Classified of the week: Bond’s* DB5!

Admit it, as soon as you saw the image above, you started humming the James Bond theme tune, didn't you? You're only human, after all. With that in mind, may we present to you an icon of British cinema: it's James Bond's DB5!

Well, it's not actually his DB5 as used in the 007 canon of films, but a very-well maintained replica, now being offered by Sussex Sports Cars, and featuring some nifty little Bond-spec gadgets you might be interested in.

Gerry Wadman, representing the sale, told TG.com he bought this 1964 DB5 from its previous owner, ‘an elderly gentlemen', around 18 years ago for £65,000, and it was this elderly gentleman in question who commissioned the build. Why? Apparently so he could take his grandson out for a drive in ‘Bond's' DB5. Heart melted yet?

The build was undertaken by Aston Martin agents Chapman Spooner of Walsall, who installed replica front machine guns, a replica rear bullet-proof shield, revolving number plates and tyre ‘slashers'. Suffice to say, you can't actually drive with these gadgets on show - they're for static display only.

Gerry told TG.com he reckons the build to ‘Bond' spec cost somewhere in the region of £20,000, and was completed a couple of years before he got his hands on it. He sold it to a Japanese doctor who was mad about James Bond (obviously), and we're told that over the past 18 years, every time 007 reappeared on the silver screen, this Japanese doctor would rent out his DB5 to film companies wanting it as a promotional tool.

It's been maintained fastidiously by Aston Martin Japan since 1995, and has been treated to a high-quality repaint, and a re-trim in navy blue leather. All the chrome has been replated, and the brakes have just been subject to a massive overhaul. Underneath, the heart remains the same, so it's still a 4.0-litre straight-six engine, powering the rear wheels.

Now, comes the price. Considering the actual James Bond DB5 - as used in Goldfinger - sold for £2.6m, this one is an absolute bargain: yours for just £375,000. It's covered less than 5,000 miles since the Bond-overhaul, and if you're convinced this is your motor, Gerry will fly you out to Osaka, Japan (where the car is currently based) for free.

A fitting tribute, don't you think, to Aston Martin's centenary year? Click here for TG.com's report from the massive Kensington Park Gardens party, here for an interview with AM design chief Marek Reichman, then head below for the classified.

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