September 22, 2025 • 20 mins
The source provides an extensive overview of the Aston Martin DB5's cultural and cinematic significance, focusing on its role as the definitive James Bond vehicle. It explains that the DB5 was not the initial choice for the 1964 film Goldfinger, but its selection boosted Aston Martin's sales and global recognition, despite the company's initial reluctance to lend the expensive cars for filming. The episode details the technical aspects of the original cars—noting that only two were used and that most of the famous gadgets were non-functional props inspired by real Cold War spy technology. Furthermore, the source tracks the DB5's enduring legacy, including its disappearance for decades, its reappearance in numerous subsequent Bond films via recreations, and the modern production of highly valuable continuation models for collectors.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the deep dive. We peel back the layers
on well cultural icons really to find the surprising truths
hidden just beneath the surface.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
And today we're diving into something truly iconic.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Absolutely an object that just screams cinematic, cool, sophistication, power, gadgetry.
It's the legendary Aston Martin dB five.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It's arguably the most famous car in the world, isn't
it certainly the one most tied to that whole spy fantasy.
I mean when it burst onto the screening Goldfinger back
in sixty four. Yeah, it wasn't just in the movie.
It became James Bond in automotive form, that perfect mix
of you know, ruthless power and total elegance.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
That silver paint, the lines, the promise of that ejector seat.
It's the dream car, right for anyone into engineering or
film history or just cool cars.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Definitely.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
But our mission today isn't just to admire it. We're
digging into the sources, really extracting the fascinating maybe overlooked facts,
the origin story, the truth behind the gadgets, and well
what happened to it after Hollywood?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yeah, we want to get past just the glossy image.
Understand the nitty gritty, you know, how it was made,
how they actually modified it, and the huge risk it
represented for Aston Martin At the time, they weren't the
global giant they are now. Right, the dB five story,
it's much more of a high stakes drama behind the
scenes than most people probably realize.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Okay, let's unpack that, because, I mean, the idea of
the dB five being Bond's car that feels inevitable now,
but the sources show it was incredibly close to not
happening at all, a real near miss. It wasn't the
first car Eon Productions wanted.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
That's right, and you have to think about the early
sixties car scene. Eon Productions they were shopping around. They
needed a car that visually screamed bondfast, elegant, expensive.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
And they looked elsewhere first.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Oh yeah, sources confirmed. They talked to several top manufacturers.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
And the main alternative, the one they were really considering,
was the Jaguar E Type. Now, for you listening, the
E Type, I mean, what a car, stunning, long hood,
powerful engine, pure sixties style and speed. Why didn't that
get the role?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
The E Type was definitely a head Turner, no doubt,
but the dB five it offered something, maybe a different
and intangible quality. Perhaps that just fit the Bond character better.
How so, maybe the Jaguar was almost too well known
in the sports car world. Then Aston Martin felt a
bit more exclusive, more bespoke, British luxury, but with that
(02:21):
performance edge, a little more understated, maybe more tailored, suited
as a secret agent perhaps.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So it wasn't purely looks. It was the brand's image too.
The dB five said wealth and class without being overly flashy.
That clicked better for the filmmakers, building Bond's identity.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Precisely, and Aston Martin backed it up with a very
practical commitment. This was key to get the part. Essentially,
they agreed to provide two DP fives for filming, two
of them, yeah, two, And crucially they also promised technical support.
The filmmakers knew they'd need help integrating all those you know,
spy gadgets, so that offered the cars and the tech help.
That's what really sealed the deal over the E type.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Okay, hold on, you mentioned Aston Martin wasn't the giant
it is today. The sources are clear they weren't exactly
jumping at the chance were they They were actually pretty reluctant.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Highly reluctant. You really can't view them through today's lens.
Back then a niche manufacture, small.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Scale, and the financial risk must have been huge.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Absolutely, think about it. Aston Martin at that time was
all about handbuilt, quality, low volume production. The dB five
itself meticulously crafted, incredibly expensive to make. They weren't set
up for like big global marketing pushes, so.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Their main worry wasn't how do we get famous? It
was more like, how do we build the cars we've
already promised? Lending two of these incredibly valuable assets.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Exactly assets that took immense time and skilled labor to build.
