Auction set for Sean Connery’s Aston Martin DB5, sans ejector seat

There’s no ejector seat, oil slick maker or machine gun, but the 1964 Aston Martin DB5 that Sean Connery bought for himself more than a half-century after driving one as James Bond in Goldfinger is up for sale.

The actor bought the DB5 at the suggestion of his children in 2018, two years before he died at age 90. It’s the only one he ever personally owned, and auction company Broad Arrow Group expects it to sell for $1.4 million to $1.8 million.

“Dad used to talk about owning his own DB5, for no other reason than he loved the car,” son Jason Connery said in a statement from Broad Arrow. “He did tell me that driving the movie cars, all laden down with the gadgets, especially the machine guns in the front, made the car really front heavy and turning at slow speed was a Herculean task, so driving without gadgets was a joy! He loved how well balanced it was. Dad also said he would have kept the ejector seat. I didn’t ask who for.”

After a yearlong search, Sean Connery found a black 1964 DB5 in near-perfect condition. The car still has little evidence of being sat in beyond some creases in the seat leather, according to Barney Ruprecht, an Aston Martin specialist with Broad Arrow who helped Connery locate it. Connery had the vehicle painted Snow Shadow Gray to match the Bond car in Goldfinger.

Connery kept the car at his home in Switzerland and had a photo of it on his desk.

“Unfortunately as he got older, traveling, especially to Europe [became difficult], and then COVID hit,” Jason Connery told CNN. “You know, unfortunately, he never really got to enjoy the car that he’d bought.”

The car will be part of Broad Arrow’s August auction in Monterey, Calif., with most of the proceeds going to the Sean Connery Philanthropy Fund.