GoldenEye Aston Martin DB5 sells for £2m at Bonhams Goodwood Festival Of Speed Sale

The GoldenEye Aston Martin DB5 and a SPECTRE Land Rover Defender were sold to the same new owner at the Bonhams Goodwood Festical Of Speed Sale on July 13th, 2018.

1965 Aston Martin DB5 from GoldenEye
The 1965 Aston Martin DB5 driven by James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) in the 1995 Bond film GoldenEye sold for £1,750,000 (approx. €2m / $2.3m) excl. fees, which is £1,961,500 including fees (approx. €2.2m / $2.6m). The estimate was £1,200,000 - £1,600,000 (€1.4m - €1.8m / $1.6m - $2.1m) and bidding started at £900.000. Bidding quickly went up to £1.5m, and then slowly went up to the final bid of £1,750,000. The identity of the winning bidder was not revealed at the time of the auction.

UPDATE: New York based museum SPYSCAPE has announced it bought the Aston Marton DB5 - read more here.

The DB5 has become synonymous with James Bond, and this example featured in the famous opening chase scene of GoldenEye where Bond dices with arch villainess Xenia Onatopp in her Ferrari F355 GTS through the hills above Monaco.

2001 Auction
In 2001 the car was first sold at auction. Entrepreneur Max Reid patiently held on through fierce bidding to purchase the 1965 Aston Martin DB5 used in the film GoldenEye on the 14th February 2001 at Christies.

The sale was one of more than 250 lots from all 21 Bond films, all for auction at the largest ever sale of gadgets and garments from 007 movies.

The 1965 Aston Martin DB5 was sold for £157,750 and made the Guinness book of World Records as the highest price ever paid for James Bond memorabilia at the time.

Following the sale Mr Reid said: "I think I got the Aston Martin for a bargain, a great price and I would have paid much more for it. February 14 is a big day for my wife. I had two reasons for the purchase - it's a great present for my wife and it will be wonderful publicity for my business as well. This is the first auction I have been to, but I am a big fan of James Bond."

The entrepreneur now got a great return on his investment.

All photos of the DB5 © Marc Wilmot

Land Rover Defender SVX Big Foot from SPECTRE
A 2014 Land Rover Defender SVX with chassis nr SALLDHSP8FA462473, used during the filming of SPECTRE was sold for £325,000 (€370,000 / $430,000). At the time of the auction it was said that it was sold to the same person that just bought the Aston Martin DB5 from GoldenEye, but it later appeared that the lucky new owner was British chef and tv personality Gordon Ramsay. The estimated sale price for this car was £220,000 - 250,000 (€250,000 - 290,000 / $290,000 - 330,000) and bidding started at £140,000.

The car with special 007 registration no. "OO07 SVX" was used during the filming of the James Bond movie SPECTRE (2015) for the scenes hat take place in Sölden, Austria. The Defender is one of ten built, based on a Defender 110 crew-cab model. Each of the 10 models was extensively modified and upgraded by Land Rover SVO (Special Vehicle Operations).

Unlike most of the other SPECTREs, which were used only for publicity purposes or not at all, this example was used extensively in the filming and still has marks on its bonnet left by the stuntmen. Unusually, it retains its mechanical handbrake and 'SVX' boot badges (most of the other vehicles had theirs removed) and also key tags identifying it as an official film car, etc. The first private owner had the pick of all ten SPECTRE Defenders and chose this one as it is the most significant.

Representing a possibly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire one of the most memorable' Bond' vehicles of recent times, this imposing Spectre Defender if offered with the owner's wallet containing the handbook and (blank) service booklet; current MoT certificate; UK V5C document for the most appropriate registration 'OO07 SVX'; and a framed presentation featuring movie stills, the shooting schedule, and an Austrian licence plate.

In its standard form the friendly and familiar Defender would have lacked the aura of menace required for the SPECTRE vehicles, so the ten movie cars were sent to marque specialists Bowler, a company recognised for over 30 years as market leaders in the design, engineering, and production of class-leading custom vehicles. Bowler then transformed them from standard Defender 110 crew-cab models into vehicles worthy of a Bond villain. Finished in sinister Santorini Black, the result was the SVX, or SPECTRE Defender.

The transformation's most striking element is the huge 37"-diameter all-terrain tyres, which has given the SPECTRE Defender the nickname 'Bigfoot'. Built to Bowler's racing specification, the suspension incorporates Rose joints and Bilstein rally dampers.

The interior features Recaro seats with 4-point harnesses, while the full roll cage runs both internally and externally.

The engine too has been significantly upgraded, producing 185bhp (up from the stock 120 horsepower) and 368lb/ft of torque.

1961 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato '2 VEV'
Although the Aston Martin DB5 and the Land Rover Defender were major Bond related attractions of the auction, the most expensive star of the show was the 1961 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato, Registration no. 2 VEV, which sold £10,081,500 (excl. premiums) making it the most valuable British motor car ever to be offered at a European auction.