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Aston Martin DB5
1963 - 1965 |
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The Aston Martin DB5 is perhaps the most famous Aston of all time. The car made its debut alongside arguably the best Bond of them all, Sean Connery, in Goldfinger in 1964 – and has since reappeared in several Bond films including the most recent, Casino Royale.
I was mesmerized, and quite pleasantly surprised, to see an absolutely impeccable example of a DB5 on the streets of Paris this summer. It's fantastic to see rare and exotic collectable cars (only 1,021 DB5's were ever made) being used on a regular basis – or even being used at all on normal roads. More often than not, cars like these are kept as showpieces whereas they were created to be driven. |
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When you see a gorgeous car like the DB5, suddenly everything else on the roads looks completely pedestrian in comparison. You’re likely to look around and wonder if we've really progressed at all since then – even French cars, which tend to be uniquely styled and more chic than most, end up looking completely ordinary. The DB5, with its flowing lines and purposeful stance, looks just right. This was a stunning example finished in a gorgeous shade of gray with an immaculate leather interior, which has all the things you need to concentrate on the driving experience, like a simple dash layout and clear black on white gauges, and nothing you don't, like a million and one electronics. |
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It also had some very nice little touches, almost like jewelry on the car, such as a thin wood-rimmed steering wheel, intricate knock-off wire wheels, flared-in aerodynamic headlights, and styled chrome side-view mirrors on the front fenders. The car also had a 'superleggera' badge on the bonnet, which means super-light in Italian. The DB5 has a light alloy body by the famous design house – Touring of Milan.
The car also had some very advanced technology for its day – certainly compared with the cars on our roads even today. As mentioned above, the car has a light alloy body, an all aluminum engine that features dual overhead cams. It's a 4.0 litre, 6 cylinder that produces 282 horsepower through a 5-speed gearbox – all of which propel the car to a not inconsiderable 141 mph (238 km/h). And brining the car back to a standstill are disc brakes all around. All this in the early-to-mid sixties! It really does make you question how much we've progressed since.
Of course, it probably doesn't drive or stop like a modern car, however. It doesn't have power steering for example, which probably means you can actually feel what the car's doing. It doesn't have air conditioning either, so you can actually also get a good workout while driving. The DB5 really is a beautiful car and a throwback to the days of the first true Grand Turismos' (GTs), produced by the likes of Ferrari, Maserati and Aston Martin.
Aston Martin is a quintessentially British marque – even though they were owned by Ford from the early nineties till very recently. They've had some tumultuous times, and several owners, over the course of their 94-year history, but have always been able to produce desirable cars. DB stands for David Brown – he bought the company after WW2 in 1947 – and created some of the most legendary cars in its history, including the 1959 Le Mans winning DBR1.
The company is now back in British hands and owned by a consortium led by David Richards, chairman of the legendary racing and engineering outfit, Prodrive, and former team boss of the BAR and Benetton Formula 1 teams. |
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