Aston Martin announced that they have sold the James Bond DB5 car featured in the 1964 Goldfinger and 1965 Thunderball movies for 4.6 million USD (the equivalent of 2.9 million GBP), during the RM auction which was held yesterday.
The James Bond Aston Martin DB5 is
retrofitted with the numerous gadgets including passenger ejector seat,
front wing-mounted machine guns and slicer wheel caps, and surprisingly the car is still road-legal in the UK.
The new owner of the James Bond Aston Martin DB5 is an American bidder who plans to showcase his acquisition at his private collection in Ohio.
Aston Martin press release :
Gaydon, 28 October 2010. Ahead of the RM auction of the only remaining James Bond DB5 that featured in both Goldfinger (1964) and Thunderball
(1965) which sold yesterday for just under £3 million, two iconic Aston
Martins have been captured together for the first time. The DB9, now
celebrated as the most successful Aston Martin of all time, echoes the
passion for design, engineering and craftsmanship which characterised
the secret agent’s company car.
Held in private ownership for some 40 years, ‘the most famous car in
the world’ was one of two DB5s which appeared on screen in both films.
The car originally used in Goldfinger for driving scenes, was
retrofitted with the famous gadgets including passenger ejector seat and
front wing-mounted machine guns by Aston Martin in preparation for its
second on-screen appearance in Thunderball.
The DB9, now in its seventh year of production, remains a design icon
and is regarded by many as the most beautiful sports grand tourer on
sale today. Just like the DB5 – the luxury zeitgeist of the 1960s, the
DB9 is hand-tailored to customer specification and uses the latest
technology.
The DB9 is based on Aston Martin’s unique V/H (Vertical/Horizontal)
architecture – a bonded aluminium understructure forming the lightweight
yet incredibly strong platform integral to the current range of sports
cars. In much the same way, the DB5 used modern technology of its time
employing aluminium body construction to help reduce weight in
‘Superleggera’ form. Aston Martin continues to use state of the art
manufacturing techniques and hand-craft skills to create the most
emotive cars on the road today.
To date, since its introduction in 2003, 15,000 DB9s have been built
at Aston Martin’s global headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire,
surpassing the DB7 as the most successful Aston Martin of all time.
These unique images show the revised DB9 new for 2011, in the aptly named Quantum Silver
paint finish together with the actual car from the 1964 film. The
optional paint is the same colour as the DBS that featured in the film Quantum of Solace in 2008.
The DB5 with the revolving registration plate ‘FMP 7B’ was sold for
£2,912,000 ($4,608,500) at RM Auctions yesterday to an American bidder
who plans to display it at his private collection in Ohio.
