1964 Aston Martin DB5

The post-War Aston Martin evolution grew by leaps-and-bound in 1958 with the launch of the DB4. The Touring-designed body would establish a recognizable appearance that would continue in various forms until 1970. The DB4 was launched in October of 1958 and was a major turning point for Aston Martin as it was the first car of the David Brown era which neither used an engine co-designed by W. O. Bentley nor a chassis derived from the experimental Atom of 1939. This was also the first Aston Martin to wear Carrozzeria Touring's 'Superleggera' bodywork, which had light alloy panels fixed to a supporting framework of light-gauge steel tubes.

Aston Martin built the DB4 under license by Touring at their Newport Pagnell facility. When introduced, the DB4 was Britain's most powerful and fastest production car.

It was determined that the Touring Superleggera body construction was incompatible with the DB2/4-type multi-tubular spaceframe. Engineer Harold Beach was tasked with creating a new platform-type chassis. The trailing-link independent front suspension found in the DB2/4 was replaced by unequal-length wishbones. The back received a live axle located by a Watts linkage instead of its predecessor's Panhard rod. The DB4 was also the first of the DB models to receive an entirely new engine. Designed by Tadek Marek, the engine had first been used at LeMans the previous year in the DBR2. Marek had joined Aston Martin in 1954, and the engine he designed was an all-alloy, twin overhead-camshaft six-cylinder unit with a 3,670cc displacement that featured 'square' bore and stroke dimensions of 92mm. The engine was mated to a new David Brown four-speed all-synchromesh unit.

The Aston Martin DB5 was introduced in July of 1963. Much of the Aston Martin DB5's legacy and popularity was generated by its cinematic association with secret agent 007 in the Goldfinger movie. It would appear in no fewer than five movies of the series. James Bond DB5 was equipped with rocket launchers and sundry other gadgets - features that were not on the standard equipment list for Aston Martin. 007's DB5 was finished in Silver Birch with a red interior.

Production of the DB5 lasted from 1963 to 1965 with just 1,021 examples built. The exterior was clothed by Touring of Milan with their Superleggera coachwork, which Aston Martin produced under license at their Newport-Pagnell factory, using the Milanese coachbuilder's technique of superforming alloy panels around a steel tube frame. The bodywork was first seen in the DB4 of 1958, and it was steadily refined through five different series of DB4 development, including an overall lengthening of the body in the fifth series, which essentially became the foundation for the DB5.

Powering the DB5 was an evolution of the DB4's inline six-cylinder motor, which acclaimed Polish engineer Tadek Marek had originally designed for the company's racing program. Displacement grew to 3,995-cubic centimeters in displacement and was fed by three SU carburetors. This setup was first seen in the special-series engines of the Vantage-specification DB4 cars and the Lagonda Rapide of 1961. The engine provided 282 horsepower and gave the car a top speed of 140 mph.

During the DB5 production, there was a short run of convertible versions that ran in four discrete series. The famed Volante nomenclature would arrive a little later with the DB6. Just 123 examples of the convertible DB5 were built. Independent coachbuilder Harold Radford also offered a shooting brake conversion (12 examples were built).

The cowled headlamps first appeared on the DB4GT and its size was the same as the lengthened, 'Series V' DB4. On the exterior, there was little to distinguish the DB5 from the last of the DB4s apart from twin fuel filler caps, though these had already appeared on some cars. Most of the changes and enhancements had occurred beneath the skin, including the engine, alternator electrics, Girling disc brakes instead of Dunlops, Sundym glass, electric windows, and an oil pressure gauge as standard equipment.

Beginning in September of 1964, the triple-Weber Vantage engine became available and offered 314 horsepower; a total of 95 cars were fitted with this setup.

by Daniel Vaughan | Sep 2019