Bond fans, you can have a DB5 Goldfinger … for $5.5million
It takes 4500 hours to build each DB5 Goldfinger car at Aston Martin’s plant. Photo: Aston Martin
It’s been 55 year since the last Aston Martin DB5, aka Goldfinger car, was produced but all of that is about to change with the rebirth of a classic.
The DB5 was dubbed ‘the most famous car in the world’ and the most sought-after classic Aston Martin models.
Fewer than 900 saloon examples were built by the brand between 1963 and 1965, with by far the most famous of the original ‘owners’ being James Bond who drove it in the 1964 film, Goldfinger.
Now, work is once again under way there on a strictly limited number of new DB5 models at Aston Martin’s then global manufacturing base in Newport Pagnell, UK.
Created in association with the producers of the James Bond films, EON Productions, and featuring a broad suite of working gadgets first seen on screen in the 1964 film, the Aston Martin DB5 Goldfinger Continuation cars are history in the making.
Mr Bond I presume? Sean Connery with his famous DB5 in the movie Goldfinger. Photo: MGM
The price? It’s £2.75 million, (NZ$5.5m) plus taxes.
The DB5 Goldfinger Continuation construction process takes around 4500 hours per car and each of the 25 new cars is being built to the highest possible quality using a blend of Sir David Brown-era old world craftsmanship, with the sympathetic application of modern engineering advancements and performance enhancements, alongside the integration of cutting-edge gadgets developed in association with Chris Corbould OBE, the special effects supervisor who has worked on more than a dozen Bond films.
The list of Bond-inspired gadgets includes the features, all familiar to viewers of the classic 1964 big screen hit.
They include rear smoke screen and simulated oil slick delivery systems, revolving number plates front and rear (triple plates), simulated twin front machine guns, bullet resistant rear shield, battering rams front and rear, simulated tyre slasher and the option of a removable passenger seat roof panel.
If you feel like it, you can have a removable passenger seat roof panel. Photo: Aston Martin
Inside you get a simulated radar screen tracker map, telephone in driver’s door, gear knob actuator button, armrest and centre console-mounted switchgear, under-seat hidden weapons/storage tray and a remote control for gadget activation.
All the DB5 Goldfinger Continuation cars are being built to one exterior colour specification – Silver Birch paint – just like the original.
Under the bonnet there’s a 4-litre naturally aspirated inline six-cylinder engine with a six-plug heads mated to a five-speed ZF manual transmission in the rear-wheel drive DB5, which also features a mechanical limited slip differential. All the better for outrunning your baddie.
The Aston Martin DB5 Goldfinger Continuation has a 4-litre naturally aspirated inline six-cylinder engine. Photo: Aston Martin
Heritage Programme Manager Clive Wilson is one of those most closely involved in the process of bringing the new DB5 Goldfinger Continuation car into production. He said: “Seeing the first customer car move painstakingly through the intricate production process we have created really is quite a thrill.
“Obviously we have not, as a business, made a new DB5 for more than 50 years, so to be involved in the building of these cars, which will go on to form part of Aston Martin’s history, is something I’m sure all of us will be telling our grandkids about!”
First deliveries of the DB5 Goldfinger Continuation to customers will commence in the second half of 2020.
Come on though, who wouldn’t pay $5.5m just for the simulated twin front machine guns and battering rams.
