Aston Martin DB5
Encyclopedia
The Aston Martin DB5 is a luxury grand tourer that was made by Aston Martin
Aston Martin
Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire. The company name is derived from the name of one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire...

. Released in 1963, it was an evolution of the final series of DB4
Aston Martin DB4
The DB4 is a sports car sold by Aston Martin from 1958 until 1963. It was an entirely different car from the DB Mark III it replaced, though the 3.7 L engine was externally visually related to the 2.9 L unit found in that car....

. The DB series was named honouring David Brown
David Brown (entrepreneur)
Sir David Brown was an English entrepreneur, managing director of his family firm David Brown Limited and one time owner of shipbuilders Vosper Thornycroft and automobile manufacturer Aston Martin....

 (the head of Aston Martin from 1947–1972).

The DB5 is famous for being the first and most recognised cinematic James Bond car. It has been featured in several films, most notably Goldfinger
Goldfinger (film)
Goldfinger is the third spy film in the James Bond series and the third to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Released in 1964, it is based on the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The film also stars Honor Blackman as Bond girl Pussy Galore and Gert Fröbe as the title...

, Thunderball
Thunderball (film)
Thunderball is the fourth spy film in the James Bond series starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham...

, GoldenEye
GoldenEye
GoldenEye is the seventeenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was directed by Martin Campbell and is the first film in the series not to take story elements from the works of novelist Ian Fleming...

, Tomorrow Never Dies
Tomorrow Never Dies
Tomorrow Never Dies is the eighteenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the second to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Bruce Feirstein wrote the screenplay, and it was directed by Roger Spottiswoode. It follows Bond as he tries to stop a media mogul from engineering...

, and Casino Royale
Casino Royale (2006 film)
Casino Royale is the twenty-first film in the James Bond film series and the first to star Daniel Craig as fictional MI6 agent James Bond...

. It was also used by actor Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...

, as he played a James Bond parody character in the film The Cannonball Run
The Cannonball Run (film)
The Cannonball Run is a 1981 comedy film starring Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, Dom DeLuise and Farrah Fawcett, and was directed by Hal Needham. It was produced by Hong Kong's Golden Harvest films. There was a sequel, 1984's Cannonball Run II.-Plot:...

. It appears in several video games such as 007 Racing
007 Racing
007 Racing is a racing game based on the James Bond license. It was developed by Eutechnyx, published by Electronic Arts, and released in 2000 exclusively for the PlayStation console system...

, James Bond 007: Agent Under Fire
James Bond 007: Agent Under Fire
007: Agent Under Fire is a first-person shooter video game based on the James Bond franchise. Developed and published by Electronic Arts, it was released for GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox game consoles....

, From Russia with Love, and James Bond 007: Blood Stone
James Bond 007: Blood Stone
James Bond 007: Blood Stone is an action-adventure video game, developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Activision for the Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms. It is the 24th game in the James Bond series although it is not a direct sequel to any game; it is...

. In the 2011 movie "Cars 2" a stylized version of the Aston Martin DB5 becomes the spy character, Finn McMissile.

The principal differences between the DB4 and DB5 are:
  1. The all-aluminium engine was enlarged from 3.7 L to 4.0 L,
  2. A new robust ZF
    ZF Friedrichshafen
    ZF Friedrichshafen AG, also known as ZF Group, and commonly abbreviated to ZF, is a German public company headquartered in Friedrichshafen, in the south-west German region of Baden-Württemberg....

     five-speed transmission
  3. Three SU carburettors

Producing 282 bhp, which propelled the car to 145 mph (64.8 m/s), this engine, available on the Vantage (high powered) version of the DB4 since March 1962, became the standard Aston Martin power unit with the launch in September 1963 of the DB5.

Standard equipment on the DB5 included reclining seats, wool pile carpets, electric windows, twin fuel tanks, chrome wire wheels, oil cooler, magnesium-alloy body built to superleggera
Superleggera
Superleggera is an automobile chassis construction technology developed by Felice Bianchi Anderloni of Italian coachbuilder Carrozzeria Touring. The company was located just north of Milan, near Alfa Romeo, Italian Citroen, and the former Isotta-Fraschini plant...

 patent technique, full leather trim in the cabin and even a fire extinguisher. All models had 4 seats and 2 doors. The UK recommended list price of the sports saloon (coupe) in December 1963 was £4,248 including Purchase Tax, the convertible was £4,562.

Specifications

Standard coupe:
  • Engine: 3995 cc Inline-6
    Straight-6
    The straight-six engine or inline-six engine is a six-cylinder internal combustion engine with all six cylinders mounted in a straight line along the crankcase...

