The British-made Aston Martin went for $6.4 million Thursday RM Sotheby’s in Monterey County, Calif. It was projected to fetch between $4 million and $6 million.
Listed as “The Most Famous Car in the World,” it is equipped with 007-esque gadgets like revolving license plates, (prop) machine guns on the front, a bulletproof shield and nail dispensers, Sotheby’s official Alain Squindo said.
Augustin Sabatie-Garat, RM Sotheby’s Europe car specialist, made the winning bid on behalf of an anonymous client.
“They made four cars for the movies — three survive today,” Aston Martin specialist Barney Rupreht said. “This is about the only one that has fully-functional gadgets as original, fully engineered, still working.”
The car sold Thursday did not actually appear in “Goldfinger,” but rather it was created to promote its sequel, “Thunderball” (1965).
The Sotheby’s website said the silver sports car had three private caretakers and went through a total restoration that was completed in 2012. The refurbishment included all 13 of its original special-effects modifications.
The auction house said it’s probably the “most iconic and recognizable” Aston Martin ever built, particularly for the “James Bond” movie franchise.
“Though John Stears’ revolutionary Oscar-winning work on the original ‘Star Wars’ movie of 1977 was yet more than a decade away, his ingenuity was already evident in the modifications that he made for the special-effects Aston Martin,” the Sotheby’s website said.
“The smash success of ‘Goldfinger’ was also a success for Aston Martin, which received free promotion around the world and saw DB5 sales surge to fuel an unprecedented level of production.”
The DB5 made such a successful debut in “Goldfinger” and “Thunderball” that it returned in the later Bond films “GoldenEye” (1995), “Casino Royale” (2006), “Skyfall” (2012) and “Spectre” (2015). Other Aston Martin models are featured in six other films in the series, and will return for the next, which is currently in production and set for release in April.
Several Aston Martins and other unique vehicles are up for sale at Sotheby’s through Saturday — including the sports car believed to be the first to carry the “Porsche” nameplate, will be auctioned. It’s expected to sell for $20 million.
