John Williams, then a 19-year-old welder from Mold, Flintshire, spotted the Silver Birch beauty in a Motorsport magazine ad listing it at £985. He haggled it down to £900, about £15,000 today, hopped a train to London, test-drove the right-hand-drive Vantage with Weber carbs, chrome wires, Sundym electric windows, heated rear screen, and five-speed manual, then motored it home as his daily driver. One of just 39 DB5 saloons from 887 built with that exact spec, it echoed the Goldfinger Bond car that made the model iconic. Life pulled him to Saudi Arabia in 1977 for work; the DB5 stayed parked, exposed to rain, kids bouncing on the bonnet, one even snapping the exhaust while pretending to rev it like 007.
Wife Sue watched the slow rot: mouse nests inside, rust everywhere, yet offers rolled in during cash-strapped times. John held firm. "Life happened. I'd had offers to buy her, and times when I could have done with the money, but I resisted," he recalls. "As time went on it became a goal of mine to get her restored and to be able to drive her again." By 2022, at 71 and a garage owner, he saved £400,000 to ship it back to its Newport Pagnell birthplace. Aston Martin Works stripped it to bare metal, rebuilt the chassis and Superleggera frame light steel skeleton under hand-beaten aluminum by Carrozzeria Touring reshaped every panel, retrimmed the interior on original seat frames, fixed the gauge binnacle, and poured in 2,500 man-hours over three years.
Aston historian Steve Waddingham calls it tougher than building new: "The aroma, the tactile feel, the sounds it’s overwhelming." Paul Spires, Works boss, beamed at the challenge of this "profoundly run-down" unicorn. John teared up at the reveal, then drove it first time in 45 years: "It must be in better shape now than when it left the factory. Mind-blowing. I feel 27 again."
Today, factory-stamped authenticity rivals Ferrari Classiche or Lambo Polo Storico, locking in value north of £1 million.
John's not selling!