Story and History

1963 Aston Martin DB5
1 owner from new
81,000 miles only

The Aston Martin DB5 for us represents everything that was great about Britain in the 60s; fast, stylish, comfortable, recognisable but not ostentatious, sophisticated and suave.

Penciled by Italian coach builders Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera the DB5 continued in the design vein that the DB4 had made so recognisable. But over time it's DB5 that has become the 'one to have'.

A 4.0 litre aluminum engine, producing 282hp, was enough to propel the DB5 to 145mph. In 1963 this must have been mind bendingly fast, most especially for a touring car.

This being such an early example it is one of the very few that used the David Brown four speed manual, as of chassis number 1340 they were all ZF boxes making this one of the last ten to use the original gear box.

Our example is something very special being such an early car and having only had one owner from new!

He bought her within three months of their initial release and forgot to tell anybody. As such he was forced to only use her in secret for the first few years of his ownership as he didn't want to give the jig up!

At only 21 years old he thought it a bit brash to have bought himself such a marvellous car so it wasn't until he got married six years later that she was finally revealed to the family, worse mistresses have made themselves known on wedding days we're sure!

A secret Aston….. very Bond indeed!! Perhaps more than you might expect.

Regular service work was carried out as is expected until 1969 when she went back to Newport Pagnell for her first major service, and it really was a completely comprehensive job; engine, transmission, chassis, body & electronics were all attended to as necessary.

At this point in late 1969 she had covered an admirable 56,451 miles.

By now a family was beginning to form and the regularity with which she was used sadly reduced. However she was never left out in the cold or neglected, always being garaged and stored in such a way that the insurers were more than happy with.

Sporadic trips on high days and holidays increased the mileage steadily to 76,000 when her next major works were carried out in 2002 by none other than Aston Engineering. Once again everything was addressed as required and Aston Engineering have looked after her ever since.

For many years prior to this work the car had been using a rather special moto lita steering wheel, given as a gift to the owner by non-other than Jochen Rindt, the only posthumous formula 1 world champion. Naturally, and for sentimental reasons, the first owner is choosing to keep this steering wheel.

The benefit of only having one owner is very evident here as he was able to put back the original steering wheel he'd taken off so many years ago with his, now sadly absent, friend. As a result the original steering wheel has hardly been used and looks that way too.

There are other notable names included in her history & story some wonderful photographs of her through the years are included in the history file with friends like Piers Courage and his wife featuring.

Presented in her original metallic blue over red hide she really looks resplendent especially as the sun reflects off the paint adding depth to colour and shape.

All the chrome work too is completely immaculate and representative of a car that has lived such a charmed life.

Having now only covered 81,000 miles since new, or 5000 miles since her last major recommission, all mechanical features are of course as sweet as ever. She runs quite beautifully with a lovely exhaust note coming from the twin pipes.

We're not exactly sure how many of these DB5's are still kept by their original owners but there really can't be many, if any.