The Aston Martin DB5 is no doubt one of the most iconic film vehicles ever, but within the DB5 umbrella, there are many vehicles that can claim to be the DB5. This one is arguably the most movie-accurate, although not actually used on the screen — instead, it was used for promotional purposes. This DB5 is one of two originally used to promote Thunderball, and is equipped with every gadget featured in that film, as well as the ones showcased in Goldfinger: The smokescreen, oil slicks, bulletproof window shield, battering rams, and turn-signal mounted machine guns are all present. The ejector seat, though, isn’t functional — although the roof panel can be removed. The weapon drawer and tracking screen are also included; the only thing missing is the jetpack in the trunk. For the films, multiple vehicles were used to demonstrate the gadgets. But for these promotional vehicles, all the gadgets were made to work reliably to show at premieres. The car was previously sold for US$2,090,000 but it received a complete restoration in 2012, so it should fetch a much higher number now. The car will go to auction at RM Sotheby’s Monterey event in August, where it will no doubt bring a hefty price. Continuation cars go for about US$3.6 million, so it will be interesting to see how much this DB5
Origin: The Aston Martin DB5 used to promote Thunderball is up for auction
Aston
New Aston Martin DBX: pre-production begins ahead of 2020 launch
Aston Martin has started building pre-production versions of the forthcoming DBX at its new St Athan plant, ahead of its first SUV going on sale in the first half of 2020. The new 90-acre factory in Wales, built on a former Ministry of Defence site, has been under development since 2016, and will be the sole production facility for the DBX. The electric models of the revived Lagonda brand will also be built there. Ahead of the machine’s official launch later this year, Aston Martin has also issued new images of the DBX sporting a new camouflage livery reflecting its new Welsh home. The machine is currently undergoing final testing using the pre-production versions being produced in St Athan, with full production due to commence early next year. Aston Martin previously released new images and a video of the DBX undergoing extreme weather testing in Sweden at Pirelli’s Flurheden proving ground, part of the two brands’ ongoing partnership. Speaking about that test, Aston Martin chief engineer Matt Becker said: “Testing these prototypes in cold climate conditions helps us to assess the car’s early dynamics and, crucially, ensure confidence-inspiring sure-footedness on low-grip surfaces. “This car propels Aston Martin into a new segment and our engineering team are enjoying the challenges of developing a quality luxury SUV experience through this robust testing schedule. Progress is on track and I am confident that we will deliver over and above what our customers would expect from an Aston Martin SUV.” The DBX is the first Aston Martin to go through a new dedicated test programme, to ensure it can produce the kind of dynamic on-road performance on which Aston has always made its name, allied to some credibility off road. Testing is also due to take place in the deserts of the Middle East, on German autobahns and at the Nürburgring. The DBX has also been seen on UK roads testing the brand’s AMG-sourced twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8, which is expected to be the first engine offered in the SUV when it arrives before the end of the year. Expect a similar power output to the DB11’s 503bhp. The images from Sweden showed the same five-door body shape as the official ‘spy shots’ released by Aston Martin last year. The model is expected to retain this profile for production. Unlike the concept, the production DBX will feature a more conventional five-door layout rather than the sleeker three-door design that was originally expected. The DBX is one of the most important models in Aston Martin’s history and the next phase of the company’s turnaround plan under boss Andy Palmer. While every Aston produced under Palmer to date as part of his ‘Second Century’ plan has been a replacement for an existing model (DB11, Vantage and DBS Superleggera), the DBX breaks new ground by having no direct predecessor. During its life cycle, the DBX will introduce hybrid technology to Aston and it will also play a key role in trying to attract female buyers to the Aston Martin brand. The DBX is built on an Aston Martin architecture that will be closely related to that set to underpin the Lagonda saloon and Lagonda SUV, which Aston also has in the pipeline. The new Lagondas will be built alongside the DBX in Wales, starting from 2021. However, whereas the Lagonda models will be electrically driven, the DBX will start life with petrol power before getting Mercedes-sourced hybrid technology early in the next decade. Aston Martin’s own V12 and Mercedes-AMG’s V8 engines will both find their way into the DBX, with Mercedes also donating the car’s electrical architecture. The DBX will compete against the likes of the Lamborghini Urus, Bentley Bentayga, Rolls-Royce Cullinan and upcoming Ferrari SUV. Given the broad appeal and rise in popularity of SUVs, the DBX is expected to quickly become Aston’s best-selling model. The DBX was first seen in its distincitive prototype camouflage on the gravel stages of the Wales Rally GB, for the first time