After the roaring success of the DB7 Zagato, to keep the overseas collectors happy, Zagato and Aston Martin designed in just three months this DB AR1 (the acronym stands for 'American Roadster') in time to exhibit it at the 2003 Los Angeles Auto Show. The DB-AR1 Zagato maintains the wheelbase of the original DB7 - which is 21,1 cm longer than its Zagato version - and initially had no soft top, as it was thought for sunny Florida and California. In 2012, the Zagato Atelier designed and produced entirely in house an ad hoc electro-hydraulic retractable canvas top - called 'shelter'. The 99 units of the DB AR1 production run were sold out in few weeks.
