Bond DB5 sells for record $6m at Monterey sale

Thunderball car is now the most expensive Bond car ever

It’s known as The Most Famous Car in the World – and now this Aston Martin DB5 is also the most expensive ever piece of Bond memorabilia and the most expensive DB5.

Chassis DB5/2008/R sold for $6.385m (£5.267m) last night at RM Sotheby's An Evening with Aston Martin auction in California.

That might sound like a lot for any car – but then again, this one is a genuine Bond car fitted out with a raft of working 007 gadgets. 

Scroll through the photos above for the full story.

Made for Thunderball

This DB5 was one of two models bought by Eon Productions for the launch of the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball and intended for promotional duties.

Gadget-laden

Both were equipped with the full complement of 007 gadgets, as seen in the previous year’s Goldfinger – the film in which the DB5 first became part of the Bond legend.

Built to last

But whereas the gadgets in the previous models had only been intended to function for a few takes, the ones in this vehicle and its sister car were designed to be far more robust and to function repeatedly, on demand.

Special effects

So, what gadgets does it have?

Well, there are 13 modifications present in the car, all of which were the brainchild of Academy Award-winning special effects guru John Stears – the man who would go on to work his magic on Star Wars a decade later.

Licence to kill

Among the gadgets in the DB5 – all of which are in full working order – are front and rear hydraulic over-rider rams on the bumpers and a Browning .30-calibre machine gun in each bumper.

Q car

You also get iconic 007 gizmos such as wheel-hub-mounted tyre slashers, a retractable rear bulletproof screen, and an in-dash radar-tracking scope.

Quick escape

Want more? There are oil-slick, caltrop and smoke-screen dispensers, those famous revolving numberplates, and even a passenger-seat ejection system.

Added extras

Plus, although they were never used in the film, the DB5 also has a hidden compartment beneath the driver’s seat that contains weapons and a phone in the driver’s door for contacting MI6 HQ.

Early retirement

After fulfilling its promotional activities, this car and its sister DB5 were mothballed before being sold, as a pair, in 1969 to well-known UK collector Lord Bamford. He soon offloaded 2017/R, but kept this car until the following year.

Museum piece

This car’s next custodian was BH Atchley, who owns Smokey Mountain Car Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and who put the DB5 on display in a large wire-mesh cage, bolted to the floor. It remained there for 35 years, regularly started and exercised.

Better than ever

RM Auctions sold it in 2006, at which point not all of 007’s gadgets were operational. The car has since undergone a no-expense-spared restoration by Roos Engineering in Switzerland, which is documented comprehensively in its accompanying paperwork.

The $6m car

Finally, it went to auction in Monterey, California, yesterday, where it was the subject of a four-and-a-half-minute bidding competition between six interested parties in the room and on the phone.

It eventually sold to an enthusiastic bidder present in the auction room, for a whopping $6,385,000 (£5,267,593) – in the process setting records for the most expensive ever DB5 and the most expensive piece of Bond memorabilia.

Successful sale

Barney Ruprecht, Car Specialist at RM Sotheby’s, said, “We are beyond thrilled with tonight’s fantastic result and proud to have set a new record for the most valuable DB5 sold at auction.

“Beyond this new auction record, the enormous amount of interest in the car and excitement surrounding it ahead of the auction solidifies its status as the ‘most famous car in the world’, along with the hobby’s great respect for the Aston Martin brand.”