Shootings, international criminals, chases, beautiful women and Martini with vodka – these are the first things that may come to the minds of the fans of Jan Flemming’s books when they speak about James Bond. But it is not relevant to the journalists who write about retro-automobiles. First of all we will look at the car of a MI6 secret agent and only then will come a famous cocktail or another villain from the Bondiana.
The MI6 agent with a license to kill had lots of gorgeous vehicles which could be in the spotlight of a series of articles but we are going to set our eyes just on one of those of Jan Flemming’s character – Aston Martin DB5.
It all happened in the end of 1963 when some representatives of the film company that was shooting the third movie about James Bond came to the factory of a British manufacturer of luxurious sport-cars to get a few new Aston Martins. According to the plan of the film makers, the new model designed in Warwickshire should have become a true companion to the secret agent but in reality it was not so easy to have a deal on the vehicle. The manufacturer proposed to buy two automobiles at the retail price, but the film company did not agree on that option. After continuous negotiations, the sides finally met halfway. Aston Martins were provided to the movie makers but just on loan (one of them was used in dynamic scenes, the other one was meant for the interior shooting and close-ups – editor’s note). But if «Aston Martin» had known that their car would become a part of history as a James Bond’s automobile, they would not have probably hesitated so much, but let’s leave these thought apart and focus on our narrative.
Aston Martin came to the world in 1963. The laconic and reserved design was suggested by an Italian firm «Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera» which earlier had their hands in building one of the iconic cars in the history of Mille Miglia — BMW 328 Touring Superleggera. Under the hood of a new Brit there was a four-cylinder engine, which could give its owner the speed of 60 miles per hour in 8 seconds, but in this aspect it was behind its contemporaries – Mustang and Jaguar E-Type. For the film the original version was upgraded in accordance with the needs of the agent. Then there were retracted fangs on the bumper, machine guns, knives in the hubs, bullet-proof windscreen, an oil sprinkler, a smoke generator, rotating license plates, global positioning, catapulting seats. To make it short, less than a half of default options were left untouched.
After the shooting was over, the film makers gave the vehicles back to the car company, but it was not their last meeting. «Goldfinger» had a budget of only $3 million whereas the book-office success was estimated as of nearly $125 million, and EON Productions that was in charge of producing the James Bond series turned back to the Aston Martin bosses to get two cars again. Considering all the obstacles that they had to come across while making the previous part of the saga, the special equipment for «Thunderball» was set at the factory already. The outcome was a pleasure for both sides: EON got a better car while Aston Martin took over the process of the refurnishing. As a result, the fourth motion picture received the profit a bit higher compared to its predecessor — $141.19 million. And even though Sean Connery left «the Bondiana» after «You Only Live Twice», Aston Martin kept staying with the character of James Bond. Altogether, the Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera’s creation was used in four other films of the franchise – «Tomorrow Never Dies», «A World is not Enough», «Casino Royale» and «Skyfall».
But you might be wondering what happened to the vehicles that took part in the films and the «Goldfinger» promo. Well, one of them was set back to the original look and sold in 1969 for $12,000 to some Jerry Lee. It was 41 years later when the same car with all the movie equipment reinstalled took part in bids and left the auction for a new owner for $4.6 million. The other vehicle, sadly, was stolen from the owner’s hangar and by now nobody knows its destiny. The luckiest was the edition used for the promo. In August, 2019, at an RM Sotheby’s auction it was sold for a record-breaking $6.4 million.
And if you think that you will never see the most famous automobile of James Bond, do not be afraid. Louwman Museum in Hague keeps a replica of a loyal companion of Sean Connery from «Goldfinger».