The most famous Bond car of all, it came with all the usual Q refinements that have been copied from film to film including bulletproof panels, oil slick, smoke screen, machine guns, rotating licence plates (valid in all countries), telescoping tire slashers, Homer screen, radar receiver in reaview mirror, bumper basher, and most famously, the passenger ejector seat. The Aston Martin was actually used to promote and sell Aston Martin's cars by capitalizing on the Bond hype and mystique.

While being the most recognised Bond car, it's actually been featured in six films: Goldfinger, Thunderball, GoldenEye, a small appearance in Tomorrow Never Dies, and Casino Royale – to this list can be added The World Is Not Enough, though shots of the DB5 being driven to MI6's Scottish HQ were edited out. The car appears once again in Skyfall and plays a major role in the final act of the film.

The only known remaining of two DB5s driven by Sean Connery that appeared in Goldfinger and Thunderball will be auctioned off by RM Auctions in London on October 27th, 2010. The ejector seat has been replaced with a regular seat. However, the rest of the goodies remain intact. Perfect for someone who doesn't tolerate road rage ('54 Bollinger not included). This particular car is being sold by U.S. broadcaster Jerry Lee for a crime prevention charity. He bought it for $12,000 in 1969 and it has been in his house since then and rarely seen publicly. The car is expected to fetch $5,000,000

According to the Bond Museum and Motor News Florida, the other car (the one actually in Goldfinger) was stolen from an aircraft hangar in Boca Raton, Florida in 1997 and never recovered. The mystery surrounding the theft of the vehicle and the fact that the alarm in the hangar was not tripped has led to speculation that the motive behind the theft was insurance fraud since the market value at that time was estimated to be upwards of four million dollars. Sadly, this likely means the vehicle is at the bottom of the Atlantic. Internet networkers please respond.

Aston Martin also made two other tricked out DB5s for a promotional tour since the popularity of the vehicle shot up after the movie. One resides at the Smoky Mountain Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The other is privately owned.

The Bond Museum has a DB5 that was used in a television reunion of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in which George Lazenby makes a cameo appearance as a spy with the initials J.B. This was a tribute to honor Ian Fleming's influence on that television series.





The iconic car returns in Skyfall


License Plate: BMT 216 A

Features:
Bulletproof armored front and rear panels, oil slick, smoke screen, retractable .30 Caliber Browning machine guns behind front fog-lights, rotating license plates, telescoping tire slashers, tracer receiving console, passenger ejector seat, in-car telephone, and a personal weapons rack under the driver's seat. In Goldeneye, the Aston was stripped of all its gadgets and installed with a built-in drinks cooler in the armrest. In Casino Royale, Bond wins the car from Alex Dimitrios in a poker game (baccarat in the book). Because the car belonged to Dimitrios, it was likely not outfitted with defenses or gadgets.
The car appears once again in Skyfall, this time with two of the features shown by Q in Goldfinger, namely the ejection seat -fortunately not used- and the front machine guns, which are used by Bond to ambush and kill several of Silva's men when the Skyfall estate is attacked.

Continuity trivia: in the book series, Fleming meant for this to be Bond's personal car that he purchased himself. However, due to the filming schedule of the movies, the acquisition from Dimitrios takes place out of order since Casino Royale was one of the first Bond stories written leaving the viewer to wonder if we are considering two separate vehicles. Car buffs are quick to point out that the DB5 in Casino Royale has the steering wheel on the left side rather than in the proper British configuration. It was clearly Bond's personal car in the Brosnan timeline.

Blooper: If you look carefully in Goldfinger, you'll notice the production team removed the sun visor for filming yet they didn't cover the bolt holes in the roof. The visors reappeared in Thunderball.