Although the Aston Martin DB5 only appeared on film less than thirteen minutes, 50 years later it has become one of the most recognizable cars from the James Bond franchise. Even more amazing given that the car was written off and destroyed halfway through filming Goldfinger when James Bond drove it into a wall which collapsed upon it. Marshall was tasked with creating the customised Chrysler Imperial used by the masked crime-fighter as he graduated from comic strip to half-hour TV show: “In the comic it had a drone in the boot, and I spent a week experimenting. I thought we could mould it like One of the most famous cars in the world thanks to its association with James Bond, the Aston Martin DB5 was first released in 1963. A luxury grand tourer built for long distance yet high speed driving, the car was evolved from the Aston Martin DB4 Series V with the addition of a new and more powerful engine constructed entirely from aluminium. Over the years, there have been six actors to this date who have played James Bond. Everyone seems to have their own favourite Bond, and which they think is the best Bond movie, and who they believe is the most beautiful Bond girl. One thing Bond fans all seem to have in common is their love for the Aston Martin DB5. There is a more upbeat side to all this, though. Aston Martin, we know, has existed for more than 100 years under conditions of constant commercial brinkmanship. It is often said that the tie-in with Bond and Goldfinger saved the company during one of its more parlous periods. Yet in the long term I think it’s the toy that saved Aston.

The model was released in time for the 1965 Christmas market and Corgi found it was unable to keep up with demand, and some toy shop shelves were reported to being cleared of this new must-have toy within minutes. Corgi sold over 3.9 million cars, which was their highest selling car and won the UK toy of the year award, so guess painting it gold instead of silver may have been the right choice. The 1968 re-issue was painted silver and came with several extras; revolving number plates and rear tyre slashers The ejection of the baddie from a Corgi Bond DB5 is a quantum event. He is in the seat and then he is somewhere else altogether — there being no discernible transitional phase between the two states. Where did he go? Into the vacuum cleaner.

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It is the working ejector seat that is so deeply ingrained in the consciousness of people about my age. It was an unimaginable marvel

In the end I settled on six cars that you would expect to find in such a show — among them the Ford Model T and the VW Beetle — and six more that I believe deserve greater recognition, including Josef Ganz’s Standard Superior (or what’s left of it) and, well, the Honda Civic. And then, in a darkened antechamber, I displayed the car that I believed, above all others, advanced the state of motoring: #the13thcar. I chose the Corgi James Bond Aston Martin DB5. (It’s item No 261 in the 1965 Corgi catalogue, if anyone’s interested.) After you have received the CORGI TOYS James Bond Aston Martin DB5 model, you are free to cancel at any time and you are under absolutely NO further obligation to buy anything else whatsoever, EVER! The ‘as seen on TV’ tag was clearly an enormous draw among toy-car buyers, so Corgi brilliantly exploited the goldmine awaiting a successful collaboration with 007.

Boing! That baddie’s on a one-way trip to hyperspace

Together with new box artwork and eager approval from ATV (although, according to Van Cleemput, no royalties were paid for a licence), the effect in 1965 was electric. The standard Volvo sold 315,000 examples in three years, but the Saint version shipped 321,000 in its first nine months, and went on to sell 1.2m. “I think I had a minor coup [with it] in my export sales days,” recalled Katz. “It sold extraordinarily well.”

This was a dream toy for kids of all ages and sizes. It’s only issue was its colour. ‘ Why was it painted gold’ instead of silver like in the movie? Apparently, Corgi’s marketing team didn’t like the proposed silver finish from the movie and decided to paint it gold to reflect the movie’s title instead. Release https://www.driving.co.uk/news/james-may-why-the-corgi-james-bond-aston-martin-db5-is-the-most-significant-car-ever/

James May’s verdict ★★★★★

The real reason is this. It may not seem it when compared with the iPad, but by the standards of 1965 the Corgi Bond DB5 was a gadget-laden miracle. Rival toy makers were amazed by how much functionality Corgi had worked into a 1:46 scale model a mere 4in long. Corgi released a 50th Anniversary edition of the Goldfinger Aston Martin in 2014 which was a complete sell out and has also become collectable but is not to be confused with the original issue. Time is running out for this stunning model, and its highly likely that it won't survive the Christmas gift buying season.