Words: Robin Swithinbank
James Bond’s Aston Martin DB10 sold at auction last night for a cool £2,434,500, blitzing the reserve price of £1m.
The car was one of only 10 made by the British carmaker, the only one scheduled to go on public sale, and the only one signed by Daniel Craig. Eight remain in Bond-franchise owner EON Production’s possession (or at the bottom of the Tiber), with one kept at Aston’s Gaydon HQ in Warwickshire. During filming, it’s thought £25m worth of cars were destroyed.
Proceeds from the auction, which was held at Christie’s in London, went to international humanitarian agency Médecins Sans Frontières and other charities. The 10 items in the live auction raised £2,785,500.
Other auction highlights included Daniel Craig’s ‘Day of the Dead’ costume, which became very pricey fancy dress when it sold for £98,500, and Omega’s Seamaster 300 Proto No 1, the only gadget given to Bond by Ben Wishaw’s Q, which sold for £92,500.
David Walliams part compered at the auction. The Aston, he said, had had ‘one careful owner’, and was one of two DB10s for sale, the other on Autotrader for £3,500. He also ‘confirmed’ he will be the new James Bond, following this week’s rumours that Daniel Craig may be stepping away from the role.
The DB10’s proud new owner may want to sink some more cash into asphalt. The 190mph DB10 isn’t road-legal, meaning that 4.7-litre V8 engine will never be heard on public roads.
The Spectre auction isn’t over – the online part of the auction runs until Tuesday next week.
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