Aston Martin celebrates 60 years of the DB5 in Goldfinger

Sixty years ago, Goldfinger hit theaters and James Bond got behind the wheel of an Aston Martin DB5 for the first time.

It would be an understatement to say that the DB5 is the car that made Aston Martin one of the most desirable sports car brands in the world. Unveiled in September 1963, the DB5 is a symbol of a certain vision of the Swinging Sixties. All the British madness encapsulated in a phlegmatic design. What better illustration of this than its powerful 4.0-liter engine, propelling it to 250 km/h, hidden under a wildly elegant body crafted by Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera.

When the DB5 was chosen in 1964 to assist Sean Connery, a.k.a. James Bond 007, in fighting his arch-enemy Auric Goldfinger, one of the most beautiful partnerships in cinema had just come to life. With its integrated machine guns and bulletproof gadgets, the DB5 did more than its job to help Bond vanquish evil. Bond will change cars as often as he changes female partners, but none will have the chance to return eight times like the DB5, still seen in 2020 in No Time to Die.

To celebrate these six decades of fighting evil and refusing to drink a Vodka Martini shaken, not stirred, Aston Martin has opened The House of Q, a pop-up store inside the prestigious Burlington Arcade shopping street in London. After admiring a DB5 on display under the arches, visitors are invited to enjoy a glass of Champagne, Bollinger of course, at the speakeasy bar. They can then take some lessons with the brand’s designers to understand why the DB5 has become an icon and how Aston Martin continues to reinvent itself model after model without losing its soul.

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