Some call it the most exciting item of the fall auction season. Others call it the James Bond gadget car. There are those who refer to it as Aston Martin DB5. But only one man in this entire world can call it “his.”
Harry Yeaggy, an Ohio car collector paid yesterday $4.61 million to get his hands on the car. That's well under the $10 million RM Auctions believed it will get for the car, but still an impressive sum of money.
The model sold yesterday is one of the two vehicles used by James Bond in Goldfinger and Thunderball (and the only one left), back in the days when Sean Connery was the iconic 007. The car was equipped for the movies with Browning machine guns, a bulletproof shield, an oil-slick sprayer, a nail spreader and a smoke screen.
All of them are still featured on the car. These features are rounded off by the presence under the hood of a 4.0l inline six engine, which develops 292 hp and is paired to a five-speed manual gearbox.
“It's all there, and no special effects--this is how they were actually doing it,” Max Girardo, managing director of RM Europe was quoted as saying by Autoexpress.
The auction of the car was a bit twisted, in an awkward way. The bid started with one guy shouting he wants to pay 10 million pounds for the car. The auctioneer didn't take him seriously. Then, there is the information (unconfirmed or denied by RM Auctions) that prior to the auction, the auction house was offered $5.6 million for the car.
Harry Yeaggy, an Ohio car collector paid yesterday $4.61 million to get his hands on the car. That's well under the $10 million RM Auctions believed it will get for the car, but still an impressive sum of money.
The model sold yesterday is one of the two vehicles used by James Bond in Goldfinger and Thunderball (and the only one left), back in the days when Sean Connery was the iconic 007. The car was equipped for the movies with Browning machine guns, a bulletproof shield, an oil-slick sprayer, a nail spreader and a smoke screen.
All of them are still featured on the car. These features are rounded off by the presence under the hood of a 4.0l inline six engine, which develops 292 hp and is paired to a five-speed manual gearbox.
“It's all there, and no special effects--this is how they were actually doing it,” Max Girardo, managing director of RM Europe was quoted as saying by Autoexpress.
The auction of the car was a bit twisted, in an awkward way. The bid started with one guy shouting he wants to pay 10 million pounds for the car. The auctioneer didn't take him seriously. Then, there is the information (unconfirmed or denied by RM Auctions) that prior to the auction, the auction house was offered $5.6 million for the car.