giving hints of the final production car’s design. There’s little left of the DBX concept in the camouflaged test mule, although the sleek silhouette does remain, albeit with an extra pair of doors. Sharp body creases and a pronounced shoulder line help reduce the overall visual bulk of what is the most high-sided Aston yet produced, while a new integrated grille design performs a similar role at the front of the car. It will also be the first all-new Aston Martin model launched after the company’s stock market flotation, after the firm returned to profitability last year. Aston Martin has changed significantly as a company under the leadership of Andy Palmer, who joined as CEO in 2014. He has brought financial stability to the company and returned it to profit. In 2017, the company was in the black for the first time since 2010. Aston’s first-half results in 2018 showed that it recorded a pre-tax profit of £20.7 million. Palmer has underpinned that growth with his
Origin: New Aston Martin DBX: pre-production begins ahead of 2020 launch
Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato: reborn classic headed to Le Mans
Aston Martin will unveil the first completed DB4 GT Zagato Continuation model at the Le Mans 24 Hours this weekend. The car, the first in a run of 19, is the result of around 4500 hours of labour carried out by the engineers at the firm’s Newport Pagnell-based Heritage Division. The model on display has been painted in Rosso Maja, a colour that was mixed by paint supplier Max Meyer specially for use on the original Zagato DB4. Inside, carbonfibre race seats are trimmed in black leather, as are the door cards and headliner, with carpets decorated to match. A full FIA-approved roll cage and period-correct race instrumentation also feature. Eighteen more DB4 GT Zagatos will be handcrafted using what Aston calls “artisan coachbuilding skills”, including techniques more commonplace in the middle of the last century. In addition, the same number of a bespoke new supercar, called the DBS GT Zagato, will be produced, but the two models will only be available to buy as a package – at a cost of £6 million for the set, before tax. The track-only DB4 GT Zagato is powered by an updated 4.7-litre version of the Tadek Marek-designed straight-six engine that features in the original. It delivers more than 390bhp to the rear wheels through a four-speed manual transmission and limited-slip differential. The modern car has not yet been revealed fully, but renderings released by Aston offer a good glimpse at its dramatic design. It’s based on the DBS Superleggera, and will feature the same short tail and double-bubble roof of previous Zagato Astons. The 715bhp turbocharged 5.2-litre V12 will also remain. Aston Martin boss Andy Palmer said: “The partnership between Aston Martin and Zagato is one of the most fruitful and enduring in the automotive world. With Zagato celebrating its centenary next year, what better way to celebrate this landmark – and the long-standing bond between our two great companies – than creating these 19 pairs of cars.” While the DBS Zagato is road-legal, the DB4 GT Zagato is a track-only car, given that the latter is based on a now 58-year-old design. The DBS Zagato will be built at Aston Martin’s Gaydon facility. Despite the cars’ simultaneous announcements, deliveries of the two are a full year apart – the continuation DB4 GT Zagato will reach customers in the final months of 2019, while deliveries of the DBS GT Zagato will begin at the end of 2020. It’s the latest in a string of Aston Martin continuation projects – the DB4 GT was resurrected for a continuation run of 25 models, which were sold for £1.5m each; while, more recently, 25 Goldfinger-spec DB5s were announced for production, to the James Bond car
Origin: Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato: reborn classic headed to Le Mans
Aston Martin V8 Vantage to make appearance in Bond 25
A video posted by MI6-HQ.com, a behind-the-scenes James Bond channel, shows a lesser-known 007 vehicle being used for the next film. An Aston Martin V8 Vantage is shown driving alongside a lake in Norway, which looks to be a similar location to where The Spy Who Loved Me was filmed, but we don’t expect the Aston to sprout fins and turn into a submarine. We’ll leave that to Lotus. The vehicle obviously bears a striking resemblance to the one used by Timothy Dalton in the 1987 film The Living Daylights — even the license (to kill) plates bear the same B549 WUU designation. The V8 Vantage was the first Aston Martin that 007 had driven since On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. The original car had lasers that fired from the wheel centre caps, as well as a pair of skis that came out of the rocker panels, and of course, rocket launchers of course. This time, though, Daniel Craig’s Bond will likely save the gadgets for his other car, reportedly an Aston Martin Rapid E. Bond 25, as it’s tentatively known, has been put through the wringer when it comes to production: The original director was replaced due to scripting issues, multiple accidents have occurred on set, and even an explosion seriously damaged EON Productions’ studios. Even the picturesque location in Norway, where this video was shot, had problems — tire tracks were left behind on the road by BMW owners during a large event. The movie will be Daniel Craig’s final run as the explosive secret agent.
