A 1962 Aston Martin DB4 ‘barn find’ that was used during the filming of Goldfinger by James Bond special effects designers, is to go up for auction along side hundreds of lots at Bonhams Aston Martin car sale at Aston Martin Works Service, Newport Pagnell on 22 May 2010.

The car, an ex-factory demonstrator, was owned by a special effects designer while working on the first Bond film to feature an Aston. It served as a test mule for various gadgets. The current owner of the DB4 (purchased in December 1963) claims that the car might actually have been used on screen, with delivery of the now famous DB5 delayed. Interesting modifications to the vehicle include a special factory-fitted clutch with lighter ‘push’, an Icelert (fitted by the factory prior to a trip to Moscow in the '60s), an engine vacuum gauge and a thermostatically activated overheating alert. It is estimated to fetch £40,000-50,000.

Another James Bond related car to feature at this sale is a 1976 Aston Martin V8 Coupe, kitted-out with various components from the process unit used during the filming of ‘The Living Daylights’. The founder of ‘The Bond Museum’ in Keswick, Dr. Peter Nelson, visited Studio 10 at Pinewood Studios – the site used by the James Bond producers to store many of the old props. Dr. Nelson purchased several items from the store including this ‘process unit’ – a V8 that had had the front and rear ends removed to enable the camera crew to film Timothy Dalton driving the car in the studio.

Dr Nelson wanted to restore the vehicle, but found that the chassis was too badly damaged so instead he bought a 1976 model and transferred many of the process unit’s components onto this running chassis, including the seats, interior, bonnet, wheels, skis etc. Other original parts not transferred are to be included in the sale along with many other V8 components from cars destroyed or damaged during the filming, offering the new owner the opportunity to complete the conversion.

This V8 Vantage was featured in issue 65 of Octane, as part of the Bond Cars feature, and is estimated to make between £40,000 and £60,000.

For more information on the the Aston Martin auction, and to view all the lots, go to the Bonhams website.