  • Power: 282 bhp at 5500 rpm
  • Torque: 288 lbft at 3850 rpm
  • Weight: 1502 kg (3,311.3 lb)
  • Top Speed: 145 mph (64.8 m/s)
  • 0–60 mph (26.8 m/s) Acceleration: 7.1 s


Performance data from Motor magazine road test, 6 February 1965.
http://www.astonmartin.com/content/allsites/documents/issue%2022%20march%2006_7b922627-6e1b-41aa-bda4-848269c22ebb.pdf

DB5 Vantage

The high-performance DB5 Vantage was introduced in 1964 featuring three Weber
Weber carburetor
Weber is an Italian company producing carburetors, currently owned by Magneti Marelli Powertrain S.p.A., in turn part of the Fiat Group.The company was established as...

 twin-choke 45DCOE side-draft carburettors and revised camshaft profiles, delivering greater top-end performance at the expense of overall flexibility, especially as legendary Webers are renowned as 'full-throttle' devices. This engine produced 314 hp. Only 65 DB5 Vantage coupés were built.

DB5 convertible

Just 123 convertible
Convertible
A convertible is a type of automobile in which the roof can retract and fold away having windows which wind-down inside the doors, converting it from an enclosed to an open-air vehicle...

 DB5s were produced, though they never used the typical "Volante" name. The convertible model was offered from 1963 through to 1965. Originally only 19 of the 123 DB5 Convertibles made were left-hand drive.

From October 1965 to October 1966, Aston Martin used the last 37 of the Aston Martin DB5 chassis' to make another convertible model. These 37 cars were known as "Short Chassis
Aston Martin Short Chassis Volante
The Short Chassis Volante was the first Aston Martin to be called an Aston Martin Volante, 'Volante' meaning 'Flying' in Italian...

" Volantes and were the first Aston Martins to hold the "Volante" name. Although calling it a "Short Chassis" is a bit of a misnomer as the "short" comes from comparing it to the subsequent DB6, which has a longer chassis. When compared to the DB5, it is not "short" but rather the same size, however these cars differ to the DB5 convertible models as they feature DB6
Aston Martin DB6
The Aston Martin DB6 is a grand tourer made by British car manufacturer Aston Martin. Produced from September 1965 to January 1971, the DB6 had the longest production run up to that date of any Aston Martin model...

 split front and rear bumpers and rear TR4
Triumph TR4
The Triumph TR4 was a sports car built in the United Kingdom by the Standard Triumph Motor Company and introduced in 1961. Code named "Zest" during development, the car was based on the chassis and drivetrain of the previous TR sports cars, but with a modern Michelotti styled body. 40,253 cars...

 lights, as also used on the DB6.

DB5 shooting brake

A prototype DB5 shooting brake was custom produced by the factory for David Brown
David Brown (entrepreneur)
Sir David Brown was an English entrepreneur, managing director of his family firm David Brown Limited and one time owner of shipbuilders Vosper Thornycroft and automobile manufacturer Aston Martin....

, an avid hunter and dog owner, and 11-12 more coupés were custom modified for Aston Martin by independent coachbuilder
Coachbuilder
A coachbuilder is a manufacturer of bodies for carriages or automobiles.The trade dates back several centuries. Rippon was active in the time of Queen Elizabeth I, Barker founded in 1710 by an officer in Queen Anne's Guards, Brewster a relative newcomer , formed in 1810. Others in Britain included...

, Harold Radford
Harold Radford
Harold Radford & Co Limited of Melton Court, South Kensington, London SW7, were bespoke coachbuilders. The business began in the late 1940s making relatively minor changes to bodywork for owners of new Bentleys, amendments to suit the rural lifestyle of the landed gentry...

. The taillights used were Triumph units, and were also adopted for the succeeding DB6.

James Bond's DB5

The Aston Martin DB5 is one of the most famous cars in the world thanks to Oscar winning special effects genius (also known as 'the Real Q') John Stears
John Stears
John Stears known as 'the Dean of Special Effects' and 'The Real Q' was an Academy Award winning special effects expert, who created James Bond's lethal Aston Martin DB5, Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder, the Jedi Knights' lightsabers, the endearing robots R2-D2 and C-3PO as well as a host of other...

 who created the deadly DB5 for use by James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

 in Goldfinger
Goldfinger (film)
Goldfinger is the third spy film in the James Bond series and the third to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Released in 1964, it is based on the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The film also stars Honor Blackman as Bond girl Pussy Galore and Gert Fröbe as the title...

