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You can buy James Bond's Spectre Aston Martin DB10

If you watched Daniel Craig sliding around Rome in Spectre and wished you could drive the Aston Martin DB10 too, an upcoming Christie's auction will be your best chance to own one. The company will sell the first of these rare cars to the public on February 18 in London, but you'll probably need a martini – shaken, not stirred – after signing the check because the coupe will likely go for over 1 million pounds ($1.4 million at current rates). The proceeds will benefit Medecins Sans Frontieres. Aston Martin designed the DB10 specifically for Bond and built 10 of them for Spectre. Underneath the carbon-fiber body, the British automaker based them on the V8 Vantage, including its 4.7-liter V8 and six-speed manual gearbox. The movie's production modified most of the DB10s for filming, but it left two untouched, including this one. Daniel Craig also signed the car. The chance to share a vehicle with James Bond sounds incredibly tempting, but you might have a hard time taking the DB10 out for a drive because Aston Martin doesn't have homologation for the car or certification for it to be on public roads. However, you could still enjoy pretending to be a secret agent around a track or another piece of private tarmac. UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO OWN AN ASTON MARTIN DB10 PREDICTED TO RAISE OVER GBP1 MILLION FOR CHARITY The only DB10 to date to be made available for private ownership Opportunity to own a piece of automotive history To be auctioned on February 18th to raise money for Medecins Sans Frontieres 21 January, 2016, Gaydon: The Aston Martin DB10 – the first car created exclusively for James Bond by British luxury brand Aston Martin – is to go under the auctioneer's gavel at the London auction house of Christie's on 18th February with proceeds donated to Medecins Sans Frontieres. 'Spectre – The Auction' celebrates the release of the 24th Bond film on Digital HD, Blu-ray™ and DVD with 24 special auction lots going under the hammer for charity, led by the Aston Martin DB10. Celebrating the great British brand's half century with Bond, which started with the iconic DB5, the DB10 gives a glimpse of the future design direction for the next generation of Aston Martins. Production of the DB10 was strictly limited to ten examples of the bespoke sports car which was developed and hand-built by the designers, engineers and artisan craftspeople at Aston Martin's Gaydon headquarters in the UK for the latest Bond film, Spectre.

Aston Martin values electric propulsion over downsizing

Not even small-volume manufacturers are being exempt from the automotive industry's pursuit of higher efficiency and lower emissions. At present, that means either electric propulsion (whether in part or in whole) or downsizing conventional engines, and for Aston Martin, the future apparently lines in the former. "I see in our future obviously V12s, V8s and probably battery-electric cars," Aston's CEO Palmer revealed to Autocar. "As time evolves, there's probably an inevitability to hybridisation, simply because, car by car, you can only downsize so much. I'd rather put a hybrid in there than an in-line four-cylinder." So just how does the company envision implementing electric or hybrid propulsion? "Imagine something like a 4x4, 1,000-bhp silent Rapide. I think 'Power, Beauty, Soul' doesn't say it has to be a gasoline engine. It just needs to be really powerful, really beautiful and set your heart on fire," Palmer explained. "I'd argue that 1,000 bhp on the ground would probably do that for you. So that's the route we could go." The British automaker demonstrated the DBX concept with an all-wheel-drive electric powertrain at the Geneva Motor Show a few months ago, and is currently in the process of revitalizing and expanding its current product range. Of course Aston isn't the only high-end niche automaker faced with the decision to either downsize or add hybrid propulsion. Ferrari is taking both approaches, using smaller turbocharged engines in its V8 models and moving towards hybrids with its V12s. Porsche offers an array of plug-in hybrids and is in the process of downsizing and turbocharging its naturally aspirated engines. Pagani switched from a big V12 in the Zonda to a smaller turbo V8 in the Huayra. Bugatti is expected to use electric turbochargers in its Veyron successor. And Lamborghini was recently reported to be considering a turbo five for the Huracan.

Gold-plated Aston Martin DB5 model sells for $90k

Classic Aston Martins sell for big bucks at auction. So this news of a DB5 selling for a princely sum hardly comes as a surprise. But the model in question wasn't an actual DB5. It was a scale model. Created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the legendary James Bond film Goldfinger, this 1:3 scale replica of the DB5 that Sean Connery drove in the movie was plated in 24-karat gold and signed by Sir Ken Adam, who designed the modified movie prop. Created by Propshop at Pinewood Studios, the model comes complete with radio-controlled machine guns, bulletproof shield and rotating license plate – just like the one in the movie. After registering interest from some 19,000 viewers from 129 countries, the model sold online for GBP55,000 ($90k) to one Mr. Robert Tyrrell, an English farmer and Bond fan. Proceeds benefit the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Aston Martin DB5 Model Sells for GBP55,000 in Online Charity Auction 17 September 2014 - Tonight, on the 50th anniversary of the World Premiere of Goldfinger, a unique 24k gold-plated third scale replica of James Bond's iconic Aston Martin DB5 was sold in a special online sale to benefit the NSPCC by Christie's and EON Productions for GBP55,000. It was bought by a farmer from Abingdon in Oxfordshire and was among the highlights of the five lots which made a total of GBP136,800 for the charity. The model was created by Propshop at Pinewood Studios and signed by legendary Bond Production Designer Sir Ken Adam. Bidding closed online this evening during an event in London's West End attended by Bond girl Shirley Eaton. Complete with radio controlled machine guns, bullet proof shield and revolving number plate, interest in the sale came from Bond fans around the world with more than 19,000 visitors from 129 countries to the special www.christies.com/goldfinger site. The buyer, Mr. Robert Tyrrell from Steventon, near Abingdon in Oxfordshire, an arable farmer with a collection of classic cars, said after his winning bid tonight: "I saw it at Goodwood this weekend and said 'I'll be having that!'. I am a Bond man, the first movie I saw was Thunderball and I was more than happy to support this worthy cause." A unique Goldfinger Seamaster 'Aqua Terra' wristwatch created by Omega to celebrate the anniversary of the film surpassed the pre-sale estimate ten times when it sold for GBP70,000.