The James Bond series is famous for its cool cars, particularly the Aston Martin DB5… And now the coolest DB5 ever made has just sold – for a serious figure.
Famed British auction house Christie’s and EON Productions are currently an amazing auction event called Sixty Years of James Bond: an official two-part charity sale celebrating the 60th anniversary of the iconic spy film franchise that boasts 60 iconic lots spanning the 25 Bond films.
The 60 lots, split between an online and a live auction, include a treasure trove of Bond goodies, including Timothy Dalton’s tuxedo from License To Kill, a Casino Royale script signed by the actors, producers and screenwriters; and even one of the Day of the Dead skeletons from Spectre.
But the vast majority of items come from the most recent Bond film, No Time To Die – the 25th in the franchise and Daniel Craig’s last stint as the famous fictional British agent – including the Aston Martin DB5 stunt car from the thrilling opening scene, which we reckon might just be the coolest Bond car ever.
The DB5, of course, is a staple of the franchise and one of the most iconic movie cars of all time. This DB5 is a cut above the rest, however.
One of only eight built specifically for James Bond and, to date, the only DB5 stunt car to be released for public sale, this was exclusively engineered and handcrafted by Aston Martin’s Special Projects division for No Time To Die, Christie’s explains. All the DB5 stunt cars were modified in different ways, with this car being one of a few to include the bespoke No Time To Die gadgets and mocked-up side panel damage.
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What’s really cool is that this car is actually functional, as it was built specifically to perform dynamic stunts. Under the hood, it boasts a modern 3.2L inline-six petrol engine plus a manual gearbox. The body panels are all carbon fibre, as is much of the interior, and it boasts a beefed-up bespoke suspension and braking system uniquely engineered by Aston Martin Special Projects.
It’s not just some mocked-up shell: this is the real deal; as close as one can get to driving a functional Bond car. Cool, right?
What’s the catch? Well, you might technically be able to drive it, but it was sold as a ‘non-runner’ collector’s item and is not approved for use on any public roads or homologated. This is just a technicality – I mean, you’d probably be crazy to drive around something so rare on the streets anyway…
The DB5, part of the live portion of the auction, ended up selling for 2,922,000 of His Majesty’s finest pounds (~ 3,172,050 USD / 4,869,395 AUD), far surpassing Christie’s auction estimate of 1,500,000 – 2,000,000 GBP.
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This DB5 wasn’t the only cool car that went under the hammer, either. A bunch of vehicles from No Time To Die were up for grabs – most of which smashed their auction estimates – including Bond’s 1981 Aston Martin V8 (which went for 630,000 GBP), Nomi’s Aston Martin DBS Superleggera (403,200 GBP), the Triumph Scrambler motorbike from the Italy opening sequence (138,600 GBP) plus two of the villainous Land Rover Defenders from the Norway chase scene (which didn’t beat their estimates and sold for 163,800 and 189,000 GBP respectively).
Other cool lots at the Sixty Years of James Bond live auction included the OMEGA Seamaster Diver 300M 007 Edition worn by Daniel Craig in the film (226,800 GBP) and a five-night stay at the luxurious Goldeneye estate in Jamaica where Ian Fleming wrote all fourteen Bond books (52,920 GBP).
While the live portion of the auction is over, the online portion is still running until October 5th, and contains goodies like signed posters and a bunch of outfits worn by Daniel Craig and others in the films.
WATCH our guide to James Bond’s best watches below.
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