If you’re an avid collector or connoisseur of history’s prolific vehicles, setting your eyes on one of Aston Martin’s original DB5 platforms is rare enough. But in this year’s upcoming RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction, one lucky individual is going to walk away with one of the most sought-after cars of all time: a 1965 DB5 Shooting Brake built by none other than industry mainstay, Harold Radford.
While building Aston’s original DB5 was no small feat, the beautiful 2+2 coupe didn’t offer much in terms of capable seating space. David Brown, who bought the vehicle manufacturer in 1947, proposed the novel idea of the Shooting Brake following his disappointment with the vehicle’s sparse luggage compartment, which was too small to fit his polo gear. As an avid sportsman, Brown illustrated the need for a larger, more robust body to satiate the needs of a small subset of customers; and, during the same period of manufacture as its smaller counterpart, the 1965 DB5 Shooting Brake was born. With the original DB5 in the throws of production, Aston decided that it wasn’t feasible to set aside assets for a full run of the vehicle, and approached Harold Radford’s new coachbuilding business for explicit rights. Only 12 Shooting Brakes would ever be built, only four of which were specified to be released as left-hand drive. Now, this exceptionally handsome platform is making its way to the auction block on August 15 and is expected to fetch upwards of $1,000,000+.
