Few film cars carry a premium quite like how a James Bond car carries a premium, with a legion of fans clamoring for a drivable piece of cinema history. Whether the DB5 from “Goldfinger” or the BMW 7 Series from “Tomorrow Never Dies,” these machines are the sorts that almost everyone seems to want. Well, now’s the chance to get a car that actually made an appearance alongside Bond — sort of. H&H Classics is auctioning off an Aston Martin Vanquish with a genuine James Bond past, and it shouldn’t even be exorbitantly expensive.
If you’re up on your Bond, you’d know that the Vanquish played a supporting role in “Die Another Day,” a flick filled with Brosnan-era cheese and new-millennium techno-garble. Add in a glitchy, autotuned theme song courtesy of Madonna, and you end up with one of the stranger films in the franchise. Is it one of the best films in the series? Absolutely not, but just because something’s not great doesn’t mean we can’t like it. Secretly, it’s one of my favorites.
While this particular Aston Martin Vanquish didn’t get any screentime, it was used in publicity shots for “Die Another Day,” and it’s not hard to find photos of Pierce Brosnan with this exact car. In a way, that’s good as gold, because film cars are often abused. The fact that this one just had to sit pretty under studio lights definitely reduces the risk of buying a famous car. Then again, it also has a missing center cap, so who knows if it’s actually sorted as it sits?
However, this Vanquish didn’t just slip quietly into private life once the studio lights dimmed. Oh no, it was one of the original seven press cars put on Aston Martin’s U.K. fleet. Indeed, if you search hard enough, you can find at least one shot of this grand tourer cornering vigorously, hamming it up for the camera on its original number plates.
So, would this Aston Martin Vanquish be a good buy? Well, let’s start by looking at it as a car. Well, 460 horsepower from a 5.9-liter V12 is nothing to sneeze at, even if a curb weight of 4,045 pounds isn’t exactly svelte. In addition, the single-clutch automated manual transmission isn’t the most refined piece of kit, but options are out there to convert it to a traditional manual transmission if you have the cash. After all, it’s really just a Tremec T-56. Combine V12 thrust with a finely tuned chassis, and you get a car that can cash checks its looks write. As per Motor Trend:
The result of all the suspension fine-tuning is a ride/handling balance that’s at the sportier edge of GT: not “knife-edged sports car,” but in no way flabby or over-insulated. An appropriately Aston-supple ride, while maintaining complete communication with the road, was among the goals, and we’d say they’ve hit this combination squarely on the money. Body roll is minimal, yet suspension travel is adequate. The aggressive 19-in. rolling stock sticks tenaciously, turn-in is excellent, and the overall handling attitude is neutral.
Brakes? All you want: firm, communicative, fade-resistant, with absolutely minimal front-end dive. More raves for the steering: super quick, lots of feedback and weight without any kick, just enough power assist to make parking easy, with good centering. All in all, a simply superlative driving experience in every way.
We’re talking about one of the big poster cars of the new millennium here, a landmark grand tourer that kicked off one of Aston Martin’s greatest eras. The bonded aluminum and carbon fiber structure beneath the Vanquish would go on to evolve and underpin the DB9, DBS, Vantage, Rapide, and yes, the second Vanquish. What goes around comes back around, right?
Making things even better is the forecasted hammer price for this famous-by-association Vanquish. H&H Classics predicts it’ll fetch between £50,000 and £70,000, or about $66,000 to $92,300 at current exchange rates. Considering regular examples hammer in the $60,000 to $70,000 range, that’s not a hideous price to pay for a genuine 007 association. So, if you’re interested, the auction’s happening on Oct. 9. Do try to keep the shiny side up.
(Photo credits: H&H Classics)
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This is one of my favorite Aston Martins,sadly the only one I will ever own is on Gran Turismo.
Yeah sure if you can afford to sort it and convert it to manual, and then continue to maintain it, it’s a great buy.
If I had that car, could I get Females Galore? (I didn’t have the nerve to say it.)
C’mon, say it! Don’t be a Pussy!
Head slap! What a coincidence.
It is possible to destroy the differential when hamming it up for the camera. Given that was not the worst thing a journalist did to this car I would suggest buying one that has a service history that does not have “this thing was a presser” It may not have been abused as a film car, but afterwards?
I read a piece by Tavarish on Hagerty a few years back when he bought a Fast & Furious Lambo. It was in pretty rough shape, so I wouldn’t expect the car to not have been abused during filming.
I’ve been re-watching the A-Team on blu-ray for the first time since it originally aired. They have at least 3 different GMC vans in use and all of them look a little worse for wear. I’d assume they would have one hero vehicle for close-ups and use the others for stunts, but that doesn’t really appear to have been the case. In some scenes, such as driving the van into the water, you can clearly see they have taken an old 70’s Ford Econoline and mocked it up like the GMC.
The A-team is on UK television, between MacGyver and Walker Texas Ranger!
Film cars are rarely what they seem, I think Mr Torchinsky wrote a piece about Kitt. The hero cars are the ones that appear in close ups and slow shots although sometimes half of the car is a film rig, The Aston just got horribly thrashed by journalists, it never got near a film set.
I suppose I will have to stick with the Playmobil Aston Martin DB5.
Bond: Do you expect me to talk?
Goldfinger: No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die.
I’ve learned on this very site that the best way to enjoy an Aston is to befriend someone who owns one….