Aston Martin recently released photos of a 1965 DB5 it had restored after years of disuse. The owner of this particular car had bought it as a teenager in 1972 and used it as his daily driver for a few years, and after he finally parked it for good on his driveway in 1977, it simply sat there – life and a job overseas got in the way.
The car was in absolutely awful shape after having sat outside for nearly 50 years, with neighbourhood kids playing in it and on it, and John Williams, the owner, just hadn’t been able to part with it even if it ended up looking like it could hardly turn a wheel ever again. But luckily, after years of working and saving funds, he was able to take his Aston back to the factory to be restored back to showroom shine, as it turns out to have been a particularly rare specification to begin with. As he says, there had been numerous offers from people eager to buy the rotting car, but he persisted and kept it.
It goes without saying that most Aston Martin DB5s are Silver Birch without even knowing it. To clarify, the James Bond 007 cinematic universe has such a strong connection to Aston Martin DB5s that many of them end up repainted silver to match the Goldfinger car. This car, however, was silver from factory, and in addition it was a right-hand-drive Vantage with triple Webers and 315 horsepower, the more powerful engine choice.
Restored, it’s a car worth a million pounds, even if the three-year factory restoration at Aston’s Newport Pagnell workshop cannot have come cheap, either. Looking at the “before” photos, it’s no wonder it took over 2,500 hours to get it back to the condition in which it once left the factory gates.
The owner is understandably happy with the result, after 50 years of dreaming about driving his car again. Looking at the photos and comparing its condition before and after, I keep thinking which car would make a great story in the same fashion. I’ve driven my old Volkswagen Polo to Wolfsburg, where it was built in 1986, but at the time it didn’t need a full factory resto, not that I could have afforded it then or today. In Japan, Mazda offers a full, two-month factory refurbishment for the NA Miata, which reportedly costs $60,000, far more than a new ND generation car. Mercedes-Benz offers a lot of the parts needed to restore most of its classic catalogue, as well as performing authentic factory restoration at its Classic Center in Fellbach, Germany.
I’ve had a cheap 1992 Peugeot 405 Mi16 for a decade, and most of that time it’s sat in a barn, waiting for me to have the time, funds, and skills to get it right. I’d love to trailer it to the factory museum in France and let them find parts for it for a change.
It takes a strong emotional connection to steadfastly hold onto a car, hoping the time would come to get it back in the condition it deserves, especially if you’re not capable of restoring it yourself.
Which car, still existing or already far gone, would you have the original manufacturer restore?
I’d love a factory restoration of those tiny sports cars that got driven into the ground in droves with so few survivors now that they’ve become unobtanium, like a Honda S600, Toyota Sports 800 or Sport Prinz.
I’d send my Evo 9. Would love to have all the poorly installed mods previous owners have done put back to stock factory condition.
Honestly, I would love to start an automotive restoration shop for 80’s-00’s cars. Restored Toyota pickups are bringing MONEY. It’s a matter of time before Tacomas and 3rd gen 4runners get the same love. NA Miatas are seldom perfect; I bet there’s a market for those.
If I could have any vehicle factory restored, I think a Toyota Trekker would be hilarious, as it would have to go to Toyota first, and then to Winnebago.
Torch’s 2CV.
Or David’s Cherokee, cause he’s never gonna get to it before it returns to the earth.
Next year DT: I have to get this holy grail epic overlanding Jeep ZJ with rare rear tire carrier completed in 4 weeks for Moab after signing a deal to buy all my parts from Etsy.
Would Toyota even do a factory resto on my old Truck?
A SAAB, any SAAB made in Trollhättan – because that would mean the factory would be back up and running.