Buy an Aston DB6 Shooting Brake

It's a question TG has often asked itself: if Sean Connery's James Bond had grown bored of shooting baddies in the face, and instead settled down with a wife, a couple of kids and a dachshund, what would he have driven?

Here, surely, is the answer. This is the Aston Martin DB6 Shooting Brake, and it's coming up for sale.

We assume you'll have to dig very deep to purchase this item, because though the seller won't reveal how much it's going for, the last time a rare, 1960s booted Aston Martin sold it was for in excess of £300k.

Still, you're getting a car once driven by the late former Formula One driver and British military officer Innes Ireland, who bought this particular DB6 brand new way back in 1967. Two years later, he realised that yes, what his DB6 needed was a ruddy big boot, and thus commissioned coachbuilders FLM Panelcraft to convert his car into a shooting brake. This is just one of two DB6 models FLM converted in the 60s; equally little-known Radford built another six.

Underneath sits the same 4.0-litre straight-six you get in the regular DB6 - itself an evolution of the 3.7-litre sixer developed by Aston engineer Tadek Marek for the DB4 in 1959. Here it produces somewhere in the region of 315bhp, powering the rear wheels via a five-speed manual.

The car has also been subject to a complete ground-up restoration by Aston Martin Works Service, is finished in gunmetal grey with burgundy upholstery, and comes with many receipts. Admit it, you want it, right?

For more pics and info, visit ddclassics.com

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