All Your Wildest Dreams - The One & Only 1966 Aston Martin DB5 V8

 Original Words by Caster & Camber

The Aston Martin DB5 Vantage. So arse clenchingly beautiful it hurts and favoured by her majesty’s sneaky b*stard, James Bond.

Image: Nicholas Mee

But, not all DB5’s are as the appear. Take for example this one. Looks like a very pretty dark blue 1965 Aston Martin DB5 Vantage up for sale with marque specialists Nicholas Mee right? Well, that’s because it is. But it has all manner of secrets if you look a little closer.

This is a very special factory prototype. This particular DB5, 001/D/P, has a V8 in it. No Straight-Six. Now before you all go tearing at your eyeballs. It’s always had one in it. It’s not a backyard, good old boys, stuff a truck engine into one because you blew up the 4 litre straight six. No, Aston Martin actually did this one themselves.

Image: Nicholas Mee

The premise was, David Brown, who owned Aston Martin at the time and the reason you have DB at the start of the models, wanted a bigger and faster replacement for the DB4 and he wanted it to do well in the US. So, he tasked engineer Bill Bannard with the job of seeing how feasible it was.

First port of call was to Tadek Marek, the legendary Aston Martin engine designer and builder. In the early 1960s, he had begun work on a 5 litre V8 for use in upcoming Aston Martins. The new engine was good for an unstressed 350BHP with a lot more on the table. So, one got given to Bannard.

Image: Nicholas Mee

Next, he needed a car. The test car was a DB5. But, that couldn’t be left alone either. The DB5 is and always will be one of the most painfully beautiful designs in the world. And this one, is actually 4 inches longer. For the leg room and comfort right? Nope, to fit the V8 and the new exhausts.

The suspension on 001/D/P was different too. The car was fitted with an experimental DeDion style rear suspension. The DeDion allowed for better movement and power transfer over a live rear axle or the twin-rear trailing arms of a conventional DB5. And also meant Aston Martin didn’t need wider types as was becoming more prevalent in high-performance cars of the day.

Image: Nicholas Mee

Anyway, 001/D/P truly worked. Bill Bannard and his team would do 350 miles a day in it. But ultimately, the project was ditched.