Aston Martin details James Bond-inspired DB5 continuation

When Aston Martin announced that it was planning to create 25 ‘continuation’ replicas of the DB5 used in the James Bond film Goldfinger, the big question was how it would deliver on the original car’s huge tally of gadgets. Now the firm’s Works Division has shown us several of the gadgets under development in the programme, led by Academy Award-winning special-effects creator and Bond film veteran Chris Corbould. 

While the finished cars, which will be delivered to customers next year, will have more features, we have been shown three: the replica machine guns that will pop out from behind the front indicator lights, the oil-spray system that deploys from behind the taillights and the smoke screen. 

Paul Spires, Works Division’s president, confirmed that the finished cars will also have rotating numberplates, a sliding ‘bulletproof’ rear deflector and a representation of the original DB5’s famous ejector seat, although one that won’t actually be capable of firing passengers out of the car. A simulated radar tracking screen and an identical centre console to the film car’s will also feature. 

Corbould said he had to think “for about a second and a half” when asked to work on the project, but admitted that there have been serious challenges in making features that are both convincing and repeatable. 

“If we were doing an oil slick in a film, then we could fill the boot with equipment and put out about 50 litres in a couple of seconds,” he said. “Here it has to fit into a much smaller space, and it has to be able to work again and again.”