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All that glistens isn't gold. Replica parts
of the stolen Goldfinger Aston Martin DB5 go up for
auction this weekend with misleading lot descriptions...
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Buyer Beware - Aston Martin DB5 Parts Auction
12th March 2008
The story of the Aston Martin DB5 cars used in Goldfinger and
Thunderball and subsequent PR events is such a complex tale it
was the subject of the book "The Most Famous Car In The
World". This week, a new twist in the 45 year-old saga will
take place at an auction house in Las Vegas, USA.
There were four cars involved in the original Bond saga (in
ascending order of value):
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"DB5/2008/R" and "DB5/2017/R" were
a pair of Thunderball promotional cars dispatched to the
USA for promotional use. The former was sold in 2006 by RM
Auctions at Arizona Biltmore for $2.09m, whilst the latter
is part of the Louwman Collection in the Dutch National Automobile
Museum.
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"DB5/1486/R" was the Goldfinger
screen car used for high-speed driving scenes, now privately
owned by Jerry Lee in the USA.
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"DP/2161/1" was the original Goldfinger
screen car fitted with gadgets.
It is this latter car (DP/2161/1) which
is considered the most valuable of the four. It was originally
loaned to Eon Productions and kitted out with all the onscreen
gadgets and gizmos by special effects wizard John Steers.
After filming on Thunderball wrapped, it was returned to
Aston Martin, who inexplicably stripped out all of the
original 007 equipment in 1968. Aston Martin then sold
it as a regular road car to Gavin Keyzar in the UK. A year
later, and having seen the other cars shoot up in value,
Keyzar had replica movie equipment re-installed, later
selling it on to Richard Loose in Utah in 1971.
The car
would make one final big screen appearance in 1980's "The
Cannonball Run" with Roger Moore. Six years later,
it was sold at Sotheby's in New York for $275,000 to
Anthony Pugliese, Boca Raton, Florida. After years of
promotional
tours, the car was reported stolen from a hangar at Boca
Raton Airport sometime between 4pm Wednesday June 18th
and 7am Thursday 19th 1997. An insurance settlement of
80% of the cars valuation of $4.2m was reached. The car
has never been seen since.
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Above: One of the pair of promotional Aston Martin DB5 cars
used by EON Productions to promote the James Bond films
in the USA.
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The last owner of the vehicle, Anthony Pugliese, is now selling
selected parts from the stolen car at auction in Las Vegas
on Saturday 15th March 2008. What Guernsey's
Auctions does not make
clear to potential bidders though, is that the parts for sale
are the replica gadgets that Keyzar had created in the late
1960's. Pugliese had replaced them some years before the car
was reported stolen
'complete with gadgets'.
The items for auction are not the
parts used by the film production, and their value is therefore
greatly
reduced. The listings on the auction website intimate
they were used during filming. Descriptions use words such
as "original" despite
the parts being replicas designed and built by Keyzer. Furthermore,
some items descriptions are incredibly misleading: Lot 67
claims to be "original license for the Aston Martin DB5
used in the filming of Goldfinger", but it is dated October
1970, at least five years after Aston Martin stripped the car
following
Thunderball.
The lot descriptions below are quoted from the Guernsey's Auctions
descriptions:
Lot 66 - James Bond DB5 LOA Signed by Sir David Brown
(Estimate $400 - $600)
Original letter signed by Sir David Brown authenticating
the Aston Martin DB5
used in the filming of "Goldfinger." Letter was signed approximately
one year prior to Brown leaving Aston Martin.
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Lot 73 - James Bond DB5 Prop Bulletproof Shield (Estimate
$2,500 - $3,000)
Prop bulletproof shield from James Bond's Aston Martin
DB5. The retractable rear
shield was featured in "Goldfinger," in which Bond used the shield
to deflect enemy fire during a chase scene.
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Lot 63 - James Bond DB5 Original Shifter Knobs and Key
Ring (Estimate $1,500 - $2,500)
Set of two gear shifter knobs from James Bond's Aston Martin DB5, one of which
houses a red button used to activate the ejection seat. Includes one key (which
originally came with the DB5), on a Bugatti key ring with an Aston Martin ornament.
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Lot 62 - James Bond DB5 Tire Splitters (Estimate $5,000
- $6,000)
Original set of Ruote Borrani tire splitters taken from James Bond's Aston Martin
DB5, complete with lead mallet.
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Lot 74 - James Bond Prop Map (Estimate $300 - $500)
Original Prop map of the Aosta Valley region of Italy, used in the James Bond
film series.
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Lot 59 - James Bond DB5 Tail Lights (Estimate $800 -
$1,200)
Prop tail lights from James Bond's Aston Martin DB5, used to conceal the machine
guns.
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Lot 57 - James Bond DB5 Custom Control Panel (Estimate
$2,500 - $3,500)
Custom control panel from James Bond's Aston Martin DB5.
Used to control functions
such as "oil spray," "machine gun," and "smoke screen."
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Lot 64 - James Bond DB5 Wheel (Estimate $2,000 - $4,000)
Chrome-plated spoke wheel, complete with tire, taken from James Bond's Aston
Martin DB5.
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