1. Aston Martin DB5

Starred in:

• Goldfinger (1964, Sean Connery) — $437.6 million*

• Thunderball (1965, Sean Connery) — $387.9 million*

In its Goldfinger debut, Bond’s Silver Birch DB5 outmaneuvers a deadly Mercedes-Benz posse, only to crash into a brick wall. It gets another brief star turn in Thunderball’s opening sequence. During this chase scene, where it is used as a getaway vehicle, two pipes emerge from under the bumper and shoot a torrent of water on Bond’s pursuers.

Frequently referred to as the most famous Bond car of all, the DB5 is an icon of British automotive elegance. Its recessed headlights were modern for the time, lending a streamlined look that set the DB5 apart from its contemporaries. And its lines are timeless, from the slight forward-to-back sloping bodyline to the plunging roof offset by slender, vertical, taillamp housings.

Stacked in a row of three, its protruding taillights are perfect for Q’s gadgets. To thwart pursuers, a taillight on one side of the car gushes oil to make the road slick, while the other side spews triple-spiked nails.

The DB5 also gets to show off in the opening chase of GoldenEye and appears briefly in Tomorrow Never Dies. However, it is not considered the main star car in these films.

The Gadgets:

• Ejector seat to catapult unwelcome passengers
• Two .30-caliber Browning machine guns
• Radar
• Tracking screen
• Ramming bumpers that extend electronically
• Tire slashers, which telescope out from the wheel hubs
• Retractable bulletproof shields in front and rear
• An exhaust that expels smoke-screen canisters
• Taillight on one side of the car that gushes oil
• Taillight on other side that spews three-pointed nails
• Front and rear lights that change in type and color to confuse nighttime pursuers
• Revolving license plate (supposedly for every country, although in reality it accommodated only three — Great Britain, France, Switzerland)
• Concealed armaments compartment under driver’s seat for handguns and knives
• Telephone hidden in driver’s side door (added to display model used for Bond film promotions)
• Water cannons (added for Thunderball)
• Fax machine (added for GoldenEye)
• Cellular voice-mail capabilities (added for GoldenEye)
• Refrigerated glove compartment to store a bottle of Bollinger, Bond’s preferred champagne (added for GoldenEye)

Did You Know …

• In the Ian Fleming novels that were the basis for the movies, Bond drives Bentleys until the 1959 publication of Goldfinger, where he chooses an Aston Martin (over a Jaguar) because of its tricked-out features. In the novel, the Aston Martin is a DB Mark III. But when the film gets underway several years later, the hero is put in what is Aston Martin’s most updated model at that time, the then-soon-to-be-launched DB5.

• The DB5’s Goldfinger license plate was BMT 216 A, while its GoldenEye license plate was BMT 214 A.

• Aston Martin made its DB5 from 1963 through 1965, producing 886 vehicles.

• Special-effects technician John Stears got an Oscar for Thunderball. His work included rigging a BSA 650 cc Lightning motorcycle with rockets, which are fired at a Ford Skyliner that was chasing Bond.

• Carmaker Henry Ford’s grandson and namesake was an extra in Thunderball.