Even before it became known as THE James Bond car in 1964’s Goldfinger, the Aston Martin DB5 was already one of the best-looking and coolest sports cars around. Just over 1,000 examples of the iconic coupé were ever made, and it went out of production 54 years ago. But you’ll soon be able to buy a brand new one that appears just as it did in Goldfinger — right down to the gadgets.
Aston Martin is producing a limited run of 25 DB5 “continuation” cars, and they’re pretty special. For starters, the cars are built to pretty much the exact specifications as they were in 1964, save for a few modern safety upgrades. They’ll all have the same silver birch paint job as the Bond car, and they’re even being built in the same English factory as the original DB5. But what really sets these cars apart from other classic car reproductions like Aston’s own DB4 GT remake or rival Jaguar’s XKE replicas is the inclusion of actual Bond gadgets. Aston is working in conjunction with designer Chris Corbould, who has produced special effects for every Bond film since 1985’s A View to a Kill, to incorporate nearly all of the gadgets seen in Goldfinger‘s car. This includes a smoke screen, oil slick, bulletproof shield, revolving license plates, and even machine guns (they make a good light show but don’t actually fire bullets). There’s also confirmed to be an ejector button in the gear shift knob, but it seems pretty unlikely that this button will actually cause the passenger seat to eject, unfortunately.
James Bond has driven a number of cars over the years, including several Aston Martins, a handful of BMWs, and a couple of Lotuses, but none are as associated with the superspy as the DB5. Since Goldfinger, the car has gone on to appear in six more Bond films, most recently showing up during the conclusion of 2015’s Spectre. These new DB5s will certainly make their future owners feel like 007, but they won’t be cheap — or practical. The new cars will be priced around $3.5 million, and they will not be road legal.
The cars are expected to be ready for delivery in 2020, but something tells us they’ll all be spoken for long before then. Here’s hoping that Sir Sean Connery ends up being one of the lucky owners.
