Technical specifications

• Manufactor: Aston Martin (UK)
• Model: DB5
• Year: 1963
• Engine: 6 cylinder 4.0 litre light alloy
• Power: 282 bhp at 5.550 rpm
• Transmission: David Brown 4 speed gearbox. Rear wheel drive.
• Brakes: Disc
• Wheels: 15" wire wheels.
• Perfomance: Max. speed 140 mph.
• Body: Light alloy construction around a small diameter multi-tubular framework, the hole mounted on a platform chassis.
• Colour: Silver birch.
• Number plate: BMT 216A

Extra Equipment

• Rotating number plates: BMT 216A, LU 6789 and 4711-EA-62 (British, French and Swiss).
• 2 shortbarrelled ,303 Browning machine guns behind the front parking lights.
• Smoke-screen unit.
• Oil ejecting device behind near side tail-light.
• 2 Water cannons rear. (Thunderball)
• Caltrops behind offside tail-light.
• Hydraulic bullet-proof steel plate covering rear window.
• Bullet-proof windows.
• Radar - homertracking.
• Extendable rams in front and rear bumper for close combat.
• Tire cutters in the wheels.
• Passenger ejector seat.
• Radiophone housed in driver's door panel. (not used)
• Colour fax. (Goldeneye)
• Champagne refrigerator. (Goldeneye)

Notes

Often called 'the world's most famous Car', the DB5 is synonymous with 007. It makes it's first appearance in 'Goldfinger' using most of the gadgets, and returned in the pre title sequence in 'Thunderball', where we saw the bullet-proof steel plate cover the rear window and 2 water cannons spray water. (note: BMT 216A first appeared in The Saint)

It was a close call, the world's most famous Car' could have been a Ferrari or another sportscar. The filmcompany wanted the car for free and Aston Martin wanted to sell the cars, but somehow they came to an agreement and a legend was to be born.

Aston Martin delivered two cars for the making of Goldfinger, but only one was equipped by the special effects crew with gadgets for the film. After filming the second car was equipped too. Both cars and two additional cars were used for Goldfinger marketing. All the gadgets were controlled from a panel between the frontseats, the ejectorseat from the gear lever.

In 1964 Corgi made a die-cast model of the Goldfinger DB5 with working ejector seat. The model became Model of the Year.

After 'Thunderball' one of the Aston Martins had all the gadgets removed and was rebuilt as a normal road car. It was then sold as a second-hand car.

The DB5 was not seen again until 'Goldeneye'. Here it was seen in a race with a red Ferrari 355 GTS driven by Xenia Onatop. Now the number plate is BMT 214A possibly indicating, that the DB5 no longer is a company car, but James Bond's private car ! The gearbox case no longer controls the gadgets, but contains glass and a chilled bottle of Champagne - Bollinger 1988. Q-branch has obviously removed most of the gadgets. The only gadgets were a colour fax and a wireless set of digital camera-binoculars able to communicate with Miss Moneypenny at the office.

The race against the Ferrari 355 GTS on the mountainroads near Nice and Monte Carlo is very well filmed with a good soundtrack. This is one of the few chases that James Bond looses. The Ferrari was on loan from the Ferrari factory, and during the filming the cars incurred several thousand pounds of damage, the Ferrari was especially badly damaged. The producers and Ferrari agreed that Ferrari payed the damage to their car if Onatopp and Ferrari won the race.

A rumour says, that it is the real owner of the car, that drives it onto the square in front of the Casino.

In 'Tomorrow Never Dies' we just sees the Aston Martin in some short scenes and no gadgets are used. But the gadget loaded BMW 740iL has the German number plate BMT2144. It must be a tribute to the DB5.

In 'Casino Royale' James Bond wins the Aston Martin DB5 in a pokergame. The car has the driver in the left side !!! And of course no gadgets. We presume, Q rebuilds the DB5 and moves the driver position to the right hand side of the car for 'Goldfinger'. The car is equipped with blue Nassau number plate: 56 526.

The original Goldfinger Aston Martin DB5 has been in private collections since the 1960s. The latest known owner bought it on an aucion in 1986 for $250.000. In June 1997 it was stolen under suspicious circumstances. The thieves broke into the guarded Boca airport. The alarm wires of the hangar were cut and the car vanished without a trace into the night, eventhough the keys were not in the car.

But this isn't the end of the story:
The stolen car was a central part of a lawsuit in 1999. The trial involved the DB5, a wealthy entrepreneur, a family dispute, alleged blackmail and the gun Jack Ruby used to kill Lee Harvey Oswald. The entrepreneurs brother-in-law claimed 10% of the cars insurance amount and an additional $1.1 million for his research and marketing of the DB5. The car was insured for $4.2 million.

The car itself - is still missing.

Chassis No. DP/216/1
  The 'Effects Car' used in Goldfinger. Stolen.
  (First appeared in The Saint)
Chassis No. DB5/1486/R
  The 'Road Car', used in Goldfinger, later fitted with gadgets.
Chassis No. DB5/2008/R
  'Press Car', used for promotion in USA. Now in Europe somewhere.
Chassis No. DB5/2017/R
  'Press Car', used for promotion in USA.

On Friday, 20th January 2006, one of the 'Press Cars' (Chassis No. DB5/2008/R) was for sale for the first time in 35 years. On the auction at RM Auctions the car was sold to an European collector for US$ 2,090,000.

On Wednesday 27 October 2010, the 'Road Car' was sold at RM Auctions at a price of GBP 2.912.000 to an American businessman Harry Yeaggy. The former owner, Jerry Lee, bought the car in 1969 for USD 12.000 from the Aston Martin Factory. The car had only around 30.000 miles on the odometer. Most of those from the promotion tours. The cars original registration number was 'FMP 7B'. Up to the auction, the car was carefully restored to roadworthy condition, and all the factory installed gadgets in working order! Not that it was worn out, Mr. Jerry Lee had taken special care with a special, purpose-build room for the car in his home. And rumour has it, the car almost never left that room. See this beautiful restored car at RM Auctions Bond page.

The production of the Aston Martin DB5 ran from 1963 through until 1965 with a total build of 1021 units. Around 10% of these were in convertible form.

The full DB5 story is available in Dave Worrall's book 'The Most Famous Car In The World'. Discover how the car was built, the publicity tours, the filming etc. Reprint of the 1993 edition with a foreword by Desmond Llewelyn and featuring over 380 photographs and illustrations. Available from Solo Publishing.

BMT 216A Shop

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