Origin: Aston Martin V8 Vantage to make appearance in Bond 25
Aston Martin celebrates 50-year anniversary of Bond film
There’s a lot of hype going around these days when it comes to the world’s favourite super-spy: 007. Bond 25 is currently in production, and Aston Martin themselves are building replicas of the DB5 featured in Goldfinger, machine guns and all. Now Aston has decided to add another special model to the lineup to commemorate a lesser-known Bond car. 1969 was the year that saw Sean Connery take a break from being Bond, and male model George Lazenby step in, and lucky for Lazenby, he got one of the coolest Bond cars ever: a 1969 Aston Martin DBS. Aston Martin is celebrating 50 years of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service by creating the OHMSS special edition of its current DBS Superleggera. Andy Palmer, Aston Martin Lagonda President and Group Chief Executive Officer, said: “Aston Martin is synonymous with James Bond and the DBS from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service has provided great inspiration to the team tasked with creating this very special edition. This new DBS Superleggera will be an extremely distinguished ‘brute in a suit’, designed to capture the essence of the iconic DBS from the 1969 film but with a 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12, 715-bhp engine!” The OHMSS edition features more carbon fibre, along with a new front splitter, aeroblade, and diamond turned and forged wheels. The exterior colour has been matched to the same olive green of the original 1969 DBS, and the horizontal lines in the grill have been accentuated to mimic the original as well. Deliveries of the 2019 Aston Martin DBS Superleggera OHMSS will take place in the fourth quarter of 2019. Only 50 will be built, at a price of 300,007 pounds. Really. If you plan on getting married soon, we recommend that you leave the DBS in Q
Origin: Aston Martin celebrates 50-year anniversary of Bond film
Goodwood Festival sculpture to celebrate Aston Martin
Aston Martin will be the subject of this year’s Central Feature at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, with a sculpture celebrating the 70th anniversary of its first race at the venue’s race circuit, and the 60th anniversary of its victory in the World Sportscar Championship. The sculpture on the front lawn of Goodwood House is a focal point of the festival, and has celebrated a number of car manufacturers through the years – but this will be the first time that it has honoured Aston Martin. The British firm first raced at Goodwood in the Lavant Cup, during the 1949 Easter Meeting, with WG Bingley finishing in 10th place. A decade later, the 1959 World Sportscar Championship title was decided in the RAC TT race at the track, with Stirling Moss in contention for the title. His bid faltered early on when the DBR1 he shared with Roy Salvadori was forced to retire from the lead when it caught fire during a pit stop. But the team put Moss into the DBR1 driven by Carroll Shelby and Jack Fairman, with the trio winning the race to secure Aston the title ahead of Ferrari and Porsche. Gerry Judah will again design the Central Feature, as he has done since 1997. The sculpture usually features real cars, although no details have been given about which ones may
Origin: Goodwood Festival sculpture to celebrate Aston Martin
Aston Martin AM-RB 003: £1m hypercar ‘oversubscribed’
Aston Martin sold 1057 cars in the first three months of 2019, up from the 963 it sold in the same period last year, resulting in revenues of £196 million. But higher costs meant that the company posted a £2.2 million loss for the quarter – although that exceeded the expectations of analysts. The firm says that it expects the second half of this year to be the “major driver of profitability”, due to a number of special editions planned to go on sale. As part of its financial report, Aston Martin also confirmed that work on the first production trial version of the DBX, its forthcoming first SUV, began on 15 April. The company is continuing an extensive test programme with the prototype
Origin: Aston Martin AM-RB 003: £1m hypercar ‘oversubscribed’
Watch Bond’s gadgets come to life in these Aston Martin recreations
