If there is one Aston Martin that transcends the automotive industry, indeed one car, it is the DB5.
It was and remains James Bond’s car of choice, and undoubtedly marks the peak of a design concept being refined at Newport Pagnell through the 1960s.
It was to here, in the north-west boroughs of Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, that David Brown moved his firm from its original home in Feltham, London, when he purchased Salmons and Sons Coachbuilders Ltd in 1955. He’d taken control of Aston Martin eight years earlier.
Salmons and Sons by this point were better known publicly as Tickford, a name first given to an innovative roof but under which name the family firm bodied all sorts in the postwar years.
When Aston Martin moved in, Tickford moved out to the annals of automotive for decades. The DB4 was the first Aston to truly be made at Newport Pagnell, which became the DB5 in 1963. It is this, the big-screen icon, that will be the representative of Newport Pagnell on Local Heroes at the Scramble on Sunday 23 April.
More than simply a redesign and refinement, its powerplant as standard was the 4-litre with triple SU carburettors from the DB4 Vantage, along with an all-synchro five-speed ZF gearbox.
Girling disc brakes from the DB4GT were utilised, and a Vantage followed with racy triple Webers.
Aston Martin retains the factory location to this day, and it is now the home of its heritage division Aston Martin Works where Continuation cars are made and more.
Scramble regulars, you’ll also find the factory arm on the other side of Building 123 at the Scramble on the Main Drive.
More than 13,000 Aston Martins left Newport Pagnell in around half a century between 1955 and 2007, when the final car rolled off the line. That was the last of 175 V12 Vanquish S Ultimate Editions.
You'll find an Aston Martin DB5 on Local Heroes at the Scramble on Sunday 23 April.
