WASHINGTON—The International Spy Museum in Washington is one of the most intriguing and engaging museums located in the nation’s capital. Along with its countless homages to international spies across the eras of history and its vast collection of spy craft artifacts, there is one artifact (and one spy) that stands above the rest: James Bond’s 1964 Aston Martin DB5.
Ironically, the car never belonged to an actual spy, nor was it ever used in actual espionage. But who cares about irony? James Bond is synonymous with espionage and the DB5 is synonymous with Bond.
“Anyone who has seen a Bond movie will immediately connect this car with the James Bond universe,” said Aliza Bran, media relations manager of the museum. “It’s iconic.”
Up Close and Personal
Although there is a price of admission to venture through the Spy Museum, the DB5 actually resides in the lobby, free to be ogled at. This Aston Martin DB5 is one of the four original cars from the 1964 film “Goldfinger.” Two were used during production and two were used for promotion. It is on loan from a Mr. M. and C. Nelson, who have allowed the museum to display it ever since the International Spy Museum opened in 2002.“It was the first artifact to be installed in the old museum exhibit space when the museum was over at Penn Quarter,” Ms. Bran said.
“It was also the first artifact that moved into the Spy Museum’s new home in L’Enfant Plaza. We craned it out of the third floor of the old building and brought it to the new building for installation in the lobby, so it would be one of the first artifacts visitors see as they walk in. We’ve had the car for 21 years now. You could say the museum can legally now have a martini ‘shaken, not stirred.’”
“The car goes through several of the film’s functionalities, showcasing tire slashers, a rotating license plate, and ‘machine guns,’―to mention just a few―to show visitors the gear this famous car has to work with,” Ms. Bran said.
The Cost of a ‘Goldfinger’ DB5
The beauty of having the DB5 in the entrance of the museum is that one can stand ever so close and stare at it as long as one wishes (as this writer did). Although the car has been on loan since 2002, one can never be too certain how long easy access to an original “Goldfinger” DB5 will last, especially since the one used in the movie was stolen in 1997 from a hangar in Boca Raton, Florida. Valued at approximately $25 million, it was recently tracked to a private owner somewhere in the Middle East; it remains to be seen if it will be returned to its rightful owner. The other two remaining DB5s have been sold to collectors at private auction, selling for as much as $4 million.In 2020, the British car manufacturer produced 25 Aston Martin DB5s, all painted Silver Birch, as part of its “Goldfinger” Continuation program. Each car came with the original “modifications,” although most are merely simulations. Nonetheless, they all quickly sold out for a total of $115 million. One purchaser was Jay Leno, an American comedian and former late night TV host.
For those who can’t afford a $4.5 million car, or even a ticket to the International Spy Museum (far cheaper, rest assured), one can still at least visually take a cruise down memory lane. Ms. Bran mentioned that even those who aren’t familiar with the James Bond franchise, much less the iconic car, can appreciate the vehicle for its sleekness and its gadgets.
Fictional Influence
Ms. Bran added that, despite James Bond not being a real spy, or even a real person (although his creator Ian Fleming was a member of British Intelligence), that hasn’t stopped the Bond series and other fictional spy creations influencing the intelligence communities and vice versa.“It’s true that the gadgets in spy fiction echo and drive forward real gadget makers in the field of intelligence,” Ms. Bran said.
“For example, there are shows that have inspired people in the CIA’s Office of Technical Service, which is responsible for imagining and developing these items, to ask themselves, ‘Can we make this interesting fictional object a reality?’ Similarly, there are gadgets that intelligence agencies make that later find their way onto the silver screen in spy movies.
“Ultimately, Bond represents a fun, and somewhat ridiculous representation of espionage. The Spy Museum has the pleasure of speaking to what’s realistic and what many things are unrealistic through the lens of the film series. Visitors don’t need to be familiar with the Bond universe to find the artifacts interesting and the juxtaposition educational.”
