Currently reading: New Ant-Kahn sports car to be revealed at Goodwood Revival
Range Rover tuner to reveal Aston Martin-inspired sports car at classic motor show, while also planning bespoke Land Rover Defender and Aston Martin replica

A new retro-styled two-seat sports car will make its debut at the Goodwood Revival in September.

The as-yet unnamed model is described as a barchetta, and will be launched under the Ant-Kahn banner. The firm is a collaboration between Kahn Design and Ant Anstead, who runs the niche vehicle manufacturer Evanta.

The new car is described as an ‘imagined’ open-top version of the ultra-rare Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato. The model is based on a tubular spaceframe chassis and powered by a detuned version of the 6.2-litre V8 LS3 engine. The body panels are made from a carbon composite material.

A single example of an earlier version of this barchetta, based on Jaguar running gear, was built in 2013 under the Evanta badge, and is currently on sale for £120,000.

Although the new Ant-Kahn may offend purists, the final car is claimed to be a close replica of a period Aston but with robust, modern mechanicals and will cost about £96,000.

This barchetta will eventually be joined by a related coupé, which will have unique styling inspired by Italian designs of the period.

Those models will be followed in 2015 by a completely restyled Aston Martin, which uses a bespoke aluminium body. Although it is still at the design stage, company founder Afzal Kahn told Autocar that his design has been greatly influenced by the VanquishHe hopes that his reworking of a modern Aston has the kind of brutal, stand-out character that, he feels, the current line-up lacks.

Kahn told Autocar that the company’s first stand-alone model would be a ‘long-nose’ Land Rover Defender powered by a V8 engine driving a six-speed automatic gearbox.

Dubbed the ‘Flying Huntsman’, the Defender has an extra 400mm of bodywork inserted into the nose, just ahead of the windscreen. Under its bonnet is a 550bhp 6.2-litre General Motors LS3 V8. 

This engine, which is mounted close to the Defender’s bulkhead, drives a six-speed auto operated by push-button controls. The first prototype is currently being completed at the company’s Bradford HQ. 

Additional reporting by Darren Moss, 11 July 2014

Get the latest car news, reviews and galleries from Autocar direct to your inbox every week. Enter your email address below:

Join the debate

Comments
18
Add a comment…
Lord Snooty 11 July 2014

Defender Disaster

Agh! What have they done to that poor Defender? How come they had to stretch it when others manage to slot in big Yankee V8's and don't? Talk about a phallic symbol. You might as well wear a strap on and walk like Rik Mayall in Blackadder. Woof woof!
The turning circle will be interesting too.
philcUK 11 July 2014

re-invention of a different kind....

Ah, that dodgy little Bradfordian drug dealer peddling coke and fake alloys out of the back of his Astra van has come a long way – he wasn’t known as the Snowman locally for nothing – still nothing that a few chamber of commerce awards and careful supercar money laundering schemes cant wash clean eh?
Soren Lorenson 3 June 2014

Love them or loathe them...

Khan has identified an area of the market where people have money and has designed products for which they are prepared to pay a premium. It would be stupid to try to beat Ferrari and Porsche and fail like every UK sports car firm eventually does. Khan is ploughing a different and clearly more successful furrow.

Having said that..'Ant-Khan' - come on think again; terrible name.