Ercole Spada

Italian designer who, after joining Zagato as an apprentice in 1960, drew the lightweight body of the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato shown that October.

Ercole Spada was born in Busto Arsizio on 26 July 1937. He took a diploma as a mechanical industrial technician in 1956 and completed military service. In February 1960 he joined Carrozzeria Zagato; Aston Martin later recorded the post as an apprenticeship.

He later told Classic & Sports Car that, asked whether he could do full-scale drawings, he said yes, though he had never done one. There was no design department. A sketch went to a metalworker and became a body as quickly as it could be beaten. He said Elio Zagato, a racing driver, insisted that the cars be light and appear fluid, the bodywork wrapped around the mechanical parts like skin.

The Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato was unveiled at the October 1960 London Motor Show. Aston Martin records the bodywork as by the newly qualified 23-year-old. Chassis were built at Newport Pagnell and shipped to Milan for Zagato's aluminium bodies; nineteen of a planned twenty-five cars were finished. He later said he applied those principles to the Aston and worked to reduce its frontal area as far as he could.