Lending them to a film crew planning high speed chases
and stunts that looked like a massive financial gamble. They
had orders to fill, customers waiting. These weren't just props
to them.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
So how did the film team convince them?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Well, it took some serious effort from the Goldfing team
source to say. It wasn't just a quick phone call
the producers, the key people actually had to go visit
the Aston Martin factory.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
A personal visit.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yes, they had to sell the vision explain what this
movie Goldfinger could potentially do for the brand worldwide, a
vision the Aston executives frankly struggled to buy into initially.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
You can just picture that meeting, can't you, The execs
looking at these gleaming perfect cars and thinking are they
going to wreck these?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Right? And to calm those fears, the filmmakers made a
very specific promise they'd returned the cars in pristine condition.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Pristine condition, Well.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
The sources had a little note there. The promise was
mostly kept mostly, which probably means one car came back
with a few, let's say, souvenirs from filming. Imagine having
to explain that back of the factory about your handbeilt supercar.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Ha. That detail just highlights the chaos of filmmaking, doesn't it,
and the tension over these valuable cars. And speaking of
value and rarity, we need to stress how precious these
cars were. Aston Martin wasn't churning them.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Out, not at all. Production was incredibly limited. Between sixty
three and sixty five, they made fewer than one thousand
dB fives.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
In total, fewer than a thousand.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
That's it, so loaning two cars, especially if there were
potentially new ones meant for customers was a significant chunk
of their available stock. They weren't lending out mass produced Fords.
These were practically handmade artifacts.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
That context really drives home. Their reluctance makes the whole
Bond effect seem even more like a lucky accident.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
An accidental miracle really, which leads us perfectly into the gadgets,
because that's what everyone remembers, right, machine guns, the shield,
the ejector seat.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Pure movie magic. Felt like total science fiction when you
first saw it.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
It did, but was fascinating. And this comes from source
fac haf Tach too, is that they weren't just dreamed
up out of nowhere. They were kind of rooted in
reality exaggerations of actual Cold War spy.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Tech, really cold war tech.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Absolutely. You have to remember the era height of the
Cold War intelligence agencies, six, the CIA, They were genuinely
working on all sorts of miniaturized hidden tools for spying.
The film just took that reality and cranked it up
to eleven Hollywood style.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
So the special effects guru John Steers and his team,
they weren't just inventing things. They were looking at real
spy rumors, maybe experimental gadgets and working with Aston Martin's
engineers to make it look.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Plausible exactly, they collaborated. And the best example of that
reality bleeding into fiction the revolving license plates.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Ah yes, the plates EMT two sixteen A right.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
That wasn't just a gag for Bond to avoid parking tickets.
It was directly inspired by real systems used on diplomatic
or covert vehicles. Agencies sometimes use mechanisms and maybe manual
ones to swap plates quickly, helps maintain cover cross borders discreetly.
It was actual spycraft.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
That's amazing. It grounds the fantasy and something real, something serious.
But okay, here's the flip side, the contrast between that
gadget and the reality of filming in nineteen sixty four.
Source fact hashtag four hits this hard. Most of those
incredible gadgets were basically props. They didn't actually work.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Not in the way you see on screen. No, it's
pure movie magic, clever camera work, sound effects, especially the
sounds like the guns firing and fast editing. If you
could freeze frame the movie back then you'd see the
limitations pretty quickly.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Okay, give us some examples. How do they fake say
the machine guns popping out of the lights.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Well, those were essentially just simple gun barrels fixed to
the car. Sometimes they put little flashing lights or maybe
tiny pyrotechnic squibs inside to simulate the muscle flash. No
actual firing mechanism, okay.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
And the ejector seat surely that wasn't real.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Definitely not. That whole sequence was staged. They used a
dummy launched separately, probably off camera or with clever cuts.
No way was there working ejector seat built into that car.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
And the oil slick the smoke screen.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Those were practical effects, very hands on. It usually meant
a crew member, maybe hiding in the car or standing nearby,
had to physically triggered the release of the smoke or
the oil right on.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Q wow. So not the sleek integrated system bond seems
to control with the button.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Far from it. It was much more, let's say, manual.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
So it sounds like the only gadget that actually functioned
mechanically was the revolving license plate mechanism, the one thing
based on real spy tech.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
That's pretty much it, which really shows the ingenuity of
those early effects teams right working around huge technical.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Hurdles it does, and that ingenuity those limitations explains why
they needed two separate cars, doesn't it. That source fact
hashtag three one car couldn't do both the gadget shots
and the driving stunts exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
The modifications needed for the gadgets completely compromise the car's
ability to well be driven hard.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
So Car one was the gadget car, the star for
the close ups.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Correct, This one was heavily modified. It had the hydraulics
for the bulletproof shield, the setup for the fake ejector seat,
the plumbing for the smoke and oil, and sources point
out these mods drastically changed the car's weight, its balance.
It was honestly fairly driveable.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
So slow speeds only for filming.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
The gadgets, pretty much very careful handling needed. It was
essentially a beautiful but static special effects platform.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Which meant they needed Car two the work course right.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Car two was the driving car, kept much closer to
factory standard its performance as speed, it's handling integrity for
the chase scenes, the fast driving, the stunts where a
car actually had to perform like a car.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
So the illusion on screen of one perfect super spy
car only possible because they were constantly swapping between two
very different.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Vehicles, painstaking work really to create that seamless illusion.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
But the second Goldfinger hit theaters, that distinction just vanished.
