What’s the most Aston Martin car in the back catalogue?

Is the DB5 the most famous car in the world? There are few cars around that would have the recognition that 007’s gadget packed silver GT enjoys. It’s curious for a car that was only on sale from 1963 to 1965, with just over a thousand of them finding homes. The coupe version was £4,175 – that’s £72,200 in today’s money, which makes the DB5 a bit of a bargain compared with Aston’s current line-up.

The 5 was an evolution of the DB4, designed by Italian outfit Carozzeria Touring Superleggera and continuing the design themes that were introduced with the DB Mark III in 1957, the sleek long bonnet and distinctive grille. The fared in headlights were a new look that would become a signature touch along with the grille, both still being referenced today. The 4.0-litre straight six under that bonnet produced 282bhp, and with the aid of the five-speed ZF manual box it would get the car to 60mph in 7.1secs and on to a top speed of 142mph. Perky numbers for the time, but the car’s 1,468kg kerbweight is a little on the heavy side even before you start loading up with machine guns and bulletproofing.

Drivers would have felt as sophisticated as an international superspy with the car’s standard fit electric windows, servoed disc brakes on 15in wire wheels and optional air conditioning. If you wanted to be ultra exclusive then you could have gone for one of the shooting brake models from coachbuilder Harold Radford in London – these sold at a 50 per cent premium on the coupe. The first car was built for David Brown himself, who wanted a DB5 he could run the dog about in, and 11 further examples went to customers.

It was the car’s inclusion in 1964 flick Goldfinger that cemented its place in the global consciousness. The film’s producers just wanted to stick Sean Connery in the latest version of the Aston Martin the Bond character had been driving in the books, but the company took a bit of persuading. Aston Martin gave Bond a prototype car for the special effects and a production model for filming shots. The DB5 was light on gadgets at first, but the production team kept coming up with ideas for new things to shove in and they went with it, apparently including some that were designed for the car but not shown on screen. Director Guy Hamilton came up with the revolving numberplates because he kept getting parking tickets at the time.

Ironically, thanks to its association with Bond the DB5 has become an all-time classic, fetching silly money for decent examples. In fact, the car has become so valuable that when Bond producers got round to making No Time to Die in 2019 they had to commission a series of stunt cars with BMW M3 undercrackers draped in DB5 lookalike bodies because destroying the real ones would be too expensive. The famous actors all get doubles for dangerous work, why not the most famous car in the world?