While it may have been the most iconic James Bond car of all time, the Aston Martin DB5 was no good when you had to take the kids and dog to the park.
It might seem like an extremely odd predicament to be in with a car like this, but the very first DB5 Shooting Brake was actually commissioned by Aston Martin owner Sir David Brown.
As an avid sportsman, Sir David Brown wanted a vehicle that could transport his hunting gear and polo equipment, but the regular DB5 was not that vehicle. As with any two door sports car, transporting polo gear and dogs was simply impossible.
Instead of buying a different, more practical car like anyone else would do, Sir David had a better idea. Legend has it that Brown entered a meeting room with his dog, placed him on the table, and said: "Build me something for him to sit in."
The resulting wagon that was built on the DB5 chassis was such a good looking car that members of the public demanded the brand to build more.
To build the wagon, David Brown had to outsource to Harold Radford as their Newport-Pagnell factory was simply too busy to handle the extra production load. A deal was made to produce just twelve models, eight in right-hand-drive configuration, and four in left.
This example is one of the four left-hand-drive models, and has lived in Switzerland its whole life. Considering that this was ordered as a shooting brake from new, and has only had three owners since, it is set to fetch a fortune at the RM Sotheby's auction later this month.
No one knows exactly how much this car will sell for, but according to the seller, the conversion "cost about twice the average price of an English house" back in 1965, we can't imagine it'll go cheap.
According to the listing, the first owner used it as a daily driver for their thirty years of ownership, and painted it another shade of grey. The car has since gone through two restorations in the hands of the two following owners, and now sports a 4.7-litre engine and a manual gearbox.
