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This car is probably the finest looking car to have been produced by the Aston Martin company. Made from 1963-65, it achieved fame in two James Bond movies ("Goldfinger" and "Thunderball") as 007's very special set of wheels. The above car represents a regular model DB-5, but AUTOart also do a version of the 007 silver DB-5.
With lightweight "Superleggera" bodywork by Touring of Milan and a powerful straight six, the DB-5 was a quick car in it's day. The initials "DB" came from "David Brown Aston Martin". A former tractor and gear maker, David Brown acquired Aston Martin and it's sister company Lagonda in 1947, and all subsequent Aston Martins up until the 1967 DBS carried his initials. More recently, the DB prefix was reintroduced on Aston Martins DB-7 model.
AUTOart make this fine model which looks lovely and has a very attractive "British Racing Green" (BRG) paint finish with a tan interior. Some nice details include a separate piece of "carpet" in the boot to simulate the spare wheel cover and a finely detailed dashboard and engine bay. My only criticisms are concerning the front headlamp and indicator fitting and possibly the wheels on this model. AUTOart have made the headlamp and front indicator as one part, with a thin strip of plastic connecting the two. This strip is painted in the correct body colour, but it is still noticeable. Of course on the real car the two light units are completely separate. The wire wheels on this model are not bad, but I find that wire wheels seem to be difficult to replicate in plastic. The spokes always on close inspection seem to be too coarse or have a visible moulding line. Perhaps real metal wire could be used in 1:18th scale to replicate wire wheels? I'm sure it would look terrific, although I'm sure it would be far more costly than the plastic versions.
My last criticism is that the model can sometimes look like it's sitting oddly, due to the amount of lateral play in the wheels. This is easy to correct however by re-adjusting how the model is sitting.
All in all a fine effort from AUTOart and streets ahead of the Chrono DB-5's.
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