James Bond Stunt Car Sells at Christie's
James Bond and Aston Martin – it’s difficult to think of a more iconic combination of character and car. Earlier this year the DB5 that was owned by Sean Connery was sold by Broad Arrow Auctions at their first-ever sale, selling for a strong price of $2,425,000, significantly above the pre-auction estimate of $1.4 – $1.6 million.
Towards the end of last month Aston Martin held a charity auction with the assistance of Christie’s in London to celebrate Sixty Years of James Bond. Proceeds from the sale will benefit The Prince’s Trust and The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund’s work with charities benefiting current and former members of the British Special Forces.
The most notable lot on offer at this sale was an Aston Martin DB5 replica stunt car that was featured in 2021’s “No Time To Die.” One of eight that were built exclusively with Aston Martin for the aforementioned movie, with each car featuring unique modifications for its particular role on camera.
The DB5 stunt car that was sold by Christie’s is one of the cooler examples built, featuring notable Bond-style gadgets such as a rotating license plate, retractable headlights, and pop-out machine guns. Although to be fair, we’re pretty sure those don’t actually work so don’t get any dreams of plowing your way through rush hour with them.
Executive Vice President and Chief Creative Officer of Aston Martin, Marek Reichman, said, “Aston Martin is incredibly proud to be part of James Bond’s DNA and we are delighted to celebrate this 60th anniversary with the sale of a truly unique Aston Martin model that we created for No Time To Die. It is fantastic that the sale of this special car will now hugely benefit several good causes which are close to our heart, playing our own part in the long-standing tradition of the James Bond franchise supporting charitable causes.”
Other Aston Martin models were available, but the star of the show, so to say, was undoubtably the DB5 replica which brought £2,922,000 from a phone bidder.
So this has us wondering – is it better to have the replica car from the 2021 movie, or the car owned and driven by Sean Connery, who is the greatest James Bond of all time? We’d go for the real DB5 that Sir Connery owned, but to each their own!