19 November 2010
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James Bond DB5 sold by RM Auctions for £2.9 million
The James Bond Aston Martin DB5, as driven by Sean Connery in ‘Goldfinger’ and ‘Thunderball’, has been auctioned off in a London sale organised by RM Auctions ...
The James Bond Aston Martin DB5, as driven by Sean Connery in ‘Goldfinger’ and ‘Thunderball’, has been auctioned off in a London sale organised by RM Auctions.
The 1964 Aston Martin DB5 James Bond movie car, which was available for sale for the first time ever, was the star attraction of the Automobiles of London event at the Battersea Evolution in London on 27th October.
The car entered the auction with a pre-sale estimate of over £3.5 million. However, after some frantic bidding, the hammer finally fell at £2,912,000.
Complete with its original, screen-used registration number, FMP 7B, and a selection of Bond-style gadgets, this Aston Martin is one of only two, and the sole remaining, of the original 007 DB5s used during filming of ‘Goldfinger’ and ‘Thunderball’.
The DB5 was originally loaned to EON Productions for the filming of the two Bond movies, and returned to the Aston Martin Lagonda factory after a promotional tour. In 1969, the American radio broadcaster, Jerry Lee, convinced the factory to sell FMP 7B to him for $12,000, thereby becoming its first and only ex-factory owner. It has remained in his possession and has rarely been seen publicly over the past 40 plus years.
Mr Lee plans to use the proceeds from the sale of FMP 7B to further the charitable work of The Jerry Lee Foundation, a multi-national initiative dedicated to solving social problems associated with poverty, with an emphasis on crime prevention.