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Although shareholders would come and go, Victor Gauntlett’s role as chairman would steer the brand to greater success - and more interesting products. It was picked up for a million pounds by another group of U.K.-based businessmen, who would give up themselves in the face of increasingly harsh economic climes by 1981.īenjamin Hunting Ford Picks Up the GauntlettĪston Martin’s game of executive suite musical chairs would settle down somewhat over the course of the next 10 years. By 1975, after a mere three years of ownership, he parted with the company in a virtual bankruptcy. The lack of promotion by one of the largest cultural touchstones of the era put a hurt on Willson’s new acquisition. As part of a strategy designed to differentiate new Bond actor Roger Moore from previous star Connery, 007’s producers elected to leave its Aston Martin legacy behind in favor of new on-screen partnerships (most notably with fellow Brits Lotus).
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This time there would be no agent of espionage riding in on a luxury chariot to save them. The company fell into financial trouble and forced a sale to a group of investors led by William Willson for a mere 101 pounds sterling in 1972. Combined with a global energy crisis, hard times on the balance sheet in nearly every country’s economy and a world of new environmental regulations that effectively locked Aston Martin out of the United States, it was perhaps the worst moment to be an under-capitalized boutique automaker. Once 1970s rolled around, things were dire at Aston Martin. The company would receive a jolt in the arm from the DB5’s cameo in Thunderball the following year, and again in 1969 with the larger DBS coupe getting brief screen time in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Sales of the DB5, which was priced at just under $100,000 in adjusted dollars, were strong, and the tiny manufacturer was able to churn out a shocking 1,000 units before moving on the next-generation DB6. The pair of vehicles loaned to the production - a heavily disguised DB4 that had been used as a prototype for the new model, as well as an early DB5 production car - would prove to be one of the most astute investments in the history of the company. Still, nothing could prepare it for the extra attention brought about by Connery’s charisma and the worldwide phenomenon that was 007. It was a heady time for the brand, which had vaulted into the spotlight on the strength of the racing performance and eye-searing styling of each of the DB cars to date.
#Searing bond links update
Seeking to update the text for a modern cinematic audience, the movie’s producers turned to the Gaydon-based manufacturer for assistance, imploring then-owner David Brown (whose initials were borrowed for the series of coupes) to loan them a DB5 for filming. Author Ian Fleming, who penned the original series of James Bond novels from which the films took their inspiration, had associated his globetrotting character with the automaker in the pages of the book of the same name, albeit in an earlier DB Mark III. The Aston Martin DB5’s star turn in 1964’s Goldfinger was no accident. Out of the 26 total cinematic depictions of James Bond, nearly half have linked the international espionage operative to one Aston Martin or another, a list that continues to grow with next year’s (thanks to a COVID-19 pushback) No Time To Die reprising the collaboration.Īlthough there were hiccups along the way, the surprisingly parallel stories of both Aston Martin and Bond are intertwined, perhaps inextricably, in terms of their respective impact on both pop culture and each other. The DB5 would go on to star in no less than seven additional Bond films, but more importantly, that single model would spark a long-lasting love affair between these two pillars of English culture. After messing about with Sunbeams and the aforementioned Bentley in the initial two James Bond films, the ‘60s super spy would make an indelible pairing with the Aston Martin DB5 kitted out for him by Q, a car whose gadget load was surpassed only by its classic beauty and fetishization by fans of the franchise.
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That simple exchange between Sean Connery’s 007 and Desmond Llewelyn’s Q at the beginning of 1964’s Goldfinger would launch a partnership between two of the most enduring British brands of the 20th century.