Actor Sean Connery poses with an Aston Martin DB5. A 1964 DB5 played a starring role in the James Bond film Goldfinger that year. The DB5 and other Aston Martin cars have often been featured in James Bond films.Handout When we learned that Aston Martin was going to be building 25 special continuation reproductions of the original DB5 that Sean Connery famously drove in Goldfinger, we were excited. We got even more excited when we saw how the gadgets are actually going to work. To make all of the engineering work as slickly and smoothly as the oil from the taillights, Aston Martin employed the film special effects supervisor for the Bond films themselves, Chris Corbould. He’s been in the special effects industry since 1980, with his first Bond film being A View to a Kill, so you know he’s going to do it right. Aston Martin has released a video to tease the inner workings of the smoke screen, taillight-deploying oil slick and the front turn signal machine guns. Still to build is the revolving number plate displaying BMT 216A; the rear window bulletproof screen; wheel-mounted tire puncture spinners; bumperette battering rams; and of course, the all-important red button on the gearshift knob for any unwanted passengers. Corbould says the challenge in building these gadgets into a road car (although it isn’t street-legal) is to actually put them all into one car, whereas in a film there would be multiple examples, likely with a single gadget each. The cars will be reserved for the Bond fans with the biggest wallets, as each of the 25 examples will cost a whopping £2.75 million. Yes, unfortunately, it won’t just be given to you by Q Branch. Remember not to park it outside of any Scottish castles or drive it down any alleyways
Origin: Watch Bond’s gadgets come to life in these Aston Martin recreations
Aston Martin details James Bond-inspired DB5 continuation
When Aston Martin announced that it was planning to create 25 ‘continuation’ replicas of the DB5 used in the James Bond film Goldfinger, the big question was how it would deliver on the original car’s huge tally of gadgets. Now the firm’s Works Division has shown us several of the gadgets under development in the programme, led by Academy Award-winning special-effects creator and Bond film veteran Chris Corbould. While the finished cars, which will be delivered to customers next year, will have more features, we have been shown three: the replica machine guns that will pop out from behind the front indicator lights, the oil-spray system that deploys from behind the taillights and the smoke screen. Paul Spires, Works Division’s president, confirmed that the finished cars will also have rotating numberplates, a sliding ‘bulletproof’ rear deflector and a representation of the original DB5’s famous ejector seat, although one that won’t actually be capable of firing passengers out of the car. A simulated radar tracking screen and an identical centre console to the film car’s will also feature. Corbould said he had to think “for about a second and a half” when asked to work on the project, but admitted that there have been serious challenges in making features that are both convincing and repeatable. “If we were doing an oil slick in a film, then we could fill the boot with equipment and put out about 50 litres in a couple of seconds,” he said. “Here it has to fit into a much smaller space, and it has to be able to work again and again.” There was also the need to consider health and safety. Although the Goldfinger DB5s won’t be road legal, Spires said that the company does have to make sure they won’t harm anyone. “We have had to make all of this work within the limitations of health and safety,” he explained. Corbould has worked on every Bond film with the exception of Octopussy since The Spy Who Loved Me, and admits to working on the forthcoming 25th outing of the franchise. The decision to produce a corresponding 25 of the Goldfinger cars – each priced at £3.3 million including VAT – suggests we can expect to see 007’s long-running connection with Aston
Origin: Aston Martin details James Bond-inspired DB5 continuation
Electrified Aston Martin DB6: driving a future-proof classic
