Aston Martin driven by 007 sells for eye watering price – but there’s a very big catch
An Aston Martin driven by James Bond has been sold for £326,000 but needs some work on it before it hits the road.
Classic gray 1964 Aston Martin DB5 Sports Saloon stripped and disassembled prior to a 1976 restoration.
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But the project never materialized and all the original parts were neatly packaged and labeled.
Now the car has finally been sold and the iconic ‘James Bond’ engine’s distinctive shell arrived in separate boxes along with the rest of the parts.
The DB5 is the most famous of all 007 Aston Martins and appeared in five films including Goldfinger starring Sean Connery as Bond (1964).
However, the Aston Martin in its unfinished form is only valued at the comparatively low price of £300,000.
But if a patient buyer successfully solves the puzzle of parts and completes the build, the value could rise to a whopping £600,000.
The classic car was bought in 1976 by a German car collector from a Scot.
He then stripped the car down to its famous gray chassis before having a restoration carried out after a paint job failed.
However, the company charged with carrying out the restoration went bankrupt before the project could go ahead and the owner’s lack of funds prevented him from paying for the reconstruction.
The collector put the shell in storage and when he died his wife kept it untouched in the garage for years.
After being guarded in his family’s garage, it was purchased by the current seller and remains in pristine condition despite being dismantled, with even the front seats and wheels removed from the body of the car.
The bodywork includes a stack of boxes with important parts and the original dark red leather seats.
It has a 4-liter, five-speed engine that produces 282 horsepower and a top speed of 145 mph.
And the model was so popular that Corgi Toys made miniature DB5s in silver with red interiors.
The car went under the hammer at Bonhams auction house, which ran the sale at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in Chichester, West Sussex.
A Bonhams spokesman said: “The DB5 was the first and remains to this day the most famous of all ‘James Bond’ Aston Martins, having appeared in no fewer than five films in the series, beginning with Goldfinger in 1964.”
“In 1976 this DB5 was brought to Germany from Great Britain.
“The owner at the time commissioned a company that unfortunately filed for bankruptcy in the course of the restoration and was unable to complete the work.
“His dream turned into a nightmare that cost him a lot of money so he decided to store the DB5 as is and it remains in disassembled condition.”
“Aston produced just over 1,000 DB5s at the time, so they’ve always been very exclusive – now more than ever.”
“Project cars are of course even rarer, so this is a wonderful opportunity for someone to recreate their very own DB5 using authentic components.”
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