MODEL HISTORY

The Aston Martin DB5 remains one of the most instantly recognisable cars ever built thanks to its iconic role in the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger. The company's service manager, Dudley Gershon, later recalled that, 'as soon the film was shown, a wave of publicity hit us… all of a sudden every ten-year-old boy knew the name Aston Martin… if we had been able to produce fifty DB5s per week then we could have sold them.'

Backing up that film-star charisma was a blend of Italian styling and British engineering. When the DB4 had been launched in 1958, it marked the beginning of a new era. John Wyer was dissatisfied with the styling of an initial 1956 prototype for the proposed 'next generation' of Aston Martin, and insisted that the company should turn to an Italian design house.

A deal was therefore done with Touring of Milan - from which Aston Martin also licensed the Superleggera method of lightweight construction. Touring's crisp, clean shape was fitted around a new six-cylinder engine that had been designed by Tadek Marek.

Regularly updated throughout its production run, the DB4 was eventually replaced by the DB5 at the 1963 Frankfurt Motor Show. For this latest model, the engine was bored-out from 3670cc to 3995cc, and very early in production a five-speed gearbox replaced the old four-speeder. On the standard triple SU carburettors, power output was 282bhp, with the Vantage model kicking out 314bhp on triple Webers.

When The Motor tested a DB5, it recorded a top speed of 145mph and noted that it was 'in the very top bracket of high-performance cars… the DB5 cruises to 100mph with absurd ease and quietness [and] can be guided through fast corners with great accuracy.'

This legendary model was replaced by the extended-wheelbase DB6 in 1965 after just over 1000 had been built.

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