For the audience. All anyone saw was the ultimate car
and the reaction that commercial explosion. It proved Aston Martin's gamble,
their reluctant gamble paid off massively.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Oh, the impact was immediate and huge. Sorts fact hashtag
six confirms it. It fundaments altered the company's path. Aston
Martin until then was known mainly by a pretty small
circle of wealthy enthusiasts. The film gave them instant global fame.
Suddenly hundreds of millions of people worldwide knew what an
(10:14):
Aston Martin was.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
People started calling it the Bond effect, right, And it
wasn't just about selling movie tickets. It created this massive
surge and demand for the dB five itself. Aston Martin
wasn't niche.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Anymore, not overnight, No, And it was more than just
selling cars. It elevated the whole brand perception. Aston Martin
became the symbol of sophisticated cool, high end performance, glamour,
international intrigue. That image forged in nineteen sixty four is
still the bedrock of their brand today.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
You still see it decades on. They release Bomb themed
special editions. They lean heavily on that ZIBI seven link
in marketing. The film didn't just feature the car, it
effectively built the modern Aston Martin brand.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
It really did, which makes the next chapter even stranger
the fact that these cars, these priceless pieces of film history,
kind of vanished for a while. Sourcefag hashtag seven details
the mystery of the missing originals.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
After Goldfinger and a quick appearance in Thunderball, the two
original cars basically dropped off the radar. What happened to
the main one the gadget car?
Speaker 2 (11:11):
That car DP twenty one sixty one, the Gadget car.
It was eventually sold to a private collector, and then
in nineteen ninety seven it disappeared, vanished a very mysterious circumstances.
It was being stored in what was supposed to be
a secure private airplane hangar in Boca Raton, Florida. One
day it was just.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Gone gone, just like that. An entire Aston Martin dB.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Five vanished, not like a typical car, theF we're talking
about one of those recognizable, most famous cars on the planet.
To disappear without a trace. It's baffled people for decades.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
It's genuinely one of the great unsolved mysteries in the
car world, in the film world. There have been searches,
right investigations, Oh.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Yes, extensive international searches. The FBI got involved at points,
but still its whereabouts are completely unknown today, just vanished.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
And the value because it's missing, because of its history,
it must be astronomical.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Sources estimate that if it were found today, authenticated, it
would be worth well over ten million dollars, maybe much more.
That valuation alone tells you everything about its enduring power
and legacy.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Wow. So the car that visually defined Bonds Gadgets is
still out there somewhere lost, fueling all sorts of speculation.
What about the second car, the driving car, the stunt double.
Did that one survive thankfully? Yes?
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah, that car, the one used for the driving sequences.
It did resurface and it proved the value point. It
went to auction back in twenty nineteen. It fetched a
cool six point four million dollars.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Point four million dollars, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Still a massive sum, less than the Gadget car would
be worth, probably because it didn't have all the iconic
non working modifications, but six point four million dollars absolutely
confirms how rare and desirable these original Bond cars are.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
That auction price really hammers home what was lost in
ninety seven with the gadget car. That ongoing mystery. It
adds this layer of real life intrigue, doesn't It Almost
like Bond himself.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
You could say the car is still on some kind
of covert mission, we just don't know where.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Okay, let's shift gears slightly beyond the mystery and the gadgets.
The dB five lasts because it's just fundamentally beautiful. Sourcefack
hashtag nine touches on its design heritage. It wasn't just
Aston Martin, was it. It was a collaboration, that's right.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
This is where you appreciate the car purely as design
and engineering. Those incredible lines, the sleek aerodynamic shape that's
credited to the Italian coach builder cards are Rea Touring.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Super Lagera super Lagera meaning super light exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah, it was their technique. They used lightweight aluminum body
panels over a complex tubular frame, very advanced for the time.
Gave it that shape and save weight.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
So You've got this amazing blend Italian design flair, the
visual artistry, the lightweight construction combined with the solid British
engineering underneath from Aston Martin. The engine, the chassis, the
luxurious interior.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
A perfect marriage, really, and it wasn't just about looking good.
