In January 1913, Aston Martin became Britain’s newest carmaker. Cofounder Lionel Martin had already been racing at the nearby Aston Hill Climb in Buckinghamshire, so he stuck that name ahead of his, and voila! Expensive, comfortable, sporting automobiles have long been Aston Martin’s bread and butter, but it’s never easy to thrive in that corner of the car market, and ownership changes have been a regular occurrence throughout the company’s history.
Aston experienced what were arguably its most glamorous years when industrialist David Brown ran it, from 1947 to 1972. During that time, Aston Martin saw glory on the race track and worldwide exposure on the big screen. Unsurprisingly, the most desirable Aston Martins come from the David Brown era. Here are the 10 most valuable Astons to ever cross an auction block.
1964 Aston Martin DB5
Sold for £2,912,000 ($4,595,719) at RM London 2010
One reason why Aston Martin and the DB5 in particular are so famous beyond automotive circles is the Silver Birch coupe driven by Sean Connery’s James Bond in Goldfinger. The gadgets and tricks employed by the spy and his Aston are the, er, gold standard of spy movies. Bond’s DB5 is certainly in the running for most famous movie car ever.
As is the case with most car-heavy action films, it took more than one tricked-out DB5 to make Goldfinger. Four cars were prepared. This one, chassis number DB5/1486/R, primarily starred in driving scenes and didn’t get the full treatment of secret-agent gadgets and weapons at first, though these were later fitted and the car rolled out for promo duty. It then sold in 1968 to an American, who kept it for more than 40 years before it surfaced in 2010.
1960 Aston Martin DB4GT “Jet” Coupe by Bertone
Sold for £3,249,500 ($5,077,344) at Bonhams Aston Martin Works Sale 2013
The normal, Touring-bodied DB4 was certainly pretty enough. The higher-performance DB4GT was even easier on the eyes. Still, several DB4GTs got even swankier Italian clothes in period. Most famous are the 19 cars styled by Zagato, but there was also this steel-bodied “Jet,” a one-off by Giorgetto Giugiaro at Bertone and shown at the 1961 Geneva motor show.
Years later, the unique coupe got an apparently much-needed full restoration at the factory that required a lot of fabrication and body work. After completion, it won multiple concours awards. As a former owner recalled: “The styling isn’t very Aston Martin, but we never tired of looking at it.”
1955 Aston Martin DB3S
Sold for $5,500,000 at Gooding & Co. Pebble Beach 2014
The DB3S was Aston Martin’s weapon of choice in top-level sports car racing during the mid-1950s. Demand for it was strong enough that the company built 20 chassis for sale to privateer racers in addition to the 11 works cars. This one, chassis DB3S/111, wowed onlookers at the 1955 Earls Court motor show before serving as a test car for both Autosport and The Autocar magazines. One of the 20 cars sold to private customers, its brief period race history includes just two outings, at the 1959 British Empire Trophy race at Oulton Park and then a race at Snetterton. It then spent several decades owned by the Forshaw family, owners of the specialist and parts business Aston Service Dorset.
1965 Aston Martin DB5
Sold for $6,385,000 at RM Sotheby’s Monterey 2019
Billed as “The Most Famous Car in the World” prior to auction, chassis DB5/2008/R is another of James Bond’s Q-modified DB5s, this one used as a promo tool for Thunderball, the 1965 follow-up to Goldfinger. After entering private ownership in the U.K., the car made its way Stateside and became the centerpiece of the Smoky Mountain Car Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, for over three decades. It sold in Arizona in 2006 for just over $2M. It then received a full restoration in Switzerland prior to its latest appearance at auction in 2019.
1959 Aston Martin DB4GT Prototype
Sold for $6,765,000 at RM Sotheby’s Monterey 2017
In turning the already advanced DB4 into the racier DB4GT, Aston Martin shortened the wheelbase, deleted the rear seats, fitted a lighter body, and added a more powerful twin-plug, triple-Weber-carbureted version of the twin-cam straight-six engine. Ultimately, Aston Martin built 75 DB4GTs, with another 19 bodied by Zagato.
