stolen DB5 whereabouts
thunderballdb5
Posts: 7MI6 Agent
Anyone heard anything more on the "original" (or should I say, one of the original) Aston Martin DB5's that was stolen here in the US.
It was actually stolen from an airplane hangar about ten minutes from where I live (no I didn't steal it). One of the most beautiful sports cars ever made, I was wondering if maybe it had been located since the theft.
It was actually stolen from an airplane hangar about ten minutes from where I live (no I didn't steal it). One of the most beautiful sports cars ever made, I was wondering if maybe it had been located since the theft.
Comments
Not an easy car to get rid of.
http://www.klast.net/bond/db5.html
Maybe that's the one you mean.
There was more then one used in Goldfinger. (As I'm sure you are aware of) I don't see how someone could steal it from a private collector then sell it to a museum without the crime being noticed.
A primary filming car (the stolen one), which was returned to Aston Martin (who maintained ownership of the car through film production and publicity). This is the car that Aston Martin converted to a standard car circa 1968/'69 and sold to privat individual. I remember it was owned by a Utah jeweler for years.
Another film car was used, I believe for location work mainly.
Two additional cars were built, including gadgets, and were used for the Goldfinger promotional tour.
I myself was wondering if the stolen car had been recovered, but I think we would have heard somewhere.
He noted something I had spotted when the car was shown in L.A. in '94. The driver's side front fender had a sort of ripple in it. Dave said it happened when the car was driven through the brick effects wall in "Goldfinger." Dave regarded this car, which was the original prototype DB5 loaned by Aston to EON, as the TRUE Bond Aston and, as such, it's theft and disappearance was a real loss to film historians and 007 fans.
The general consensus is that the car had never earned from "personal appearances" what the owner had hoped, so a little arrangement was made to collect on the insurance. The car was most likely destroyed to cover-up any chance of the truth being found-out.
BTW, the owner got $3.5 Million. He had hired an agent to handle booking the car for shows, etc. who, in turn, sued the owner for what he felt was his rightful share as he was now out of a job! It got fairly ugly ...
I've been out of work for awhile now and, for one reason or another, my hobby often comes up in interviews. I'm always a bit chagrined to admit I'm a hopeless Bond fanatic but in one interview the hiring manager confessed that she had no problem with it what-so-ever as her father had owned one of the three Astons prepped for Goldfinger!
Indeed, when I got home, I checked Dave Worrall's book and sure enough, there was a whole section on her family including a photo of her as a child with the car!
you think it was some idiots off the street who chanced there luck and managed it...
No way ...
I bet my life on it ... as soon as it was out of the hanger where is was in storage.... it was straight into the back of a truck and then tucked away and hidden...
There is no way its destroyed its alaive and well i honestly bet my life on it. and the person who has it now will never be able to sell it... or display it in public
i BET SOMEone has it in there collection or garage ... in an underground place soemwere or in there mansion... etc...
Its either in the US or Britain ....
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The car won't be in one piece. It's probably been sold on for spares. Original DB5 spares are worth a huge fortune now. The whole car is too high profile for anyone to keep it in the original condition whoever they are and whatever their bank balance, it needs maintenance and a huge amount of space, and shipping would be next to impossible in this age without tens of people coming into contact with it daily. The theft too was not so hi-tech, just an opportunity that presented itself while the car was in a far from secure location. It would have been stripped and shipped within a couple of hours. It could very well have been an insurance job too, which is what most people think, in which case everything would have been destroyed. The owner was often quoted as saying the car cost too much to maintain. Crying shame, but it is gone forever
and the privite collection its in is never in public contact ... and the car has not been maint ained.. its purely a static display
I APRECIATE YOUR OPINION AND YES ! you may be right along with many others...
but until a spare part has been traced as being from the car ... i BELEIVE its still out there...
it was to well planned. just for spare parts ... if that was the case they could have had a much easier job stealing a normal DB5 from a privite collector. It was stolen for the BOND ELEMENT trust me...
it is out there... some place...
