertone by an Aston Martin connoisseur may soon find a new owner at auction.
Known as the Bertone Jet 2+2, the car was inspired by the Italian styling house’s 2004 Jet 2, a shooting brake on the platform of the Vanquish, which itself paid homage to Bertone’s 1961 Jet, built from a DB4 GT.
Taking the same principle to the Rapide would add some extra style and substance to the four-door sedan, reckoned Aston Martin aficionado Barry Weir, and Bertone was more than happy to oblige.
The Jet 2+2 extended the car’s roofline before dramatically dropping it to a lovely liftback, to give the Rapide a more rakish look. The car featured a full-length glass roof and electrically-folding rear seats to give it extra carrying capacity at the touch of a button. The front seats were also re-profiled so rear passengers got a little more knee room. The interior was then trimmed in Cream Truffle and Obsidian Black leather.
The running gear remained standard, with power from a six-liter, 480-hp normally-aspirated V-12, which Weir seems to have made the most of. Despite its unicorn status, the car has covered more than 24,000 miles.
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The Jet 2+2 made its debut at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show and Aston Martin’s bosses were so taken with the design that plans were made to produce a limited run of ten more cars, but Bertone unfortunately went bust before any more could be built.
That leaves the Jet 2+2 as not just a true one-of-a-kind, but also the final car to leave the Bertone workshop, until the company was revived in 2022. Your chance to own this piece of Anglo-Italian automotive history comes at Dore & Rees Auctions in the U.K. on March 29.
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I like the functional wagon backside on this. Too bad they never did a wagon version of this in mass production.
Dare I say a bit Porsche like?