This car is the prototype DB4GT, first raced at Silverstone in 1959. Stirling Moss put it on pole and won the race. It was a DNF at Le Mans and then was converted to road specs for publicity photos and press duty as well as for development purposes at the factory. It then sold to its first private owner, reportedly a cousin of Queen Elizabeth, and passed through several enthusiast owners before being restored back to its Le Mans specs in the late 1980s.
1962 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato
Sold for $9,520,000 at RM Sotheby’s Monterey 2021
One of the precious 19 original DB4GTs clothed in this slippery Zagato bodywork and one of just six built in left-hand drive, this car sold new to an American naval officer who ordered it in Shell Grey with a slightly heavier-gauge body, special egg-crate-patterned grille, special brake covers, a locking glove box, Italian-sourced gauges, and vertically stacked taillights similar to late DB4 road cars. It is also reportedly the only DB4GT Zagato fitted with chromed brass window frames, rather than aluminum. After its time in the States, it sold to Sweden. By the ’70s it was back in the U.K. and racing, and it received a restoration in the mid-1990s.
1961 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato
Sold for £10,081,500 ($13,323,710) at Bonhams’ Goodwood Festival of Speed 2018
Despite being more aerodynamic and a bit lighter than the standard DB4GT, the Zagato-bodied cars were not wildly successful in international sports car racing. Even so, they ran competitively with the likes of the Ferrari 250 GTO and Jaguar E-Type Lightweight and looked great doing it. This one, chassis DB4GT/0183/R (aka “2 VEV” in reference to its registration number), raced as a quasi-works team car along with another Zagato under the Essex Racing Stable banner.
The Essex cars had the most notable race history of the DB4GT Zagatos. Jim Clark drove 2 VEV at Goodwood and Montlhéry. It overheated and retired at Le Mans with the Australian pair of Lex Davison and Bib Stilwell driving. Davison then won the support race for the 1961 British Grand Prix at Aintree. It also had a third-place finish at Snetterton and started from pole at Spa in 1962 but crashed heavily. After being fully rebuilt with a completely new and lighter chassis, as well as a larger engine and more slippery bodywork, it raced a few more times before going into private ownership. After a road accident in 1993, it received a full restoration at the Aston Martin factory to concours condition.
1962 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato
Sold for $14,300,000 at RM Driven by Disruption 2015
The 14th DB4GT Zagato built, chassis DB4GT/0186/R sold new to Australia, where it racked up multiple victories and podium finishes. It stayed in Australia, where it was stored from 1968 to 1993, before going back to Britain where it ran at Goodwood multiple times. A restoration finished up in 2002, and in won multiple concours awards afterward. Unlike the more famous “2 VEV” above, it apparently escaped any serious crash damage or reconstruction, which goes a long way in explaining its higher price.
1963 Aston Martin DP215
Sold for $21,455,000 at RM Sotheby’s Monterey 2018
One of four “Project” cars developed from the DB4GT chassis, Project DP215 followed DP212 and the pair of DP214s. Compared to its predecessors, it featured 4.0-liter twin-plug engine mounted further back in the chassis, along with added independent rear suspension and revised bodywork. The car was prepared in a matter of weeks and entered in the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans, where the prototype was clocked at 198.6 mph on the Mulsanne Straight and ran 12 seconds per lap faster than the Ferrari 250 GTOs running in the GT class. Sadly, its gearbox broke after just two hours.
Not long after another DNF at Reims in France, Aston’s racing department closed its doors. The company kept the car until 1974, and by this time it had lost its drivetrain. Restoration work continued through several owners and, eventually, it was reunited with its original engine.
1956 Aston Martin DBR1
Sold for $22,550,000 at RM Sotheby’s Monterey 2017
Aston Martin’s first and only Le Mans win came in 1959 with its DBR1, and it was the culmination of the company’s 10-year effort to win the French endurance classic. This car, chassis DBR1/1, debuted at the 1956 Le Mans race but failed to finish, and it DNF’d there again in 1957 and ’58. The highlight of its competition career came with a win in the 1959 Nürburgring 1000 Km race, with Stirling Moss breaking the lap record 16 times in the process. It also racked up multiple second-place finishes with Roy Salvadori and Jack Brabham behind the wheel. As of this writing, it is the 14th most expensive car ever sold at auction.
Report by Andrew Newton for hagerty.com
