WHY WE LOVE BOND’S DB5

IT SET A PRECEDENT FOR FUTURE FILMS

Before Goldfinger, Bond hadn’t had a car built specifically for field work. His personal car in the books was a Blower Bentley, described by author, Ian Fleming, as a toy the secret agent drove in his spare time. CCW contributor and Bond fan, Richard Gunn, added: ‘The DB5 helped to establish the template for the cinematic Bond, forging the link with Aston Martin that persists today, with an exasperated Q being dismayed at 007’s flippancy towards his creations. This is the alpha Bond car.’

IT INSPIRED A HOST OF IMITATORS

Chassis DB5/1486/R, the second car EON used during the Goldfinger production, was nicknamed the ‘road car’ because it was used for scenes other than stunt driving and special effects. DB5/1486/R was used for close-ups with Sean Connery and normal driving ‘cut away’ shots.

Life ended up imitating art, however – after being sold off, and in the hands of its new owner, the ‘road car’ received all the Bond extras for promotional duties in the same way that the ‘effects car’ had had gadgets reinstalled.

BOND FANS LOVE A GOOD MYSTERY

According to Art Recovery International’s Christopher Marinello, a well-known auction house sold DP/216/1’s service manual (complete with matching chassis details) to an anonymous bidder after the car disappeared. Could the Middle Eastern owner of the spotted DB5 and the buyer of

DP/216/1’s service manual be the same person?