Now you'll have a chance to earn the iconic auto's blueprints when they are co-auctioned by Channons Auctions and Bamfords Auctioneers and Valuers, this Wednesday (June 29). The designs were the brainchild of Bond production designer Sir Ken Adams.
As famous as 007's car itself are its gadgets. And, surely enough, the motor's features - including battering rams on the bumpers, wheel-mounted tyre slashers, an oil slick sprayer and front-mounted .30 calibre Browning machine guns - are all detailed in these blueprints.
Pay attention collectors... Could these formerly secret Aston Martin blueprints continue 007's recent run of success on the auction block? |
The original copies of these Aston Martin DB5 blueprints are actually kept under lock and key by the James Bond franchise producers, EON Productions. So how did these manuscripts wind up on the private markets?
Auctioneer Stuart Channon told UK newspaper the Daily Mail: "While the originals remain closely guarded by producers EON Productions, eight copies were released for book The Most Famous Car In The World by Bond author Dave Worrall."
Of these eight, seven are appearing at Channons Auctions and Bamfords Auctioneers and Valuers' joint sale. They are being sold to collectors for the first time ever, and are expected to bring more than £12,000.
Given the popularity of Bond's DB5 on the collectors' markets, the potential of the car's blueprints as alternative investments is assured. The actual Aston Martin DB5 driven by Sean Connery in the 1964 film Goldfinger was sold for £2.9m at RM Auctions in 2010.
This DB5, which originally appeared in the 1964 film Goldfinger, was sold to a wealty Americna collector for £2.9m in 2010 |
It was bought byAmerican businessman Harry Yeaggy, and is the only survivor of the pair of Aston Martin cars built for the movie and its sequel, Thunderball. The car's twin, stripped of its gadgets and converted into a road car, was stolen in 1997 and never seen again.
And, while Bond star Daniel Craig takes care of the secret agent's legacy on the silver screen, collectors are also doing their bit at the world's top auctions. Not least with the recent World Record priced sale for a James Bond movie poster...
The original hand-painted concept artwork, for 1971's Diamonds are Forever starring Sean Connery as 007, was signed by artist Robert E McGinnis. It sold for £79,250 ($129,970) to an American collector and is now the most valuable Bond film poster on the markets.
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