Work order 24084, dated 5 December 1962 and issued by John Wyer, called for a 4-litre Aston Martin DB4 to be coded DP 216. It was to have a 4-litre triple SU engine, an oil cooler, a Borg & Beck 9in or 9 1/2in clutch, an S432 gearbox with overdrive, a 3.77:1 axle, electric windows, a radio, Sundym glass and fog lamps. It was to be silver grey, with grey leather and grey carpets.
Shortly afterwards, this very car would be seen, loaded with improbable gadgetry, in the Eon Films production of Goldfinger by Iam Fleming. To this day, it remains a mystery as to why Sean Connery had to drive a car without sun visors, but I am sure that someone knows the answer.
Despite this mystery, the film no doubt aided the sales of the model, well over 1000 being produced.
This transition from DB4 to DB5 is an almost imperceptible one in terms of the car's appearance. The last few cars of the Series Five DB4 Vantage finalised the looks of the DB5 model by the addition of twin petrol filler flaps, the extra one being let into the nearside rear screen piller. It had been evident that the DB4 Vantage was felt to be such an impressive car by the road testers who drove it and the owners who bought it tht the gap between the DB4 and the DB4GT was now much less then before.
Thus, the DB5 had become the only Aston Martin model available by the time of its introduction in the summer of 1963, the GT having been discontinued. It is generally held that the DB5 finally conquered the development problems which had dogged the DB4m, but in fact the DB4 had already become, in its later manifestations, a perfectly reliable vehicle.
The DB5 had a relatively short life, between July 1963 and September 1965. The chassis numbering sequence began at 1251 and finished at 2275, more or less continuing from the previous DB4 numbers, which had ended at 1215.
Of the total production of 1058, 123 were DB5 Convertibles and 37 were listed as DB6 Short Chassis Volantes. Of the remaining 898, 12 were converted to shooting brakes by Harold Radford and Co.
Within the overall series of chassis, there were four sequences of convertibles; chassis 1251 - 1300, 1501 - 1525, 1901 - 1925 and 2101 - 2123.
The Short Chassis Volante, really a DB5 Convertible, used a group of numbers between DB5 and the DB6, prefixed DBVC and running between 2301 - 2337.
A total of 65 crs were fitted with the Vantage engine, although it was not listed as a separate model. Check for the presence of the vacuum reservoir top confirm authenticity.
A single DB5 was built with an engine that is listed in the build records as a DB5 GT Type. This was a saloon, DB5/1467/L which had engine number 400/1467/GT and was built in March 1964.
This car was an Aston Martin car and first registered to AML with a registration number of EXH 8A on 20 January 1964.
Chassis Number: DB5/1366/R
Engine Number: 400/1336
Exterior Colour: Roman Purple
Interior Colour: Red Leather VW.8300
Gearbox: Borg Warner Automatic
Axle: 3.54:1
Drive: Right Hand Drive
Extras: Chrome Wire Wheels, Heated Rear Window
This particular car was first registered to Aston Martin in 1964 and is reported to be a company demonstrator and used by Mr David Brown. The car was quite distinctive painted in Roman Purple and with the Borg Warner automatic gearbox.
The car is know to be in the South of England and seen in and around the Salcombe area with a two bar attached, which is quite unusual to see on a DB5.
The car found its way to the South of France where it is was restored by the owner and converted to left hand drive.
It was then purchased by the late Mr Alain Aziza of Aston Martin Auto Performance. The car was totally dismantled and rebuilt to the correct methods using the Aston Martin supplied parts and Aston Martin trained technicians. The chassis and body was restored and repainted at Aston Martin Auto Performance Paris in Silver.
The engine was removed and totally rebuilt at R S Williams to Vantage specifaction, the five speed ZF gearbox and axle was overhauled by BPA Engineering, the interior trim was totally replace with the correct black leather and black Wilton carpets.
The reassembly was carried out in house at Auto Performance Bordeaux.
Today the car is registered in France and was part of the Alain Aziza Collection Paris, it is in excellent condition as all the cars were.
