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5 November 2025The car's the star
Manufacturers are realising the attraction of cars made famous by the movies, with detailed reproductions joining originals as collector favourites
T he new luxury offering from Aston Martin has one unique special feature: a revolving number plate. That’s because the latest model from the British manufacturer is an authentic replica of James Bond’s gadget-laden machine from the 1964 film Goldfinger.
It’s the latest example of how standard supercars are no longer enough to satisfy many collectors. More and more buyers are trying to find cars with show business or celebrity connections to enhance the glamour and interest of their garages.
The ‘Goldfinger’ Aston Martin DB5 is a perfect opportunity to do just that. It’s an accurate clone of one of the most famous movie cars of all time.
The car’s legendary extras, specially fitted by weapons expert Q to help Bond, thrilled schoolboys the world over. They included a powered bullet-proof shield that rose behind the rear window, machine-guns that popped out from the front bumper, rear smoke deployment tubes and, best of all, a button to eject an unwelcome passenger through the sunroof.
The DB5 made its first appearance in the third 007 movie, Goldfinger, alongside Sean Connery. It then featured in a further six films: Thunderball (1965), again with Connery; GoldenEye (1995) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) with Pierce Brosnan and three appearances alongside Daniel Craig in Casino Royale (2006), Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015). A measure of the Goldfinger car’s impact was that the Corgi replica toy sold an astonishing 2.5m models in 1965.
The car’s legendary extras, specially fitted by weapons expert Q to help Bond, thrilled schoolboys the world over
Aston Martin is being coy about exactly which gadgets will be included in the limited series of 25 replica cars scheduled for delivery in 2020. The revolving number plate and ‘more functioning gadgets’ will be included. The gadgets will be co-developed with Oscar-winner Chris Corbould, special effects supervisor from the Bond films.
The price, however, has been confirmed: each of the officially titled ‘Goldfinger DB5 Continuation Cars’ will be priced at £2.75m plus taxes. Because of the on-board gadgetry, the silver birch DB5s will not be road-legal in the UK.
Andy Palmer, president and chief executive officer of Aston Martin, rightly proud of the company's latest creation, spells out the appeal: ‘To own a Silver Birch DB5, complete with gadgets and built to the highest standards in the very same factory as the original James Bond cars? Well, that is surely the ultimate collector’s fantasy.
'The skilled craftspeople at Aston Martin Works and the expert special effects team from the James Bond films are about to make this fantasy a reality for 25 of our very lucky customers.’
Coincidentally, the DB5 replica was announced in the same month that the less well-known car that starred in the cult 1986 film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, a Modena GT Spyder California, was sold at auction in California for $407,000 (£310,000) – much higher than the estimate.
A vehicle that has an affiliation with a star appears to be the ultimate for many of today’s discerning buyers. For example, the Ford Mustang driven by Steve McQueen in the dramatic car chase in Bullitt (1968) has long been one of the holy grails of high-end collectors.
McQueen himself tried to buy the distinctive green 390 GT some 11 years after the film. He found the buyer was unwilling to part with it at any price. This sought-after original has recently been immaculately restored by its American owner and was used by Ford in 2018 to promote a special ‘Bullitt’ Mustang edition.
It’s not quite on a par with the DB5 Continuation Car, but the 50th-anniversary limited edition Bullitt replica includes the film car’s features, like the ‘dark highland’ green paintwork, red brake calipers and an 8-pool-ball gearknob. It has up-rated performance too and, of course, an uprated price, costing from £47,145.
Steve McQueen himself tried to buy the distinctive green 390 GT, but found the buyer was unwilling to part with it at any price
Collectors looking for something a little more original, however, may be interested to learn that a second Mustang used in the film, long believed to have disappeared, has been recently uncovered in Mexico. This second McQueen Mustang is currently being restored under Ford’s careful guidance and will be eventually offered for sale.
Expect the price for any film star car to be high. Tesla supremo Elon Musk famously paid around £600,000 recently for the submarine Lotus Esprit that appeared in another Bond classic, The Spy Who Loved Me.
And a star’s car doesn’t have to have appeared on screen to gain an elevated appeal. Elton John’s 1973 Ferrari Daytona cost an unknown buyer more than £500,000 at auction in 2017.
Sometimes a car formerly owned by a celebrity may require extensive restoration, but that doesn’t seem to deter determined collectors. Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour’s 1988 Ferrari F40 was bought by a private businessman who then spent around a £350,000 on returning it to showroom condition.
The ultimate buy for collectors is surely a car that is almost as famous as its owner.
A purple 1996 Lamborghini Diablo owned by singer Jay Kay is currently being offered for sale by UK-based specialist dealers, Amari Supercars. Kay is known for his love of supercars but the car also has its own notoriety.
The 207mph coupé has been fitted with a custom blue suede interior and a gold-plated engine.
The Diablo was used in the music video for Kay’s hit Cosmic Girl, despite a camera smashing the windscreen during filming. The singer was forced to drive it through dramatic mountain roads with no windscreen.
Kay’s colourful Lamborghini is priced at more than double the normal going rate for the model: at a special price tag of £349,995.
Words: Staff
Buying famous bargains
Dedicated vehicle collectors know it is quite possible to find bargain-priced cars with genuine celebrity affiliations.
Singer Tom Jones’ 1971 Rolls Royce Silver Phantom VI was recently offered in California for just £75,000 and footballer David Beckham’s 2001 Ferrari 360 Spider has been advertised in the UK for £100,000.
As this magazine was being produced, rock star Eric Clapton’s Mirabeau Blue 2004 Ferrari 612 Scaglietti F1 was offered for auction in the UK. The musician and car collector’s Ferrari had been individually customised with styling details that included a factory-fitted dashboard plaque that says ‘Built for Eric Clapton’. The Clapton Ferrari was offered by Cheshire-based H&H Classics with a very conservative guide price of around £75,000 – hardly an increase on a standard model.
And a dark green 1994 Audi A4 convertible with beige leather interior used by Princess Diana to drive Princes Harry and William to school was sold for a remarkable price in 2017.
Cheffins auction house in Cambridge, described the car’s provenance: ‘She drove this at a time soon after she was divorced, so she was photographed in it an awful lot. There was a huge paparazzi focus on her at that point. This particular motor car of hers is one of the ones that’s most iconic.’
The Audi had initially been expected to fetch a high price but was sold at auction for just £58,000.
Perhaps even more of a bargain was a car owned by one of the world’s best-known celebrities, footballer Ronaldo, himself a noted supercar collector. The vehicle was a humble Audi A3 Coupe and was his first ever car. The Coupe was bought in 2004 when he was a little-known teenager who had just joined Manchester United.
Last year it went for auction with Portuguese dealer Standvirtual – and sold for just £13,500.