British auction house Nicolas Mee & Co is selling an automotive package deal to beat all automotive package deals – three individual Vantage editions of the Aston Martin DB5.
All three are wrapped up in the one auction lot. The reserve price is £4 million, or around NZ$8 million. The unique sale features the Vantage DB5 coupe, Vantage DB5 convertible, and ultra-exclusive Vantage DB5 shooting brake.
Official numbers are fuzzy, but Aston Martin apparently built 1021 DB5 variants between July 1963 and September 1965, made up of 887 coupes, 123 convertibles, and 11 shooting brakes.
The auction house says only 66 DB5s carried the go-faster Vantage badge: 60 coupes, five soft-tops, and one shooting brake.
Each of the 1021 DB5s was powered by a 4.0-litre straight-six engine developing 210kW/380Nm, but the Vantage-specification engine was reworked with the aid of triple Weber carburettors to produce 243kW/393Nm.
The DB5 itself is perhaps the most iconic British sports car of all time, rivalled only by the E-Type Jaguar. It is best known as car of choice for Silver Screen hero James Bond, appearing first in the 1960s but also making a reappearance in the very latest film from the 007 franchise.
Although each example in this collection is rare, none can quite match the DB5 Vantage shooting brake, the only such example to have been produced.
It was built by London coachbuilders Harold Radford & Sons, reportedly to accommodate then Aston Martin chairman David Brown’s gundog and polo equipment. Later, 11 standard DB5 examples were built.
The Vantage shooting brake for sale here is painted California sage with red leather interior. The soft-top is finished in Caribbean pearl blue with white gold hide, and the coupe is painted silver birch with black leather interior, the same colour combination as secret agent Bond’s DB5.
Never before have these three most coveted examples been offered as a collection. Every one of them has been fully restored to the very highest standards by leading Aston Martin specialists.
Each car has a detailed history, with original build details, BMIHT (British Motor Industry Heritage Trust) certificates, maintenance records, ownership documentation and restoration particulars.