It had the performance to match. Under the hood was
a four point zero Leader Inline six engine made about
two hundred and eighty two horse power.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Which for nineteen sixty four was serious power.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Oh yeah, that put it firmly in the Grand Tour
category high performance.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Explain Grand Tour for us? Why was that classification important
for a car like Bonds.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Well, a Grand Tour or GT isn't just a raw
sports car. It's designed for high speed and comfort over
long distances. I think driving across Europe and style needed
space for luggage, refinement for cruising, but also that power
to outrun the bad guys when needed.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
So speed plus sophistication exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
The dB five nailed that balance, perfect for a jet setting,
sophisticated secret agent.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
And the design itself, it's just timeless, isn't it. You
look at it today, over sixty years later, and those curves,
the chrome, the whole stance. It still looks incredible, still
feels modern somehow, it really does.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Very few car designs from that era have aged quite
so gracefully. The dB five is definitely one of them.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Now because the originals are either missing or way too
valuable to use in films anymore. The dB five kept
reappearing in the Bond movies over the decades, but that
meant building new ones, right recreations sourcefac hashtag eight talks
about this.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Yeah, the filmmakers knew the dB five had become part
of Bond's DNA, audiences expected to see it, so when
it came back in films like GoldenEye, Casino Royale, Skyfall,
Specter No Time to Die, they had to get new
dB fives and modify them, or sometimes even build replicas
from the ground up.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
That sounds like a massive job, especially for modern movies
where audiences notice every detail. How accurate did they have
to be?
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Incredibly meticulous? Take sky Fall for example, The team went
to amazing lengths. They actually used things like three D
printing to create replica body panels and gadget parts. There
were exact copies of the original nineteen sixty four designs.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Three D printing. Wow.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Yeah, they weren't just grabbing any old Aston Martin and
sticking bits on. They were building historically faithful copies that
could also withstand modern movie stunts.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
So it's like preserving the legend through technology, making sure
the illusion holds up for new generations.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
And it worked. Those modern replicas, often with practical effects
far better than the originals, were so convincing that a
lot of fans genuinely thought they were seeing the actual
vintage cars from the Connery days.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
The magic continues, but it's not just the film industry
keeping the legend alive. Aston Martin themselves got into the
game with their continuation models. Source fact hashtag ten. This
feels like the ultimate homage.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
It really is probably the ultimate proof of the dB
fives enduring fame. In twenty eighteen, Aston Martin announced the
dB five Goldfinger continuation program. The plan build twenty five
brand new.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
dB fives, brand new, like from scratch.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
From scratch, but built exactly to the original nineteen sixty
four specifications, like time capsules are rolling off the line
sixty years late.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Incredible, but with a twist, right, these ones actually have
working gadgets.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
That's the big selling point. They include features that were
only faked in the movies, things like working mechanically revolving
license plates, simulated machine guns, smoke screen, the Bond toy box,
but engineered for real.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
The closest you could possibly get to owning the actual
movie car. But there's a catch, isn't there a really
important one about these multimillion dollar continuations. They aren't actually
road legal, and.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
That's crucial for you listening to understand. These cars cost
over three point five million dollars each, but because they're
built using the original nineteen sixty four blueprints and methods,
they simply can't meet today's safety standards or emissions regulations.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
So you can't just drive one down the street.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Not legally in most places. No, they're designed purely as
collector's items, for private tracks maybe or just for display,
which really highlights the dB five's unique status, now, doesn't it.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
It really does. It's a car so iconic, such a
powerful symbol that people will pay millions for a version
they can't even legally drive on the road. It's moved
beyond transport entirely. It exists as high value mythology.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Movable sculpture, maybe dedicated purely to its own cinematic legend.
It went from being this niche function GT car to
a global symbol and now finally into this kind of
priceless non road legal artifact.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
So wrapping this up, what a journey. We started with
the cool, sleek symbol of Bond. We found a story
of well initial reluctance from the manufactural, a near misscasting,
clever technological fakery, a massive commercial boom, and a genuine mystery.
The dB five's whole existence from getting it on screen
(18:27):
the first time to these modern, multimillion dollar replicas has
required extraordinary effort.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
It just confirms its unique place, doesn't it That perfect
storm of automotive brilliance meeting cinematic magic. It was absolutely
the right car at the right moment, with the right
design to embody James Bond. It wasn't just a prop.
It became a character.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
It really did. Ah Okay, So, as we finished this
deep dive, we want to leave you with a final
thought something to maybe mall over. We've talked a lot
about how the original gadgets were mostly fake props, right,
simple effects, right.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Very low tech by today's.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Standard, But think about the impact of that fantasy, the
car's fictional tech, the security stuff, the hidden features, the
rotating plates. Did seeing that on screen, that visual success
plant a seed?
Speaker 2 (19:11):
You mean, did it influence real world car design? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Yeah. Did the public's fascination with Bond's high tech car
actually push the real auto industry? Did it make them
pursue more advanced features, more integrated tech, maybe even influence
the design language of smart cars in the decades that followed.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
It's an interesting thought. The film didn't just reflect the
Cold War tech, it amplified, It made it desirable. It
set a benchmark in the public imagination for what a sophisticated,
gadget filled car could be.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
So maybe that fictional leap, inspired by a bit of reality,
actually helped accelerate the real world race for the advanced
automotive tech and security systems we kind of take for
granted today.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
It's plausible something to think about next time you see
a car with all sorts of driver assists or security features.
