[Healeys] Healeys Digest, Vol 4, Issue 768

[Editorgary at aol.com]

In a message dated 10/28/10 11:03:38 AM, healeys-request at autox.team.net
writes:


> There may be as many copies of the '64 DB5 Bond car as there are "factory
> Ms".  I was in a vintage aircraft hangar in  Kissimmee, Florida a few
> years
> ago.  Next to the P-51 and against the wall was a sign indicating that the
> original James Bond DB5 had been on display there, but it had been stolen.
> Maybe they eventually got it back and sold it on, or maybe it or the one
> recently at auction (or both) was one of the copies.  For 4.1 million, one
> would think that any buyer willing to spend that kind of money would want
> some proof of the provenance of the car, though.  Recent experience of
> BJ8s
> sold for big bucks at Barrett-Jackson suggests it ain't necessarily so.
>

There were originally at least five "Bond DB5" cars -- two that had all the
gear on them in operating mode, for filming close-up scenes; one and
possible two used for filming the highway and driving scenes since the
original
cars were WAY too heavy to drive, and one, possibly two that were built for
display at the premier and used for publicity.

What we know is that one of the two complete cars was the one that probably
rests at the bottom of the ocean off the Florida coast, having been stolen
from a hanger at a private airport where it was stored for exactly one night
without any security. Insurance claim, anyone?
The one that sold in London is the other complete car, used in filming
close-up scenes.
The two cars used in highway scenes went back to Aston-Martin and were sold
on. I haven't heard any recent info about where they are, though I believe
one of them was in a Seattle museum, tricked out (long after the fact) with
all the stuff.
The one built for publicity is in the Louwman Collection (Dutch National
Automobile Museum) in The Hague (which is a great museum, recently opened in a
brand-new building, and well worth a visit if you're anywhere near Holland.

Cheers
Gary