Aston Martin Starts Production on DB5 Goldfinger Cars

by Michael Satterfield

Aston Martin has started production of their James Bond DB5 Goldfinger continuation cars, one of the most iconic movie cars of all time. Less than 900 original DB5 coupes were built between 1963-1965 and to buy an original car without all the gadgets from Q-Branch you'll spend in the high six-figures. But, if you want one of these limited-edition Bond cars be ready to shell out just over $3.3 million dollars... plus tax. That is a lot of money for a car that Aston Martin admits isn't going to be road legal, however, I suspect if you have over 3-million dollars to spend on playing James Bond you might have the funds to pull some strings and get a license plate.

While Aston hasn't released the sales numbers on the Goldfinger DB5, like the past continuations such as the DB4 GT, the 25 unit production run should have no problem selling out. The producers of the James Bond films, EON Productions, have been involved in the project since the start made sure that it is a faithful reproduction of Bond's signature vehicle from the 1964 film.

Each DB5 takes roughly 4,500 hours to build from scratch at Aston Martin's Heritage Division headquarters in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire. Each car is built by hand blending traditional craftsmanship with some modern engineering to enhance the original DB5. The body is aluminum on an authentic DB5 steel chassis. Under the hood, a 4.0-liter inline six-cylinder features three SU carburetors and produces 290hp, mated to a five-speed ZF gearbox and driving the power to a mechanical limited-slip differential. The Q-Branch gadgets were developed with Bond film special effects supervisor Chris Corbould OBE.

The Bond gadgets include:

Exterior:
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 tire slasher
Removable passenger seat roof panel (optional equipment)

Interior:
Simulated radar screen tracker map
Telephone in driver’s door
Gear knob actuator button
Armrest and center console-mounted switchgear
Under-seat hidden weapons/storage tray
Remote control for gadget activation

First deliveries of the DB5 Goldfinger Continuation to customers will commence in the second half of 2020.