Maybe its conceptual ancestors. That beautiful, barely drivable gadget laden
dB five from nineteen sixty four.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
A fascinating thought to end on. Thank you for joining
us for this deep dive into the hidden history and
surprising legacy of the Aston Martin d B five. We'll
see you next time.
Welcome to the deep dive. We peel back the layers
on well cultural icons really to find the surprising truths
hidden just beneath the surface.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
And today we're diving into something truly iconic.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Absolutely an object that just screams cinematic, cool, sophistication, power, gadgetry.
It's the legendary Aston Martin dB five.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It's arguably the most famous car in the world, isn't
it certainly the one most tied to that whole spy fantasy.
I mean when it burst onto the screening Goldfinger back
in sixty four. Yeah, it wasn't just in the movie.
It became James Bond in automotive form, that perfect mix
of you know, ruthless power and total elegance.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
That silver paint, the lines, the promise of that ejector seat.
It's the dream car, right for anyone into engineering or
film history or just cool cars.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Definitely.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
But our mission today isn't just to admire it. We're
digging into the sources, really extracting the fascinating maybe overlooked facts,
the origin story, the truth behind the gadgets, and well
what happened to it after Hollywood?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yeah, we want to get past just the glossy image.
Understand the nitty gritty, you know, how it was made,
how they actually modified it, and the huge risk it
represented for Aston Martin At the time, they weren't the
global giant they are now. Right, the dB five story,
it's much more of a high stakes drama behind the
scenes than most people probably realize.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Okay, let's unpack that, because, I mean, the idea of
the dB five being Bond's car that feels inevitable now,
but the sources show it was incredibly close to not
happening at all, a real near miss. It wasn't the
first car Eon Productions wanted.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
That's right, and you have to think about the early
sixties car scene. Eon Productions they were shopping around. They
needed a car that visually screamed bondfast, elegant, expensive.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
And they looked elsewhere first.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Oh yeah, sources confirmed. They talked to several top manufacturers.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
And the main alternative, the one they were really considering,
was the Jaguar E Type. Now, for you listening, the
E Type, I mean, what a car, stunning, long hood,
powerful engine, pure sixties style and speed. Why didn't that
get the role?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
The E Type was definitely a head Turner, no doubt,
but the dB five it offered something, maybe a different
and intangible quality. Perhaps that just fit the Bond character better.
How so, maybe the Jaguar was almost too well known
in the sports car world. Then Aston Martin felt a
bit more exclusive, more bespoke, British luxury, but with that
(02:21):
performance edge, a little more understated, maybe more tailored, suited
as a secret agent perhaps.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So it wasn't purely looks. It was the brand's image too.
The dB five said wealth and class without being overly flashy.
That clicked better for the filmmakers, building Bond's identity.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Precisely, and Aston Martin backed it up with a very
practical commitment. This was key to get the part. Essentially,
they agreed to provide two DP fives for filming, two
of them, yeah, two, And crucially they also promised technical support.
The filmmakers knew they'd need help integrating all those you know,
spy gadgets, so that offered the cars and the tech help.
That's what really sealed the deal over the E type.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Okay, hold on, you mentioned Aston Martin wasn't the giant
it is today. The sources are clear they weren't exactly
jumping at the chance were they They were actually pretty reluctant.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Highly reluctant. You really can't view them through today's lens.
Back then a niche manufacture, small.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Scale, and the financial risk must have been huge.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Absolutely, think about it. Aston Martin at that time was
all about handbuilt, quality, low volume production. The dB five
itself meticulously crafted, incredibly expensive to make. They weren't set
up for like big global marketing pushes, so.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Their main worry wasn't how do we get famous? It
was more like, how do we build the cars we've
already promised? Lending two of these incredibly valuable assets.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Exactly assets that took immense time and skilled labor to build.
Lending them to a film crew planning high speed chases
and stunts that looked like a massive financial gamble. They
had orders to fill, customers waiting. These weren't just props
to them.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
So how did the film team convince them?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Well, it took some serious effort from the Goldfing team
source to say. It wasn't just a quick phone call
the producers, the key people actually had to go visit
the Aston Martin factory.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
A personal visit.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yes, they had to sell the vision explain what this
movie Goldfinger could potentially do for the brand worldwide, a
vision the Aston executives frankly struggled to buy into initially.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
You can just picture that meeting, can't you, The execs
looking at these gleaming perfect cars and thinking are they
going to wreck these?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Right? And to calm those fears, the filmmakers made a
very specific promise they'd returned the cars in pristine condition.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Pristine condition, Well.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
The sources had a little note there. The promise was
mostly kept mostly, which probably means one car came back
with a few, let's say, souvenirs from filming. Imagine having
to explain that back of the factory about your handbeilt supercar.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Ha. That detail just highlights the chaos of filmmaking, doesn't it,
and the tension over these valuable cars. And speaking of
value and rarity, we need to stress how precious these
cars were. Aston Martin wasn't churning them.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Out, not at all. Production was incredibly limited. Between sixty
three and sixty five, they made fewer than one thousand
dB fives.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
In total, fewer than a thousand.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
That's it, so loaning two cars, especially if there were
potentially new ones meant for customers was a significant chunk
of their available stock. They weren't lending out mass produced Fords.
