Aston Martin Db5
In the UK during the 1960's the Aston martin DB5 was the absolute aristocrat of sports cars. It was as exclusive as a Bond Street or Savile Row suit, and the price reflected this exclusivity. For the same price as a DB5 you could buy yourself a mansion in the Surrey stockbroker belt, and its main rival, Jaguar's E-Type, was about half the price.
The Aston Martin DB5 was the fifth Aston built during David Brown's stewardship of the company. (Hence the DB initials) It wasn't a totally new car however but developed from the old and sometimes troublesome Aston Martin 3.7-liter DB4 that had been around since 1958.
Aston fitted a larger four-liter version of their original twin-camshaft six-cylinder which produced a massive 240bhp, and replaced the old gearbox with a five-speed ZF version. This improved the performance as well as the fuel economy.
Top speed was 140mph (225kph) and 150mph (241kph) could be achieved if you opted for the highly tuned (and more expensive) Vantage engine. With today's highly congested and speed-restricted motorways (freeways) it's hard to believe that in the early 1960's Aston could still test drive their cars on the M1 motorway adjacent to their factory at Newport Pagnell.
The DB5 had few new technical innovations; instead Aston simply kept pace with current developments within the car industry. Disc brakes were now becoming the norm on performance cars, and Aston fitted them to the DB5. But they were still wary of the then still relatively new and untested independent rear suspension systems so instead stuck to the old solid axle from previous models. As a result the DB5 was always happier on fast main roads than being put through its paces on twisty, uneven country lanes.
The fashionable Italian-style bodywork had flared in headlights, which improved the aerodynamics. But the interior still had the feel of an exclusive British gentleman's club, with rich leather and walnut in abundance. It also had electric windows, which were still something of a rarity in 1963. A nice touch was the push-button radio, which when you first switched it on had the words "Aston Martin" emblazoned in red on the tuning dial.
So exclusive was the DB5 that David Brown, the company's Managing Director, even sanctioned the building of a dozen DB5 estate cars for his upper-crust, country mansion owning friends. These must surely rate as the most beautiful and exclusive estate cars ever built!
Aston sold over a 1,000 DB5's in the just over two years it was in production, making it one of the best selling Astons ever. Certainly it is one of the most beautiful and memorable; a sensual, sexy, slender flying machine that in some ways highlights how the latter (and much more macho) cars produced by Aston lost their way.
