Monday 20th August 2018

£2.75m Aston Martin DB5 'Goldfinger' launched

Aston's latest continuation project is a doozy - and limited to 25 cars

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Are you a James Bond fan? Got a spare £2.75 million lying around? Because you’ll love this. Aston Martin has teamed up with EON Productions - the company that makes the 007 films - to create a short run of 'Goldfinger' DB5s that mimic the iconic 1964 film model.

Just 25 examples of these Bond-spec DB5 will be produced, each at Aston’s Newport Pagnell site where the original DB5s were made back in the 1960s. They won't be road legal so can come with “authentic reproductions” of the gadgets that featured on Q's customised Aston, including those revolving number plates. (Which are there for show, of course, not to evade speed cameras…)

Chris Corbould, special effects supervisor from the James Bond films, is responsible for co-developing the car so expect the gadgets to be as accurate as possible – although sadly there's no mention of an ejector seat. The rest of each car will be built as true to form as possible, with just one colour offered: Silver Birch - the same shade used on Sean Connery’s drop-dead gorgeous grand tourer.

Picking up from the 898 examples of DB5s produced between 1963 and 1965, the new continuation cars will use a 4.0-litre straight six engine offering 286hp and 280lb ft of torque. Enough grunt to send you and your tuxedo to 60mph in 7.1sec and onto a top speed of 148mph. Drive is sent to the rear wheels via a five-speed manual gearbox, in case you were wondering.

Beyond the 25 customers cars, an additional 3 will be built; one apiece for Aston, EON and charity auction. Aston boss, Andy Palmer, said: "To own an Aston Martin has long been an aspiration for James Bond fans, but to own a Silver Birch DB5, complete with gadgets and built to the highest standards in the very same factory as the original James Bond cars? Well, that is surely the ultimate collectors' fantasy. The skilled craftspeople at Aston Martin Works and the expert special effects team from the James Bond films are about to make this fantasy real for 25 very lucky customers."

Can you think of a better way for a Bond fanatic to enact out their spy fantasies than with the very car 007 used? Yep, the Lotus Espirit submarine from the Spy Who Loved Me. But we don't think Elon Musk is likely to let 'Wet Nellie' go - so this is the next best thing. Deliveries start next year.

[sidesauce]

Surely these are sold already?

[Cold]

Tuxedo?

[Vantagefan]

"007 films - to create a short run of 'Goldfinder' DB5s that mimic the iconic 1964 film model."

Goldfinder...

....Gold...Finder....

Seriously guys, this is important automotive news and you can't be arsed to run a spell check?

[AJB88]

Been living next to this factory for 7 years now, always wanted a silver birch DB5 as well... wonder if they accept monopoly money?

[gforceg]

Vantagefan said:

"007 films - to create a short run of 'Goldfinder' DB5s that mimic the iconic 1964 film model."

Goldfinder...

....Gold...Finder....

Seriously guys, this is important automotive news and you can't be arsed to run a spell check?

They could've called it the Golddigger DB5 I suppose.

[deltashad]

Can't see many of these ever being driven.

Would make a stunning piece of living room art.

[Vanin]

gforceg said:

They could've called it the Golddigger DB5 I suppose.

That would be the case if it came complete with Bond Girl!

[David87]

Jeez, I’d kill for one of these.

[1781cc]

For all that money, I don’t know why they didn’t put a six speed and a better engine in there, improve the performance from a crap 7.1secs

I know some will say it’s to be authentic, but authentic as in what? A gadget car from a film which is fiction in itself? And if it’s authenticity that’s limiting is it going to run a carburetor, a choke and spew all kinds of emissions or do we ignore that? The law doesn’t care about the 007 franchise.

Gorgeous car and all that, but a missed opportunity to truly go all Q on a classic old looking car with modern hidden tech

[cookie1600]

A question that I still can't get straight in my mind. Are these continuation cars liable for an IVA to go on the road or are they built from existing chassis numbers so retain that identity?

These might be the only continuation cars that actually deserve a 'Q' plate!

[Filibuster]

deltashad said:

Can't see many of these ever being driven.

Would make a stunning piece of living room art.

None of them will ever be driven on public road, sadly. They are not road legal.
It will be the same as with the DB4 GT "continuation" models. They weren't road legal either, as they had new (or non at all) chassis numbers. If you have an old chassis number, you can go mad (to some extent. check the 5 or so point you have to achieve in order to use an old chassis/registration). Otherwise you'd have to comply with all sorts of 2018 legislations!

[Filibuster]

1781cc said:

For all that money, I don’t know why they didn’t put a six speed and a better engine in there, improve the performance from a crap 7.1secs

I know some will say it’s to be authentic, but authentic as in what? A gadget car from a film which is fiction in itself? And if it’s authenticity that’s limiting is it going to run a carburetor, a choke and spew all kinds of emissions or do we ignore that? The law doesn’t care about the 007 franchise.

Gorgeous car and all that, but a missed opportunity to truly go all Q on a classic old looking car with modern hidden tech

I hear you! Have a look at what Jenvey did in recent years:
https://store.jenvey.co.uk/throttle-bodies-and-com...

And a review of an Aston DB5 equipped with them:
https://store.jenvey.co.uk/pub/media/documents/mor...

Now imagine a 4.7l RS Williams tuned DB5 with EFI and some other mechanical upgrades
And all built new by Aston themselves without "butchering" an original car!

[hammo19]

Fabulous car, eccentric British idea but if you can build a small number of these beautiful motoring icons Aston why not build the ones with gadgets and then carry on and productionise the DB5 again.

I would love to see more of these on the roads and who knows if I sold my wife, cars and house I maybe able to buy one......and I promise it would not be sat in a collection!

[hammo19]

Fabulous car, eccentric British idea but if you can build a small number of these beautiful motoring icons Aston why not build the ones with gadgets and then carry on and productionise the DB5 again.

I would love to see more of these on the roads and who knows if I sold my wife, cars and house I maybe able to buy one......and I promise it would not be sat in a collection!

[PSB1967]

25 for the super rich and one for a charity auction, also for the super rich. Why auction? why not raffle? At £5 a ticket I think there would be tremendous interest and enough to cover the cost of the car if not double it. That way us Plebs have a chance of winning one too. (we are the ones who trek to the flicks and have made the Bond/AM brand successful.)
Imagine winning it how cool would that be? As it stands they may as well be made of unobtainium.

[rare6499]

If they can sell them then why not, it keeps these skills and supply chains alive. It’s also a pretty awesome piece of art! If you want one to drive on the road there are lots of companies that could ‘enhance’ a road legal DB5, though you might not want to mess with one considering their value now.

[wab172uk]

If you were to find yourself in the position to spunk £2.7m on this car, you'd want it without the reproduction silly gadgets, surely?

[Agent57]

It says these are being 'created'. I presume they are old DB5s being completely stripped and restored? Or are they 'making' new chassis and adding the parts? It was only a matter of time, I guess as Jaguar have done something similar.

[rare6499]

Totally new I would imagine otherwise you could carry over the VIN/V5 and they would be road legal.

As these are essentially new cars they can’t be put on the road because they don’t meet any of the safety/certification requirements.

[Krikkit]

wab172uk said:

If you were to find yourself in the position to spunk £2.7m on this car, you'd want it without the reproduction silly gadgets, surely?

In which case you'd get a freshly nut-and-bolt restored original one and probably a million quid's worth of change.