Rare Aston Martin set to become Britain's most expensive ever car

One of the rarest and most highly sought after cars – the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato – is set to go up for auction at RM Sotheby's in New York later in 2015 with a guide price of $16m (£10m). If the car sells at the auction on 10 December, it will become the most expensive British car ever sold publicly, beating a McLaren F1 sold in August for £8.8m.

The DB4 GT Zagato is one of only 19 ever made in a partnership between Aston Martin and the Italian Zagato factory. The model is the 14th ever made and was the only one shipped new to Australia.

"Nevermind being the greatest Aston of all time, this is one of the greatest GT cars ever produced," said RM Sotheby's chairman and founder Rob Myers, "It is an absolute jewel of a car."

The car was completed in 1961 and raced extensively during the 1962 season. It returned to England from Australia in 1993 and was restored in 2002.

Originally, the factory planned to produce 25 cars but stopped midway due to a lack of demand. Today, the car's popularity has seen a number of owners of other Aston Martin DB4s modify their cars into Zagato replicas to increase the car's value.