Aston Martin DB5

The Aston Martin DB5 is a British grand tourer built in Newport Pagnell from 1963 to 1965. The car succeeded the DB4 and took its name from David Brown, who ran the company after buying it in 1947. Total output reached 1,059 cars across all body styles before the DB6 replaced the model in 1965.

Italian coachbuilder Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera designed the body, with an aluminum outer skin over a steel framework. Besides the two-door coupé, 123 convertibles left the factory. The factory also built a shooting brake for David Brown to carry his dogs and polo equipment, and coachbuilder Harold Radford converted 11 or 12 more coupés into shooting brakes. In 1964, Aston Martin introduced the more powerful Vantage, with three Weber carburetors and 242 kW (325 hp) against the standard 210 kW (282 hp); 65 Vantage coupés were built.

Road testers in 1964 recorded a top speed of 233 km/h (145 mph) for the standard model and a 0-100 km/h time of 8.0 seconds. A five-speed ZF manual gearbox replaced the four-speed unit of the DB4, and a three-speed automatic was optional. Girling disc brakes stopped all four wheels.

The model gained international fame through the 1964 film Goldfinger, where Sean Connery drove a modified DB5 with rotating registration plates and an ejector seat. That car returned in the 1965 film Thunderball, and the DB5 later appeared in GoldenEye in 1995 and Skyfall in 2012. In October 2010, an original promotional car from the film sold at an auction in London for 2.6 million British pounds. Aston Martin completed 25 continuation cars in 2020 with working gadgets built with special effects supervisor Chris Corbould.