Today, October 6, marks exactly 60 years since the theatrical release of the very first Eon-produced James Bond movie: Dr No, starring the late Sean Connery.
Six decades, 25 films and seven Bond actors later, the franchise still carries plenty of currency in popular culture: an Aston Martin DB5 stunt car used in the latest movie, No Time To Die, has been sold by Christie's in London at a special Bond-themed auction for NZ$5,737,814.
The DB5 is of course synonymous with James Bond. It first featured in Goldfinger (1964) and has since appeared in six other films - including No Time To Die, Daniel Craig's final outing as James Bond (spoiler alert, he dies).
The stunt car is one of eight built and engineered by Aston Martin for No Time To Die, each car uniquely modified for individual tasks on screen. The DB5 car sold at Christie’s features operational gadgets including a rotating digital numberplate, retractable headlights, pop-out machine guns and firing prop "bomblets".
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The excessive price is all for a good/appropriate cause. The car was donated by Aston Martin Lagonda and the NZ$5.7m (less auction fees, presumably) paid by a telephone bidder will go to The Prince’s Trust and The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund’s support of charities assisting the Intelligence Agencies and UK Special Forces.
The auction also saw the sale of a 1981 Aston Martin V8 driven by Daniel Craig as James Bond in No Time To Die. The iconic model is a callback to the vehicle used in the 1987 Bond film, The Living Daylights.
Donated by Eon Productions, the V8 (pictured below, front) fetched NZ$1,236,488 to support UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
Also sold was an Aston Martin DBS Superleggera 007 Edition (above, rear), one of 25 examples created by Aston Martin to celebrate the car’s inclusion in No Time To Die. Featuring a plaque with etched signatures from producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli and actor Lashana Lynch, who drove the same model as Nomi in the film, the car raised NZ$791,394 for the Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales.
The live auction featured 25 lots comprising vehicles, watches, costumes and props, many of which related to No Time To Die, with the final six lots offered representing each of the six actors who have played Bond.
