James Bond Aston Martin

Category

Museums & Galleries Item

Item no

20887

Title

James Bond Aston Martin

Description

Model car 'James Bond's Aston Martin DB5', as featured in James Bond films. The car is gold in colour with a grey base and unpainted wheels. The interior is red and made of plastic. The car includes a grey and pink 'James Bond ' figure and a passenger. The ejector seat and shield mechanism can be triggered using a button located at the base. There are also machine guns on the front of the car which are triggered by a mechanism at the front of the base. The car has a plastic window screen. When the ejector seat button is pushed, the passenger figure is ejected high into the air.

Size

10.3cm

Type

Toy

Location

Museum of Childhood

Accession number

MC495.91

This model car, the Aston Martin DB5, was launched by Corgi just before release of the James Bond film Thunderball in December 1965 and was a big seller. The car featured an ejector seat, flip-up roof, hidden machine guns and a bullet proof shield, just like the car seen in the film. The real, life-size car had also featured in Goldfinger in 1964 when it had slashed an enemy's tyres and ejected a guard from the passenger seat.
The Aston Martin DB5 became one of the most famous cars in the world and the Corgi version became their most popular product, selling more than 3.9 million cars by 1968. The car was the first toy to win the Toy Retailers Association Toy of the Year Award in 1965 and has gone on to sell over seven million examples.

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Toys > Transport toys > Cars