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Business News/ Auto / James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 is back in production
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James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 is back in production

The 25 limited edition Aston Martin DB5s will each be priced at 2.75 million ($3.5 million) plus taxes and feature enough working gadgets to make Q proud

Sean Connery as James Bond, with an Aston Martin DB5. Photo: Aston MartinPremium
Sean Connery as James Bond, with an Aston Martin DB5. Photo: Aston Martin

British carmaker Aston Martin is recreating the legendary DB5 as driven by James Bond in Goldfinger. A collectible for true 007 fans, the 25 limited edition vehicles will each be priced at £2.75 million ($3.5 million) plus taxes and feature enough working gadgets to make Q proud, says the company.

The espionage modifications will be co-developed by Academy Award-winner Chris Corbould, special effects supervisor on eight previous James Bond films. So far, rotating number plates have been announced, with more to come. It’s safe to predict a working ejector seat is not on the blueprints.

The force of the jet pack can be seen whipping up the dust and stones on the road as it comes into land. Waiting at the Aston Martin DB5 is French spy Madame LaPorte. played by Maryse Guy Mitsouko, Photo: Aston Martin
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The force of the jet pack can be seen whipping up the dust and stones on the road as it comes into land. Waiting at the Aston Martin DB5 is French spy Madame LaPorte. played by Maryse Guy Mitsouko, Photo: Aston Martin

Based on the 1964 model used in Goldfinger and driven onscreen by actor Sean Connery, the cars are a collaboration between the marque and EON Productions, the company behind the Bond film franchise, and will be built at Aston Martin Works in England’s Newport Pagnell. As “continuation editions," they’ll be manufactured and numbered as if new off the line in the ’60s. The DB4 GT of the same era was re-created most recently in the same way.

All 25 new/old DB5s will feature Silver Birch paint, just like Bond’s movie original. Mechanical specifications will be similar to the original with “sympathetic modifications to ensure the highest levels of build quality and reliability," according to Aston Martin.

First deliveries to customers will commence in 2020, but no, they will not be street legal.

James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 parked up while he has a lesson with Professor Inga Bergstrom at Oxford University. Photo: Aston Martin
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James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 parked up while he has a lesson with Professor Inga Bergstrom at Oxford University. Photo: Aston Martin

“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," said Aston Martin President and Chief Executive Officer Andy Palmer in statement Monday.

The original 1964 DB5 which featured in Goldfinger and Thunderball—complete with guns protruding from tail lights, rotating plates, and a removable ejector roof—sold for $4.6 million at auction in London in 2010. A 1965 DB5 original that was featured in the 1995 Bond film GoldenEye sold at auction in July for $2.5 million, no gadgets included.

James Bond chases Xenia Onatopp through France, he in his Aston Martin DB5 and she in a Ferrari. Photo: Aston Martin
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James Bond chases Xenia Onatopp through France, he in his Aston Martin DB5 and she in a Ferrari. Photo: Aston Martin

The DB5 has featured in the franchise six other times since its first outing in Goldfinger, including Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), Casino Royale (2006) and Skyfall (2012).

News of the special edition recreation comes as the luxury carmaker weighs an initial public offering in London. Fans of Aston Martin not beholden to the allure of Bond can spend decidedly less money and pick up the all-new $300,000 V12 DBS Superleggera Coupe, which made its US debut in June.

Daniel Craig stands next to an Aston Martin DB5 in ‘Skyfall’. Photo: Francois Duhamel
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Daniel Craig stands next to an Aston Martin DB5 in ‘Skyfall’. Photo: Francois Duhamel

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Published: 21 Aug 2018, 01:40 PM IST
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