Manufacturers keep telling us that electrification is part of our future, but what about our past? A near-silent, ion-fuelled DB6 might seem like the answer to an unasked question, but Paul Spires, president of Aston Martin Works and the man who signed the car off, is adamant it’s the right call. “We need to make sure that we’ve got the next 100 years covered,” he says, “to make sure these vehicles don’t become museum pieces.” This isn’t about legislation – there are no current plans to ban internal-combustion classics in any major market – but rather what Spires describes as social pressure. First from the affluent tech-savvy buyers who are already shifting to EVs en masse, but also from a future generation who will grow up without experiencing the sounds and smell of internal combustion. The idea is for what Spires calls a heart transplant: fully reversible electrification that keeps the core structure of a car unchanged. “I said to the development team: ‘Don’t make a single extra hole in the bodywork,’” Spires says. “They haven’t.” In place of the straight-six engine that it left Newport Pagnell with 49 years ago, this DB6 Volante has a module containing battery, motor and control software that fits in the same space formerly occupied by the engine. We’re not given any technical details – a production version would change specs – but we’re told it weighs almost exactly the same as the original engine and produces similar power. If it sounds familiar, it’s because Jaguar did something similar with the E-Type Zero last year, although Spires insists Aston started work before Jaguar did. Although the basic idea is defined, the details are not and Spires says much about the demonstrator would not make it to a finished system. That includes the Volante’s continued use of its original five-speed manual gearbox. A fully developed one would switch to a single-speed drive. The concept is also passively cooled, so it’s unable to deal with the thermal loads of hard use. A production version would be actively cooled and therefore be both tougher and capable of supporting fast charging. To call the conversion discreet is an understatement. Despite circling the DB6 twice, I can see precisely nothing from the outside to show that it runs on electrons instead of petrol. It even still has exhaust tailpipes, left on to keep it looking as original as possible. Only popping the left-hand fuel filler cap and seeing a charging port reveals the transplant. It’s the same story in the leather-clad cabin, where the Volante keeps a comprehensive set of chrome-bezelled Smiths instruments, although only the speedometer now works. Spires says a production version would repurpose the other dials for EV-appropriate tasks. The concept also still has the controls for what is now a non-existent heating system. Driving couldn’t be easier. Despite the presence of the manual gearbox, there’s no need to use the clutch to get rolling, or indeed once on the move. Spires tells me to select second and then to treat the car like a single-speed EV. Initial acceleration is less keen than I’m expecting it to be and it takes a good shove on the throttle pedal to deliver an Aston-appropriate level of urge out of the pits. There’s no traction control, but nor does it feel like there needs to be, despite the motor’s ability to produce big torque from standstill. Once rolling, acceleration continues to build, and by the time the first corner approaches, the Aston is already closing on the 50mph I’ve been told to stay under to keep the powertrain happy. Subjectively, it doesn’t feel as fast as a petrol Aston of the era, but much of that is probably due to the near-total lack of noise, a gentle electric whine replacing the muscular note of the straight six. Lifting off proves there is no need to brake, thanks to regeneration powerful enough to make it feel like the track is surfaced with treacle. Spires says the finished version will have less aggressive regen to keep it closer to the driving manners of the original car. Given the novelty of a gearlever, I experiment with shifting ratios to discover there is no point: acceleration feels identical in second and third. As intended, the rest of the dynamic experience is practically unchanged. By modern standards, the DB6 has modest levels of grip and lots of roll, but the chassis is well mannered and it is happy to tackle the short track at a respectably rapid pace. It’s refined, too. There are no creaks or rattles from the trim or the Volante’s elderly structure. Is it a good idea? Ultimately, that’s for the wider market to decide and Spires admits that a favourable reaction from potential customers will be required to make the business case to invest in a production version. “I’m desperate to do it,” he says. “My feeling is that the pace behind EVs is such that I’d be surprised if we don’t have a proper programme going by this time next year.” Powertrain will
Origin: Electrified Aston Martin DB6: driving a future-proof classic
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