I bet it re surfaces in about 10+ years ... at some point
the person who has it cannot win no matter what he or she does... if they try and sell it they go to jail if the put it on public display they get jailed...
also the cars chasi number could have been changed along with engine parts and the person could have had it classed as a replica... so its now a replica but actually the original which would divert much unwanted attention ...
there is so many possibilities of whats happened .to the best film prop ever.
but its deffenetly still in one peice...
I do understand what you mean about no high profile person havening it etc...
I am not trying to paint the picture its in a Bond style villian museum etc ...
i mean it may be in an old wooden shed for all we know with a dust sheet over it...
But I think it will be found one day ....
speaking hypothetically - and personally if it was me and I wouldnt blame the person who found it for this either... I would steal it again...
no point in giving it back to the producers.. or right-full owner because you would be a suspect for finding it straight away... and the rightfull owner was trying to sell replica parts claiming them to be the original parts a few weeks ago, so I would keep it for that level of cheek LOL
but all in all it has lived to die another day
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That's just the point, spare parts are generic, they can't be traced to any individual vehicle.
The theft required no planning, the car was stored in an unguarded low security building. The insurance company is also offering a reward and the investigation into the claim is still ongoing. The smart money lies in an insurance scam, although at one point they thought it might have been taken out by employees and been damaged, and hence forth trashed and hidden to cover the incident.
It's a nice thought to think that it is out there somewhere, being maintained by a loving if not decidedly dodgy hand, but the odds are very small, and we probably will never know the final fate of BMT 216A
But the DB5 has too high a profile, moving it around next to impossible. I would like to believe it's in one piece in remote Bavarian castle, on display in a well-lite, high polished dungeon - rubbed down every day by "Willie" the butler for a one-eyed, bald headed villian .... but I think in reality it's "everywhere and nowhere".
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
I find the employees trashing it rather amusing .. I could just picture it ... 3 of them take it for a spin crash it and one says we need to get rid of this now and the other 2 run away and leave it in the hands of one guy ... LOL then he looks over his shoulder and Michael G. Wilson is gaining fast with a solid lethal looking sharp bat ... LOL while the employee is stick in a ditch in the car
Il keep an open mind ... and look on the bright side that it will one day turn up .. I do understand what you mean about the parts etc I am a classic car and aston martin nut.... I know a great deal about isurance scams with cars etc... not that I am invloved with anything like that .. I like reading up on things like that .... i talk to some people .. but ill say no more about that ...
I supose the only thing that would confirm the breaking down of it would be the original gadgets surfacing....
It really is a shame about this car ... even although there is like 15 replicas going around the world probibly more.. it would be nice to see the original again..
I know the smokey mountain car museum had the other original car .. the road car not the gadget car.. it was later fitted with the same gadgets and is now the rarest car minuis the stolen BMT 216A .... it was sold to someone in britain.. a while ago .. and I think its now in the UK...
here it is
I supose I will have to be happy with my 2 autoart astons for now.. the one with gadgets and with out displayed very well to represent the 2 used on film in Goldfinger..
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Oh, did I mention, that I am living in Bavaria?
Damned, Willie has again overseen a hair of mine in the soup bowl, god, I am scared that I am getting bald
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
Yeah, it was the prototype DB5, originally maroon in colour and featured in many DB5 roadtests (and had also appeared in The Saint- so Roger got it first!
Seems believable- a shame as it was an historic car even without the Bond connection.
The DB5 was a victim of greed, like the Baby Lindbergh, and those who stole it could have cared less if it was a famous Bond car, or if it was a Chevy belonging to Mr. Jones. In fact Mr. Jones Chevy, because it was anyomymus, stands only a slightly better chance of being parted out rather than simply destroyed.
Those who stole this car don't want to be caught!
If I wanted a "piece" of this car, I'd look for one of those side indicators on ebay.
