Car made famous by Bond was left to rust on a drive

A 1960s James Bond-style Aston Martin DB5 – which fell into such disrepair that local children used to play on it – has been restored and is now worth £1 million.

John Williams, 71, of Mold, Flintshire, bought the vehicle second-hand in 1973 for £985 – the equivalent of around £15,000 today.

He last drove the car, made famous by the films Goldfinger and Thunderball, when he was 20, and then left it to rust in his driveway.

Mr Williams saved £400,000 by paying for a three-year restoration at Aston Martin’s Buckinghamshire works, where experts had to remove a rat’s nest before carrying out a 2,500-hour repair.

He fell in love with Aston Martins when he was given a toy car at the age of eight, and by the age of 19 he had saved enough money to buy one that was advertised in a motoring magazine.

But after getting a job in the Middle East in the late 1970s, the DB5 went into storage, and then sat out on the drive, exposed to the elements – and the local children.

His wife Suzanne said, “The neighbours’ kids would jump on the bonnet and we would scold them.”

“And then there was a guy jumping on the roof wondering, ‘Does this work?’ Because they’d seen the Bond movie and thought it was coming.”

Only 1,022 DB5s were built between 1963 and 1965, which got a huge boost when James Bond, played by Sean Connery, drove a car complete with ejector seat and rotating number plates.

The silver birch gray DB5 Vantage owned by Mr Williams is one of only 39 such models in the world.

Even with the car rusting outside their home in an undriveable condition, Aston Martin valued the car at £500,000, meaning the couple considered cashing in on it.

And he had no dearth of offers.

Suzanne said: “The money comes into it and the reality, and sitting at the kitchen table she said ‘What do you think?’.

“And I said, ‘Well, you’ll never get another one.’

“So they said, ‘No, we’re keeping him.’

The decision was taken, and he described how he “saved and sacrificed” to pay for three years of restoration.

After removing the rat’s nest, technicians spent 2,500 hours replacing parts and restoring the features, including the original paint job.

Mr and Mrs Williams made regular visits to the workshop in Newport Pagnell to follow progress.

Now the work is complete, the carmaker estimates it will cost £1 million.

Aston Martin historian Steve Waddingham said: “It would be almost easy to build a brand new car, but actually repairing such a badly damaged car and putting new sections on it requires a lot of skill and patience.”

But he said the effort is worth it, adding: “The look of it, the smell of it, the feel of it, the noise of it, the presence of it is a tremendous car.

“They’re so special and you can’t get those different famous movie scenes out of your mind.”

Having had his first drive in the car for more than 45 years, John said: “It must be better now than when it originally came out of the factory.

“It was mind-blowing. I wish they could put a number on me to make me look 27 again. I’m definitely feeling 27 today.”

Susan was initially sitting in the car when it was being towed after coming out of storage.

She enjoyed her first proper trip driving with John, and said: “His voice was amazing.

“And then when we were going a little faster I thought, ‘Yeah, go a little faster. Let’s see what she can do.'”

Although John has fulfilled his lifelong ambition, he said he does not expect to drive the car often, adding: “You are limited by where you can take it and where you can leave it.

“And the weather affects it.

“I don’t want to take it to big puddles of water, and I’ve neglected it once. I’m not going to do that again.”