Icon Two: The Aston Martin DB5 from the “007: James Bond” film franchise
The Info
The Aston Martin DB5 is a timeless classic that is perhaps 007’s best known vehicle of choice. James Bond has had several of these cars over the years and it kickstarted a long running brand relationship between Aston Martin and the Bond movie franchise which has featured many of that brand’s offerings as Bond’s wheels. The DB5 we’ll be looking at here is the one featured in 2012’s Skyfall, 2015’s Spectre and 2020’s No Time To Die. Note: this isn’t the same Aston that 007 won in a poker game in 2006’s Casino Royale.
Bond’s Skyfall DB5 appears first as the car that will be used by Bond and M to go under the radar as part of a bold plan to get ahead of Silva, the film’s troubled and twisted villain who seems to have always been one step ahead of his enemies and has more than a bone to pick with M. Given that 2012 marked 50 years of James Bond movies, it seemed very apt to bring back this motoring marvel for Skyfall, which is one of the great cars of cinema and film history with a timeless elegance that oozes charisma and ice-cool awesomeness.
Originally a car in sorry shape, the Skyfall DB5 was once dark green and rusty but then restored to the iconic silver paint job, which could be one of the most famous motoring paint hues of all time. It has been fitted with some cool gadgets such as an ejector seat and is in right-hand drive, unlike the DB5 from Casino Royale which was a left-hand drive model. You can see Bond has a real passion for cars, and this one is no exception. In Skyfall, the car is severely damaged but does reappear in 2015’s Spectre and again in No Time To Die in pristine condition (with the addition of miniguns), which will be gracing cinemas later this year.
So, what will one of these superb sports cars set you back in 2020? The answer is a lot. You’d have mega-rich to get one of these as your transport. A quick glance on the UK Auto Trader website shows several examples, with the cheapest car (at the time of writing) being a whopping £595,000, so deep pockets are essential. Still, for the rest of us, there’s a number of more affordable ways to have an Aston Martin DB5 in your life, such as purchasing a collectable mini model edition or buying one of those driving experiences that allow you to sample the charm and delights of being behind the wheel of that very car for a limited period of time.
You get the impression that the Aston Martin DB5, like the 007 films, will be still enjoyed generations into the future and will always hold a strong appeal for many in this world. Dream car, anyone?
Words by James Gillespie