OO7 DB5 ‘FOUND’
Ex- Goldfinger Aston may have surfaced in the Middle East
Private investigation firm, Art Recovery International, says that the Aston Martin DB5 ‘effects car’ used in the Bond film Goldfinger could soon be reunited with its rightful owner.
Employed ten years ago by the company that insured the Aston (after paying $4.3 million to cover its disappearance), Art Recovery International’s chief executive, Christopher Marinello, said: ‘More than one person has seen [the Bond Aston] in a private collection of cars in the Middle East.’
Having started life as a DB4, chassis DP/216/1 first served as a development prototype for the new DB5, before Bond producer, EON, transformed it into the Goldfinger ‘effects car’.
Both Christopher Marinello and marque specialist, Roger Bennington, said that the DB5 spotted in the Middle East would need to be thoroughly inspected if it was to be confirmed as the movie car stolen from an airport hangar in Boca Raton, Florida, in 1997.
Roger Bennington is managing director of Stratton Motor Company, an Aston Martin Heritage franchisee that built three DB5s for use in GoldenEye (later used in Tomorrow
Never Dies, Skyfall and SPECTRE).
Roger said: ‘Over the years, several DB5s became Bond cars; some were used on screen, others were put to work as promotional vehicles.’
In fact, the ‘effects car’ DB5 was stripped of its Bond gadgets after filming ended, then sold on as a standard vehicle.
Chassis DP/216/1’s history was sufficiently well known for its last owner to buy it in 1986 for around $250,000; it subsequently had some Bond extras reinstalled.
Roger Bennington said: ‘We don’t know exactly what was added back to the car. It would take an expert to formally identify DP/216/1 as the real thing because there are corresponding numbers all over the car – you would have to be well in the know to correctly examine it.
‘The passage of time helps further the myth. ‘Without closer inspection, we can’t be sure what the spotted car actually is’.
❚ strattonmotorcompany.com