These were practically handmade artifacts.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
That context really drives home. Their reluctance makes the whole
Bond effect seem even more like a lucky accident.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
An accidental miracle really, which leads us perfectly into the gadgets,
because that's what everyone remembers, right, machine guns, the shield,
the ejector seat.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Pure movie magic. Felt like total science fiction when you
first saw it.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
It did, but was fascinating. And this comes from source
fac haf Tach too, is that they weren't just dreamed
up out of nowhere. They were kind of rooted in
reality exaggerations of actual Cold War spy.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Tech, really cold war tech.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Absolutely. You have to remember the era height of the
Cold War intelligence agencies, six, the CIA, They were genuinely
working on all sorts of miniaturized hidden tools for spying.
The film just took that reality and cranked it up
to eleven Hollywood style.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
So the special effects guru John Steers and his team,
they weren't just inventing things. They were looking at real
spy rumors, maybe experimental gadgets and working with Aston Martin's
engineers to make it look.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Plausible exactly, they collaborated. And the best example of that
reality bleeding into fiction the revolving license plates.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Ah yes, the plates EMT two sixteen A right.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
That wasn't just a gag for Bond to avoid parking tickets.
It was directly inspired by real systems used on diplomatic
or covert vehicles. Agencies sometimes use mechanisms and maybe manual
ones to swap plates quickly, helps maintain cover cross borders discreetly.
It was actual spycraft.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
That's amazing. It grounds the fantasy and something real, something serious.
But okay, here's the flip side, the contrast between that
gadget and the reality of filming in nineteen sixty four.
Source fact hashtag four hits this hard. Most of those
incredible gadgets were basically props. They didn't actually work.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Not in the way you see on screen. No, it's
pure movie magic, clever camera work, sound effects, especially the
sounds like the guns firing and fast editing. If you
could freeze frame the movie back then you'd see the
limitations pretty quickly.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Okay, give us some examples. How do they fake say
the machine guns popping out of the lights.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Well, those were essentially just simple gun barrels fixed to
the car. Sometimes they put little flashing lights or maybe
tiny pyrotechnic squibs inside to simulate the muscle flash. No
actual firing mechanism, okay.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
And the ejector seat surely that wasn't real.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Definitely not. That whole sequence was staged. They used a
dummy launched separately, probably off camera or with clever cuts.
No way was there working ejector seat built into that car.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
And the oil slick the smoke screen.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Those were practical effects, very hands on. It usually meant
a crew member, maybe hiding in the car or standing nearby,
had to physically triggered the release of the smoke or
the oil right on.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Q wow. So not the sleek integrated system bond seems
to control with the button.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Far from it. It was much more, let's say, manual.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
So it sounds like the only gadget that actually functioned
mechanically was the revolving license plate mechanism, the one thing
based on real spy tech.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
That's pretty much it, which really shows the ingenuity of
those early effects teams right working around huge technical.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Hurdles it does, and that ingenuity those limitations explains why
they needed two separate cars, doesn't it. That source fact
hashtag three one car couldn't do both the gadget shots
and the driving stunts exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
The modifications needed for the gadgets completely compromise the car's
ability to well be driven hard.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
So Car one was the gadget car, the star for
the close ups.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Correct, This one was heavily modified. It had the hydraulics
for the bulletproof shield, the setup for the fake ejector seat,
the plumbing for the smoke and oil, and sources point
out these mods drastically changed the car's weight, its balance.
It was honestly fairly driveable.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
So slow speeds only for filming.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
The gadgets, pretty much very careful handling needed. It was
essentially a beautiful but static special effects platform.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Which meant they needed Car two the work course right.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Car two was the driving car, kept much closer to
factory standard its performance as speed, it's handling integrity for
the chase scenes, the fast driving, the stunts where a
car actually had to perform like a car.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
So the illusion on screen of one perfect super spy
car only possible because they were constantly swapping between two
very different.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Vehicles, painstaking work really to create that seamless illusion.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
But the second Goldfinger hit theaters, that distinction just vanished.
For the audience. All anyone saw was the ultimate car
and the reaction that commercial explosion. It proved Aston Martin's gamble,
their reluctant gamble paid off massively.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Oh, the impact was immediate and huge. Sorts fact hashtag
six confirms it. It fundaments altered the company's path. Aston
Martin until then was known mainly by a pretty small
circle of wealthy enthusiasts. The film gave them instant global fame.
