The Aston Martin DB5 has become synonymous with James Bond. It first featured in the 1964 film Goldfinger, and it’s for that role that the DB5 became a cult icon, particularly in Britain. Yet the car is so much more than just a movie star.
It is certainly one of the prettiest cars ever made. It is also quite possibly one of the best cars ever made in Britain. Plus, with only just over 1,000 units ever made, it has become very rare and a highly desirable classic car.
Ian Tyrrell, the legendary car restorer behind Tyrell’s Classic Workshop, got to take another look at an example of the car that he and his team had been working on. It’s a type of car he has wanted to feature on his YouTube channel before, but time constraints always prevented Tyrrell from being able to do so.
That is, of course, until now. The car restorer was finally able to get the car onto his channel recently and show off just why the DB5 was perfect as James Bond’s car. Plus, we get to go for a drive in the DB5 and hear the glorious sound of its straight-six 4.0-liter engine.
A Brief Backstory to Aston Martin and the DB5
“Aston Martin history has been interspersed with financial provision, and then lack of,” said Tyrrell. The company even had to stop making cars for 12-18 months in the 1970s because it was cheaper to pause production than to keep going and sell more cars. “The DB5 was one of the golden era highlights for Aston Martin,” added Tyrrell, with the DB5 following on from the DB4 in the David Brown era of the company.
The DB5 has a very sturdy chassis, with it all welded as a steel assembly, and then a framework where the body is virtually hung onto the chassis. Polish engineer Tadek Marek designed a stunning all-alloy straight-six engine, evolved from 3.7-liters to make 4.0-liters in the DB5. At the time, it was very advanced, and as Tyrell said, “it was a very, very good engine.”
Tyrell points out that the block itself can tell you how hard the cars have been driven in their lifetime. “The block moved more and corroded more on a hard-driven car than it did on a more gently driven car,” he said. Aluminum can certainly wear more than cast iron, especially in the era of the DB5. The DB5 became most famous in the iconic Silver Birch color, which is what it wore in the Bond film Goldfinger.
The Bond Connection Shot the DB5 to Stardom
The DB5 is quintessentially British, and the films really did shoot the car to stardom. But Tyrrell wouldn’t be drawn on it too much in the video, as he felt, and quite rightly, that the car could speak for itself. He did, however, take the car out for a drive, and he couldn’t help but lean into the Bond connection for a brief moment. Wearing a white tuxedo while in the Grand Tourer is one way to pay homage to 007 himself.
Cars like this, the 2+2 Grand Tourers, were very exclusive in the 1960s. Few cars existed of that type, and even fewer could do over 140mph like the DB5. Tyrell rejected the notion that the DB5s drive like trucks, too. He praised its poise, how smooth the engine is, as well as how comfortable the car is, even after all these years. It is a stunning, hand-built car, with a hand-built powertrain. “It is top stuff; a truck it is not,” said the classic car restorer. There is little doubt that the DB5 is an exceptional car, and not just because it was the vehicle of choice for Britain’s most famous spy.