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Shaken, Not Stirred: How the Aston Martin DB5 Became the Most Famous Car in the World
The Aston Martin DB5—a car so quintessentially British, so effortlessly cool, it feels as if it was designed not with pens and rulers, but with a martini in one hand and a spy gadget in the other. When it rolled off the line in 1963, it wasn’t just a car; it was art. But let’s be honest—it wasn’t James Bond who needed the DB5. No. The DB5 needed James Bond.
Let’s start with the facts. The DB5 was powered by a 4.0-liter inline-six engine, producing 282 horsepower—impressive for the time. It could hit 145 mph and sprint to 60 mph in about 8 seconds. Not exactly supercar quick by today’s standards, but back then, it was faster than most sports cars of its day. Add a ZF five-speed manual gearbox and a leather-clad cabin that smelled like wealth itself, and you had what Aston Martin proudly called a "gentleman’s express." This was a grand tourer for the elite—until the 007 franchise turned it into an icon.
And here’s where the story really starts. When Sean Connery, the original James Bond, first slipped into a silver DB5 in Goldfinger (1964), everything changed. Ken Adam, the film’s production designer, and special-effects genius John Stears, decided the car needed some extra... flair. Machine guns, an ejector seat, revolving number plates—gadgets that made a luxury cruiser the stuff of childhood dreams. Connery’s Bond didn’t just drive the DB5; he immortalized it. The car became a co-star, arguably as famous as Bond himself.
But there’s a twist. At the time, Aston Martin didn’t really want to give the production team the car. It took some convincing to get the DB5 into the film, and the rest, as they say, is history. The Bond connection transformed the DB5 from a fine automobile to a global phenomenon. Suddenly, the wealthy didn’t just want an Aston Martin—they wanted that Aston Martin.
Away from Hollywood, the DB5 had other admirers. Rockstars like Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger couldn’t resist its combination of style and speed. Even the great Peter Sellers, famed for The Pink Panther, was among its proud owners. The car’s designer, Marek Reichman, envisioned a machine that could appeal to everyone—a timeless design with elegant curves and just enough aggression to hint at the performance underneath. And my word, did he succeed.
Fast forward to today, and the DB5 is one of the most valuable classic cars on the market. Those that appeared in Bond films sell for well over $4 million, with regular models fetching between $700,000 to $1.5 million, depending on their condition. And yes, there’s a good chance you’ll need a Swiss bank account to afford the insurance, let alone the car itself.
But the real magic of the DB5 isn’t its speed, its gadgets, or even its Bond connection—it’s what it represents. The DB5 is Britain on wheels. It’s heritage, elegance, and a nod to a time when style mattered just as much as substance. It’s a car that doesn’t just turn heads; it turns decades of history into a single, roaring engine note.
" Anything worth pursuing is worth overdoing - style included. "
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Pierce Brosnan
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Irish actor and former James Bond, who drove the Aston Martin DB5 and embodied its timeless elegance on screen.
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Aston Martin DB5