How Aston Martin became immortal
Movies, cars and film stars are always a good combination, available in thousands of variations. But for me, this has never been equalled. Sean Connery is in a bespoke suit, leaning at his Aston Martin DB5 at the Furka pass in Switzerland during the shooting of Goldfinger. This is the coolest picture of all. The corner on the pass is still there, but the fuel station up this same road is now gone. But if you like illustrious movie sets and you travel towards the Gotthard tunnel from Luzern next time, look to your left from the motorway at Stans, a short distance from Luzern. At Buochs airport lies the Pilatus aeroplane factory, still recognisable as the factory of Auric Goldfinger in 1964, an excellent performance of the German actor Gert Fröbe. Initially, Aston Martin was not very keen to use the brand new DB5 prototype for filming. It was the idea of special effects director John Stears and eventually he convinced the guys in Newport Pagnell to do it and built four cars to be used. Aston Martin was made famous worldwide overnight by Goldfinger. Every young boy (like me) dreamed of the Corgi Toys model with the ejection seat and all the other gadgets. The beautiful design was among the last of the illustrious Italian designer Carrozzeria Touring in Superleggera construction. A year later, they closed up the shop. If you want to see one of the original Bond cars, visit the Louwman Museum in The Hague. And if you see a DB5…, well, I can’t help thinking of Sean Connery as 007 when I see one. Eternal beauty…..
