One of the best-known grand tourers thanks to its iconic role in the classic James Bond film “Goldfinger,” the Aston Martin DB5 is both very rare and very valuable today. It featured a 4.0L straight-six engine making 282 horsepower, enough to propel the car to an officially quoted top speed of 150 mph. Its high-performance engine was complemented by a highly sophisticated cabin, with journalists from the era comparing its high-tech dashboard to that of an aircraft. However, the standard car paled in comparison to the technology available in James Bond’s highly modified example.
Although none of the original 900 or so customer DB5s could be optioned with Bond gadgets, a limited continuation run launched in 2020 gave buyers a chance to get behind the wheel of their own movie-grade car. Featuring extras like bulletproof glass, replica machine guns, and built-in battering rams, each DB5 Goldfinger Continuation took 4,500 hours to construct. A run of just 25 examples were built, all of which were quickly snapped up.
Even without its big-screen gadgets, the DB5 remains an extremely desirable collector’s car, as well as one of the most capable grand tourers of its era. Unfortunately, its fame now means that few examples will still be used as originally intended — for long road trips and high-speed jaunts across the country. Rather, they’ll likely be confined to air-conditioned garages as museum pieces, all while their value continues to increase.
