The car is one of three surviving examples commissioned by Eon Productions to promote two of Sean Connery’s best-known turns as 007. Fully-fitted and functioning with MI6 Q Brand specifications, it has an estimate of $4m-6m.
RM Sotheby’s offers the vehicle, catalogued as ‘the most famous car in the world’, during its August 15 Evening of Aston Martin in Monterey, California.
“These DB5s are amazing,” says Connery. “I remember the Furka Pass tire shredding, as well as the promotional events with these cars—they have become increasingly iconic since Goldfinger and Thunderball. In fact, I bought a very fine DB5 myself relatively recently.”
Bond producers first approached Aston Martin for a new model in 1963 for use in Goldfinger. The now-famous modifications include a machine gun in each fender, wheel-hub-mounted tire slashers, a retractable rear bulletproof screen, an in-dash radar tracking scope, revolving licecse plates and, of course, a passenger-set ejection system.
After the success of the film, in which the gadgets were added by the production crew, Aston Martin fitted the modifications to this and another car. After Thunderball, it was bought by Anthony Lord Bamford, who sold it on to the owner of the Smokey Mountain Car Museum in Tennessee. It became a centrepiece of the institution, where it remained for 35 years.
RM Sotheby’s auctioned it in 2006 and it was fully refurbished in 2012.
