Take the world’s most famous car and sprinkle it with 007 goodness. Work has begun on the stupid-expensive DB5 Goldfinger Continuation cars.
There were less than 900 Aston Martin DB5s built (1963-1965). Ever. Forget that, because most people know the DB5 because of James Bond and the 1964 film, Goldfinger. Triumph recently announced the release of its own Bond-tribute Scrambler.
Costing an eye-watering $5m-plus, the DB5 Goldfinger Continuation cars will be strictly limited in numbers (25) but will feature plenty of the gadgets on the movie version.
Yeah, you’ll get:
- Rear smoke screen delivery system;
- Rear simulated oil slick delivery system;
- Revolving number plates front and rear (triple plates);
- Simulated twin front machine guns;
- Bullet resistant rear shield;
- Battering rams front and rear;
- Simulated tyre slasher;
- Removable passenger seat roof panel (optional equipment);
- Simulated radar screen tracker map;
- Telephone in driver’s door;
- Gear knob actuator button;
- Armrest and centre console-mounted switchgear;
- Under-seat hidden weapons/storage tray; and
- Remote control for gadget activation.
But there’s more to this thing than gadgets. It takes a staggering 4500 hours to build each car. The work is being carried out at Aston Martin Heritage Division headquarters in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire. Each car will only be available in Silver Birch – just like the original car.
Each of the 25 cars is being built using a blend of Sir David Brown-era old world craftsmanship, with a sympathetic blend of modern engineering advancements and performance enhancements, alongside the integration of cutting-edge gadgets developed in association with Chris Corbould OBE, the special effects supervisor who has worked on more than a dozen Bond films.
Aston Martin is keeping it real with the Continuation cars being built using original DB5 styled aluminium exterior body panels wrapped around a mild steel chassis structure (just like the DB5). Under the bonnet is a 4.0-litre naturally aspirated inline six-cylinder engine. This is mated to a five-speed ZF manual transmission.
Heritage Programme Manager Clive Wilson said: “Seeing the first customer car move painstakingly through the intricate production process we have created really is quite a thrill.
“Obviously we have not, as a business, made a new DB5 for more than 50 years, so to be involved in the building of these cars, which will go on to form part of Aston Martin’s history, is something I’m sure all of us will be telling our grandkids about!”
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