(1964). Although Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...

 had placed Bond in a DB Mark III
Aston Martin DB Mark III
The DB Mark III is a sports car sold by Aston Martin from 1957 through 1959. It was an evolution of the DB2/4 Mark II model it replaced, using an evolution of that car's W.O...

 in the novel, the DB5 was the company's newest model when the film was being made. The car used in the film was the original DB5 prototype, with another standard car used for stunts. Two more modified cars were built for publicity tours after the film's release. In January 2006, one of those cars was auctioned in Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

 for US $2,090,000. The same car was originally bought in 1970 for £5,000 from the owner, Sir Anthony Bamford, by a Tennessee museum owner. The other car is located in the Netherlands in the Louwman Museum
Louwman Museum
The Louwman Museum is a museum for historic cars, coaches, and motorcycles in The Hague, The Netherlands, on the Leidsestraatweg near the A44 highway. The museum's former names are "Nationaal Automobiel Museum" and "Louwman Collection".-History:...

, and this car was mainly used for promoting the movie.

Within the universe of James Bond, the same car was used again in the following film, Thunderball
Thunderball (film)
Thunderball is the fourth spy film in the James Bond series starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham...

(registration BMT 216A), a year later. A different Aston Martin DB5 (registration BMT 214A) was used in the 1995 Bond film, GoldenEye
GoldenEye
GoldenEye is the seventeenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was directed by Martin Campbell and is the first film in the series not to take story elements from the works of novelist Ian Fleming...

in which three different DB5s were used for filming. The BMT 214A also returned in Tomorrow Never Dies
Tomorrow Never Dies
Tomorrow Never Dies is the eighteenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the second to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Bruce Feirstein wrote the screenplay, and it was directed by Roger Spottiswoode. It follows Bond as he tries to stop a media mogul from engineering...

(1997), and was set to make a cameo at Castle Thane in The World Is Not Enough
The World Is Not Enough
The World Is Not Enough is the nineteenth spy film in the James Bond film series, and the third to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was directed by Michael Apted, with the original story and screenplay written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Bruce Feirstein. It...

(1999), but the scene was cut. Yet another DB5 appeared in Casino Royale
Casino Royale (2006 film)
Casino Royale is the twenty-first film in the James Bond film series and the first to star Daniel Craig as fictional MI6 agent James Bond...

(2006), this one with the steering wheel on the left side versus the previous British versions.

The first DB5 prototype used in Goldfinger
Goldfinger (film)
Goldfinger is the third spy film in the James Bond series and the third to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Released in 1964, it is based on the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The film also stars Honor Blackman as Bond girl Pussy Galore and Gert Fröbe as the title...

with the chassis number DP/216/1 was later stripped of its weaponry and gadgetry by Aston Martin and then resold. It was then retrofitted by subsequent owners with nonoriginal weaponry. The Chassis DP/216/1 DB5 was stolen in 1997 from its last owner in Florida and is currently still missing.

A highly detailed 1:24 scale die-cast model with many working features was produced as a limited edition by the Danbury Mint
Danbury Mint
The Danbury Mint, is a division of MBI, Inc. that markets a variety of collectibles. Danbury Mint historically marketed high quality medals and ingots produced by others exclusively for them. The company also sold numerous other collectible offering including plates, bells, sculptures, etc...

. A highly detailed kit was also produced by Airfix between 1966 and 1970.

In January 2011 a 1/8 scale model was released by part work magazine publisher GE Fabbri in the UK. Over 85 weekly parts, the model builds into one of the biggest 007 scale models to date, with working gadgets and lights. http://www.007db5.com

On 1 June 2010, RM Auctions announced the upcoming auction of a DB5 used in Thunderball and Goldfinger. The owner – Jerry Lee, President/Owner of WBEB Radio in Philadelphia, PA- originally bought the car from the Aston Martin company for $12,000 in 1969, and it was expected to reach a price of $5,000,000 (US).
At the auction, this famous DB5 was eventually sold for 2,600,000 GBP ($4,103,000 US).

Use in popular culture

An Aston Martin DB5 appeared in heavily stylized form as 'Finn McMissile', a British secret agent voiced by Sir Michael Caine in the 2011 Pixar
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...

 film Cars 2
Cars 2
Cars 2 is a 2011 American computer-animated action film produced by Pixar, and it is the sequel to the 2006 film, Cars. In the film, race car Lightning McQueen and tow truck Mater head to Japan and Europe to compete in the World Grand Prix, but Mater becomes sidetracked with international espionage...

. The car character was an homage to the Bond DB5.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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