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
I've not seen the episode (maybe in the 60s but not recently) in which th DB5 appears, but I have seen a clip of it, and it's Sir Anthony Quayle driving it, not Sir Roger.
the stolen DB5 was taken from an aircraft hanger in Florida .. where it was in storage..
it has been said that thiefs ... broke through a security gate with a truck .. wrapped chains around the front axle and chasis of the car and draggged it out... the hanger... onto a waiting cargo plane.. possibly just big enough to carry a single vehicle....
there was evidence of rubber markings and skidding on the hanger floor..
other reports claim it was pushed out by hand .. or hot-wired... etc
now there must have been a few involved with the crime.... no one or 2 men could do all the breaking in .. cutting the alarms in teh hanger and pulling the car out and flying the plane etc .... it was a planned job!
maybe Michael Caine was involved... Only supossed to pull the Bloody Car out!
there was also reported failed attempts to steal the car a feew nights before etc etc .... I think this was to make the story look good..
there is too much suspect behaviour and dispute between the cars owner at the time and the guy who publicised teh car and got it publicity and made money from it on tours and exhibitions... the 2 guys were family at one point etc ...
anyway ..
the car could not have gone anywhere but onto a plane .... and this could explain the other.. suspicions that it was dumped out in the ocean...
the whole idea of teh car being broken down.. seems too risky as there ewas a hunt on for it... at the time surely... and breaking down such a famous car would surely arise suspicion...
this is why it may have been a planned theift by a wealthy individual for there own keep.... and collection
or it was simply a planned job to destroy the car for an insurance payout ?
why hasn't that pretend Yokel.. Justin Lee Colins.. done a documentary "bring back Bonds DB5" God knows hes done everything else such as crap about the A-Team... and other wastes of time .. petrol and oxygen.. maybe time to go on the hunt for the DB5...something usefull and interesting for a change.... but i think this is more than he could handle... stick to Bad 80's ... mind rumming shows such as the Gimp Team and crap like fame .. etc
I think Louis Theroux would be the very man to track it down or get to the truth of the matter.. I could just picture him .. interviewing all the oners of the originals and the guy who owned the car before the big insurance payout...
if this car was dropped in the ocean .. I am sure it would have been found by now.. surely...
the whole crime and theft of the car seems to me as if .. hardly any effort was made to recover the car .. ? no big worldwide hunt etc
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right, IMO, the db5 is gone. it ain't in someone's collection, its too hot to move on and why would someone steal a car they can't show, drive, talk about or even mention to anyone?
its in bits, its more than likely sold on as parts and there won't be anything left of it.
i agree with the insurance scam idea, and as much as it pains me to say it, that car is no longer in one piece.
crying shame, but some people will do anything for money.
no-one will find out for sure, or until someone confesses in a will or something lol, but i don't think it'll ever be found.
the thing with stripping for parts is that parts can't be traced. aston parts are always easily shifted due to demand, so who's not to say someone set up a few ebay accounts and shifted the parts that way?
i'm afraid at the end of it, theres no big X marking the spot, and that gorgeous car is gone.
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It pains me that it was not just auctioned off..
someone involved with the theft will talk eventually .. I have a good feeling about that. and then the search will be back on..
If the car was dropped at sea.. surely some shark hunters or marine biolgysts would have said at some point .. thats a bit odd! theres a jelly fish sitting on the Bonnet of that DB5 beside that rock down there...
Even if it was dropped from the cargo plane.. the height ... and the impact hitting the water .. would have seriously damaged the aluminum body work .. and from 1997 until .. present.. the cars interior will be rotted..
but some closure would be nice..
I am going with insurance Job .... and the car was dumped as one piece...
Myabe because I love the car and the DB5 and the whole Bond thing.. is why I refuse to beleive its gone forever... have to have a little faith sometimes... even when the truth is obvious....
Unless a fishing trawller .. rescued the car from the water .. dragged it back to the shore .. and has it in an old rusty cargo container.... on the Florida coast
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Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!