Monterey Car Week is a car spotter’s paradise that is on par with the streets of Monte Carlo or London during the “Arab Invasion” each summer. Rare and exotic cars are literally everywhere you look, and after a while, the run-of-the-mill Ferraris and Lamborghinis no longer seem all that exciting. With so many special cars running around, it takes something very special to grab your attention, especially once you’re a few days into the Monterey madness.

This Aston Martin V12 Zagato is one of those cars that can stop you dead in your tracks, even during Monterey Car Week. With just 150 V12 Zagatos having been built, you have more than double the chance of seeing a Ferrari Enzo on the street as you do this extra-curvy Aston. What’s more, the V12 Zagato was not officially imported into the US, making it that much rarer to see in a place like California. Obviously some special arrangements were made.

The V12 Zagato was built to commemorate 50 years of collaboration between Aston Martin and Italian design house, Zagato. While the original commemorative V12 Zagatos were racing cars, customers showed enough interest for Aston Martin to produce the 150 road homologation specials, like the car you see here, with a price tag of around $450,000 each.

In pragmatic terms, the V12 Zagato is basically just a V12 Vantage with a special Zagato body on it. It features the exact same 5.9L V12 with the same 510hp. Of course this may make it a bit of a gimmick, but then again, there are many such cars coming out these days. Even so, its rarity and extra craftsmanship were enough to make this Aston Martin V12 Zagato drool worthy for everyone walking around in Carmel, California that evening. Car spotters, like us, were going nuts, and we all barely noticed all of the other Aston Martins parked on the same street…. with the grand exception of the one sitting behind it (Check back later this week for that).

Enjoy the photos.

-Photos by Nick Walker