Aston Martin DB5 James Bond – Collecting Cars
For many car enthusiasts, the chances of owning a vintage Aston Martin DB5 are as slim as working for MI6 as 007.
Fewer than 700 right-hand drive models were made in the Sixties and on the rare occasions they come up for sale, prices regularly top £600,000.
However, an original 1964 DB5 has now been put up for sale with an estimated price tag of half that.
There is just one catch: you have to build it yourself.
Buyers will be forced to reassemble the 1964 model piece by painstaking piece as only its unpainted steel frame is supplied already put together.
Every other component, including the car’s suspension, axles, engine and gearbox – all of which have been provided in the sale – will need to be refitted.
The lucky owner would also need to have the interior fully re-trimmed and the exterior fully primed and painted.
Aston Martin DB5 James Bond Sir Sean Connery – Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Bell Sport & Classic, a company which specialises in the restoration of classic cars, took the project on when the car was found in a “whole but neglected” state in dry storage in San Diego, California, in 2016.
Engineers estimated that the car had been left there since 1984, but fortunately suffered no corrosion.
During that period, it was resprayed Caribbean Pearl blue and the interior retrimmed with red leather – though Collecting Cars, a car auction house, said there was little documentation covering its stay in the US.
Mechanics then embarked on a six-year-long project to rebuild the car’s components in a full “nut-and-bolt” restoration from the ground up to bring “it back to its former glory”.
Collecting Cars said that “the frame was subsequently rewrapped, the nose and steel components of the bodywork replaced, and the frame and the floor powder-coated”.
It added: “New body panels have been hand-crafted by original factory team members, to carry as much authenticity through the restoration as possible, also ensuring the correct shape and fit.”
Most expensive Bond cars ever sold
The anonymous owner that had given Bell Sport & Classic the project then decided to sell the car before it had been fully restored.
Only 679 models of this particular DB5 were ever manufactured at the Aston Martin factory in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, in the Sixties.
The model has now gone up for sale on Collecting Cars for a week-long auction, with bids reaching £30,000 as of Tuesday afternoon.
Biddings will close on the evening of Nov 1.
Matt Wilton, a director at Bell Sport & Classic, urged would-be buyers not to reassemble it themselves, no matter how good an amateur engineer they might be.
He said: “We are definitely talking about a proper planned-out project. Definitely not something that could be done in a few weeks. I would always recommend you take it to a specialist Aston engineer.”
Mr Wilton estimated that the car would be worth around £650,000 when fully restored.
‘Significant global interest’
The DB5 model forever linked the Aston Martin brand with James Bond after its appearance in Goldfinger
The model went on to appear in a further seven films, including the latest instalment No Time to Die.
A spokesman for Collecting Cars said they “anticipate strong bidding for this Aston Martin DB5 project, especially as it’s one of only 679 cars delivered new to the UK”.
They added: “We have more than 120,000 registered members in over 100 countries, so there is bound to be significant global interest.
“With the full body restoration and expert engine rebuild already done, it’s a compelling opportunity to complete this car to a bespoke specification – choosing the final paint colour, interior trim, and maybe even a few gadgets.”
Keyword: Cut-price Aston Martin DB5 on sale for James Bond fans – but there’s a catch