James Bond's Aston Martin DB5

ASTON MARTIN
ON THE ROAD TO BOND
JUST LIKE JAMES BOND HIMSELF, Aston Martin was born out of a spirit of adventure and a taste for the finer things in life. Its story began in 1912, when record-breaking cyclist and amateur racing driver Lionel Martin went into business selling cars with an engineer called Robert Bamford. By 1914, Martin had a plan to design and build quality sports cars for gentleman racers such as himself, and he formed the name Aston-Martin (with a hyphen) from his own moniker and that of Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire, where he had recently won a gruelling hill race.

By the 1920s, Martin and Bamford were producing small numbers of cars to order in London andAston-Martins were beginning to make their mark in competition, attracting attention at the Brooklands motor racing circuit in Surrey and at the French Grand Prix in Strasbourg. Despite good sales in 1924 and 1925, Bamford and Martin went into Receivership in 1926 and the company and brand name were purchased by engine manufacturers Renwick & Bertellito to form a new company called Aston Martin Motors.The successful racing driver and engineer Augustus Cesare Bertelli steered its designs in a new direction, and in 1927 the company launched the Aston-Martin 1.5 Litre, built in Feltham. Middlesex.


The new car and its follow-up International model quickly gained a reputation for quality and speed, but in the face of a global recession the company found itself in financial difficulty. The shipping magnate Sir Arthur Sutherland came to the rescue in 1932, and his son Gordon became Aston Martin s new managing director, alongside A.C. Bertelli. In 1939, Bertelli s deputy, Claude Hill, was elevated to chief designer, shortly before World War II put paid to any further development.

During the war, Aston Martin turned production over to aircraft parts, playing a vital role in the defence of the realm. Hill not only designed the joystick for the Spitfire fighter

Simon Hugo

From the back cover:

When 007 first took control of the DB5 in Goldfinger it redefined the action movie forever, setting a standard for everything that came afterwards.

Over the decades that have followed, Bond's association with Aston Martin has only grown stronger. Bond and the DB5 are the perfect match: understated, stylish, and powerful. This book is the official story of their relationship, from it beginning in 1963, when the DB5 was brand new, to the 25th Bond film No Time to Die, in which the DB5 once again takes center stage.

This book draws on EON's and Aston Martin's official archives to present the inside story of the DB5, and includes original production artwork, film storyboards, and exclusive photography.