Goldeneye DB5 set for £1.2m auction

Car driven by Pierce Brosnan nets millions

For would-be Bonds, owning an Aston Martin has long been the best way to replicate the world’s most famous spy.

Last Friday, though, one lucky bidder went one better and bought James Bond’s actual DB5.

Yes, on 13 July, the very model used by Pierce Brosnan’s Bond in 1995’s Goldeneye went up for auction at the Goodwood Festival of Speed – and it fetched a suitably exotic price.

Why was this movie machine worth £1,961,500? Read on to find out.

Legendary pairing

Aston Martin has long been synonymous with Bond. The spy’s relationship with the stunning DB5 began way back in 1964, when Sean Connery’s British spy drove a Silver Birch example in that year’s Goldfinger.

Many happy returns

An instant cinematic icon, the legendary (and deadly) DB5 continued to crop up in subsequent Bond flicks across the next several decades – including Thunderball, Tomorrow Never Dies, Spectre and, of course, Goldeneye.

Bold arrival

Few viewers could have missed the magnificent Aston Martin’s presence in that latter flick: 1995’s Goldeneye opened with Pierce Brosnan’s Bond flinging his DB5 around the hills above Monte Carlo, in an effort to escape from the chasing Ferrari F355 of Xenia Onatopp.

Best of three

There were actually three DB5s used for the filming of Goldeneye, but it was this very DB5 – DB5/1885/R – that was piloted by Brosnan in the now iconic mountainside duel with the F355.

Reborn for film

DB5/1885/R was one of two DB5s purchased especially for the film to be used for the racing sequences. Both were comprehensively restored and prepared ahead of production by Stratton Motor Company.

Out of the woods

Mercifully, unlike the DB5 which meets its dramatic demise in Spectre, this evocative 1965 machine survived its time in Monaco with Bond at the wheel – and, unlike your average movie prop, it wasn’t discarded once filming wrapped.

From film set to red carpet

In fact, once Brosnan had handed back the keys, the DB5 was cleaned up and used for promotional purposes – first to generate publicity for Goldeneye, and then by Aston Martin to drive sales of its DB7.

Far from finished

Despite its time in the limelight, DB5/1885/R was in no way ready to retire: after its promotional run, it went on to take part in motor shows in both Detroit and Los Angeles, where it was driven on to its stands by none other than racing legend Sir Stirling Moss.

Back to blighty

Fittingly, the DB5 then returned to its birthplace of Britain for a one-of-a-kind sale: in 2001, Christie’s auction house arranged the auction of some 250 pieces of Bond memorabilia in South Kensington, London – an area the spy would surely be familiar with.

Star-studded affair

Naturally, the auction was appropriately glitzy, with attendees dressed to kill as a decade-spanning array of Bond movie memorabilia went under the hammer – and the DB5 was in every way the showstopper.

Record breaker

Just as Ian Fleming’s spy liked to steal the show, so the DB5 did the same. It sold at auction for the record-breaking price of £157,750, being recorded in the Guinness Book of Records as the most expensive item of Bond memorabilia ever sold.

One lucky bidder

Even at that price, though, the winning bidder – leasing entrepreneur Max Reid – felt he’d got a good deal. “I think I got the Aston Martin for a bargain, a great price and I would have paid much more for it,” he said.

One for the road?

Did the new owner intend to make like Bond and pilot his DB5 around Sheffield, where his business was based? “I had two reasons for the purchase,” he stated after the sale. “It’s a great present for my wife and it’ll be wonderful publicity for my business as well.”

Exhibitonist machine

Quite how much his wife got to drive the DB5 isn’t clear, though: the machine went on to be exhibited at Beaulieu’s Bond exhibition, before going on display variously at The London Film Museum, The National Motor Museum and, more recently, the ‘Bond in Motion’ exhibition in Covent Garden, London.

One more show

Not quite finished with its show streak, the stunning DB5 was displayed again at Englefield House on 2 June. Bonhams auction house hosted an Aston Martin-only sale there, which was the ideal occasion for DB5/1885/R to have an outing.

Lucky for some

Its sale came later, though: that honour was reserved for the Goodwood Festival of Speed on Friday 13 July, where Bonhams hosted a second auction – and the Goldeneye machine proved itself to be one of the most in-demand lots.

As good as ever

Still resplendent in the Silver Birch paint job first made famous in Goldfinger, together with a beautiful black leather interior fit for Bond, it remains every bit the stunning runaround – complete with those evocative teardrop headlights.

No OAP

And, while Bond might be getting on a bit (it’s been more than 55 years since his first cinema outing), the DB5 is still a nippy number: its 4-litre engine with triple carburettors and twin overhead camshafts is good for 282bhp and 150mph. Not bad for an ageing coupé.

Strong performance

Estimated to sell for between £1.2m and 1.6m, this slice of cinematic history eclipsed expectations by fetching a hefty £1,961,500 when the hammer fell on Friday.