Suddenly hundreds of millions of people worldwide knew what an
(10:14):
Aston Martin was.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
People started calling it the Bond effect, right, And it
wasn't just about selling movie tickets. It created this massive
surge and demand for the dB five itself. Aston Martin
wasn't niche.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Anymore, not overnight, No, And it was more than just
selling cars. It elevated the whole brand perception. Aston Martin
became the symbol of sophisticated cool, high end performance, glamour,
international intrigue. That image forged in nineteen sixty four is
still the bedrock of their brand today.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
You still see it decades on. They release Bomb themed
special editions. They lean heavily on that ZIBI seven link
in marketing. The film didn't just feature the car, it
effectively built the modern Aston Martin brand.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
It really did, which makes the next chapter even stranger
the fact that these cars, these priceless pieces of film history,
kind of vanished for a while. Sourcefag hashtag seven details
the mystery of the missing originals.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
After Goldfinger and a quick appearance in Thunderball, the two
original cars basically dropped off the radar. What happened to
the main one the gadget car?
Speaker 2 (11:11):
That car DP twenty one sixty one, the Gadget car.
It was eventually sold to a private collector, and then
in nineteen ninety seven it disappeared, vanished a very mysterious circumstances.
It was being stored in what was supposed to be
a secure private airplane hangar in Boca Raton, Florida. One
day it was just.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Gone gone, just like that. An entire Aston Martin dB.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Five vanished, not like a typical car, theF we're talking
about one of those recognizable, most famous cars on the planet.
To disappear without a trace. It's baffled people for decades.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
It's genuinely one of the great unsolved mysteries in the
car world, in the film world. There have been searches,
right investigations, Oh.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Yes, extensive international searches. The FBI got involved at points,
but still its whereabouts are completely unknown today, just vanished.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
And the value because it's missing, because of its history,
it must be astronomical.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Sources estimate that if it were found today, authenticated, it
would be worth well over ten million dollars, maybe much more.
That valuation alone tells you everything about its enduring power
and legacy.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Wow. So the car that visually defined Bonds Gadgets is
still out there somewhere lost, fueling all sorts of speculation.
What about the second car, the driving car, the stunt double.
Did that one survive thankfully? Yes?
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah, that car, the one used for the driving sequences.
It did resurface and it proved the value point. It
went to auction back in twenty nineteen. It fetched a
cool six point four million dollars.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Point four million dollars, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Still a massive sum, less than the Gadget car would
be worth, probably because it didn't have all the iconic
non working modifications, but six point four million dollars absolutely
confirms how rare and desirable these original Bond cars are.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
That auction price really hammers home what was lost in
ninety seven with the gadget car. That ongoing mystery. It
adds this layer of real life intrigue, doesn't It Almost
like Bond himself.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
You could say the car is still on some kind
of covert mission, we just don't know where.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Okay, let's shift gears slightly beyond the mystery and the gadgets.
The dB five lasts because it's just fundamentally beautiful. Sourcefack
hashtag nine touches on its design heritage. It wasn't just
Aston Martin, was it. It was a collaboration, that's right.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
This is where you appreciate the car purely as design
and engineering. Those incredible lines, the sleek aerodynamic shape that's
credited to the Italian coach builder cards are Rea Touring.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Super Lagera super Lagera meaning super light exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah, it was their technique. They used lightweight aluminum body
panels over a complex tubular frame, very advanced for the time.
Gave it that shape and save weight.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
So You've got this amazing blend Italian design flair, the
visual artistry, the lightweight construction combined with the solid British
engineering underneath from Aston Martin. The engine, the chassis, the
luxurious interior.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
A perfect marriage, really, and it wasn't just about looking good.
It had the performance to match. Under the hood was
a four point zero Leader Inline six engine made about
two hundred and eighty two horse power.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Which for nineteen sixty four was serious power.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Oh yeah, that put it firmly in the Grand Tour
category high performance.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Explain Grand Tour for us? Why was that classification important
for a car like Bonds.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Well, a Grand Tour or GT isn't just a raw
sports car. It's designed for high speed and comfort over
long distances. I think driving across Europe and style needed
space for luggage, refinement for cruising, but also that power
to outrun the bad guys when needed.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
So speed plus sophistication exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
The dB five nailed that balance, perfect for a jet setting,
sophisticated secret agent.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
And the design itself, it's just timeless, isn't it. You
look at it today, over sixty years later, and those curves,
the chrome, the whole stance. It still looks incredible, still
feels modern somehow, it really does.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Very few car designs from that era have aged quite
so gracefully. The dB five is definitely one of them.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Now because the originals are either missing or way too
valuable to use in films anymore. The dB five kept
reappearing in the Bond movies over the decades, but that
meant building new ones, right recreations sourcefac hashtag eight talks
about this.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Yeah, the filmmakers knew the dB five had become part
of Bond's DNA, audiences expected to see it, so when
it came back in films like GoldenEye, Casino Royale, Skyfall,
Specter No Time to Die, they had to get new
dB fives and modify them, or sometimes even build replicas
from the ground up.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
That sounds like a massive job, especially for modern movies
where audiences notice every detail. How accurate did they have
to be?
