√James Bond’s Aston Martin V8 heading to auction in the US

The star car from 1987’s The Living Daylights – the first James Bond film with Timothy Dalton as the lead actor – is expected to sell for more than $AU2 million next month.

An Aston Martin which featured as a star car in the James Bond film franchise is heading to auction next month – complete with gadgets – with early estimates placing its value between $US1.4 million and $US1.8 million ($AU2.1m-$AU2.7m).

Listed by RM Sotheby’s, this 1973 Aston Martin V8 starred alongside Timothy Dalton in his debut appearance as James Bond in 1987’s The Living Daylights, the 15th film in the James Bond franchise.

The film represented a return of the Aston Martin brand, after the British car-maker was replaced as the supplier of the ‘Bond cars’ by Lotus following 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

This dark grey coupe is one of four ‘real’ Aston Martins – not including the seven fibreglass replicas – used during filming of The Living Daylights, having been acquired by Eon Productions (which has produced all ‘official’ Bond films) more than a decade after it rolled off the production line.

To match the other Aston Martin V8s being shown in the film, this car – known as ‘Number 10’ – had a fake sunroof fitted, as well as a non-functional ‘rocket booster’ at the rear and skis protruding from the side sills.

Aston Martin ‘Number 10’ did get screen time, though its appearance was limited to running down a snowy hill and into a snowbank at the conclusion of the film’s car chase scene in St Moritz, Switzerland – a sequence which resulted in its engine and transmission being removed to make the coupe lighter for the stunt.

Following production of the film, the car was retained by Eon Productions until 1995 when it was reportedly sold to Peter Nelson, a well-known James Bond collector who also bought two of the other Aston Martin V8s used in The Living Daylights.

An unnamed collector from the US purchased the Aston Martin in 2004 and displayed it until 2021, when it was reportedly sold to its current owner who undertook a restoration of the coupe.

Now fitted with a period-correct 5.3-litre V8 and a five-speed ZF manual transmission, the Aston Martin also has additional features including the original gadgets shown in the film.

According to RM Sotheby’s, the auction house estimates this Aston Martin V8 could sell for a hammer price between $US1.4m ($AU2.1m) and $US1.8 million ($AU2.7m) when it goes to auction on 18 August 2023 in Monterey, California.