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Incredibly meticulous? Take sky Fall for example, The team went
to amazing lengths. They actually used things like three D
printing to create replica body panels and gadget parts. There
were exact copies of the original nineteen sixty four designs.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Three D printing. Wow.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Yeah, they weren't just grabbing any old Aston Martin and
sticking bits on. They were building historically faithful copies that
could also withstand modern movie stunts.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
So it's like preserving the legend through technology, making sure
the illusion holds up for new generations.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
And it worked. Those modern replicas, often with practical effects
far better than the originals, were so convincing that a
lot of fans genuinely thought they were seeing the actual
vintage cars from the Connery days.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
The magic continues, but it's not just the film industry
keeping the legend alive. Aston Martin themselves got into the
game with their continuation models. Source fact hashtag ten. This
feels like the ultimate homage.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
It really is probably the ultimate proof of the dB
fives enduring fame. In twenty eighteen, Aston Martin announced the
dB five Goldfinger continuation program. The plan build twenty five
brand new.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
dB fives, brand new, like from scratch.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
From scratch, but built exactly to the original nineteen sixty
four specifications, like time capsules are rolling off the line
sixty years late.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Incredible, but with a twist, right, these ones actually have
working gadgets.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
That's the big selling point. They include features that were
only faked in the movies, things like working mechanically revolving
license plates, simulated machine guns, smoke screen, the Bond toy box,
but engineered for real.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
The closest you could possibly get to owning the actual
movie car. But there's a catch, isn't there a really
important one about these multimillion dollar continuations. They aren't actually
road legal, and.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
That's crucial for you listening to understand. These cars cost
over three point five million dollars each, but because they're
built using the original nineteen sixty four blueprints and methods,
they simply can't meet today's safety standards or emissions regulations.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
So you can't just drive one down the street.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Not legally in most places. No, they're designed purely as
collector's items, for private tracks maybe or just for display,
which really highlights the dB five's unique status, now, doesn't it.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
It really does. It's a car so iconic, such a
powerful symbol that people will pay millions for a version
they can't even legally drive on the road. It's moved
beyond transport entirely. It exists as high value mythology.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Movable sculpture, maybe dedicated purely to its own cinematic legend.
It went from being this niche function GT car to
a global symbol and now finally into this kind of
priceless non road legal artifact.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
So wrapping this up, what a journey. We started with
the cool, sleek symbol of Bond. We found a story
of well initial reluctance from the manufactural, a near misscasting,
clever technological fakery, a massive commercial boom, and a genuine mystery.
The dB five's whole existence from getting it on screen
(18:27):
the first time to these modern, multimillion dollar replicas has
required extraordinary effort.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
It just confirms its unique place, doesn't it That perfect
storm of automotive brilliance meeting cinematic magic. It was absolutely
the right car at the right moment, with the right
design to embody James Bond. It wasn't just a prop.
It became a character.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
It really did. Ah Okay, So, as we finished this
deep dive, we want to leave you with a final
thought something to maybe mall over. We've talked a lot
about how the original gadgets were mostly fake props, right,
simple effects, right.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Very low tech by today's.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Standard, But think about the impact of that fantasy, the
car's fictional tech, the security stuff, the hidden features, the
rotating plates. Did seeing that on screen, that visual success
plant a seed?
Speaker 2 (19:11):
You mean, did it influence real world car design? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Yeah. Did the public's fascination with Bond's high tech car
actually push the real auto industry? Did it make them
pursue more advanced features, more integrated tech, maybe even influence
the design language of smart cars in the decades that followed.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
It's an interesting thought. The film didn't just reflect the
Cold War tech, it amplified, It made it desirable. It
set a benchmark in the public imagination for what a sophisticated,
gadget filled car could be.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
So maybe that fictional leap, inspired by a bit of reality,
actually helped accelerate the real world race for the advanced
automotive tech and security systems we kind of take for
granted today.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
It's plausible something to think about next time you see
a car with all sorts of driver assists or security features.
Maybe its conceptual ancestors. That beautiful, barely drivable gadget laden
dB five from nineteen sixty four.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
A fascinating thought to end on. Thank you for joining
us for this deep dive into the hidden history and
surprising legacy of the Aston Martin d B five. We'll
see you next time.
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