James Bond’s famous Aston Martin car, complete with gadgets including ejector seat and revolving number plates, sold at auction in London last week for a lower-than-expected US$4 million.
Hopes were high that the 1964 silver Aston Martin DB5 would smash the US$5-million-dollar barrier, but in the end the car driven by Sean Connery when he played the fictional British spy fell short.
Veteran silver screen star Connery got behind the wheel of the car when he played Bond in the films Goldfinger (1964) and Thunderball (1965).
A spokesman for RM Auctions, which had dubbed the vehicle the most famous car in the world, said that the sale price was “still a lot of money and I don’t think anyone’s disappointed.”
The auctioneers did not release the identity of the buyer, who paid ￡2.6 million (US$4.1 million) for the Aston Martin.
The Bond movie car is fitted with the full complement of operational “Q-Branch” gadgets.
The car is also equipped with machine guns, a bullet-proof shield, a tracking device, a removable roof panel, an oil slick sprayer and a smoke screen, all controlled by “toggles and switches hidden in the center arm-rest.”
“The machine guns, as you can see, do come out of their intended place. As far as I know, they don’t shoot bullets, but then again, I haven’t tried,” Don Rose, a car specialist for the auctioneers, told AFP.
The car has been on tour over the past five months, with appearances in Britain, Germany, Monte Carlo, New York and Hong Kong.
Its US owner, Pennsylvania broadcaster Jerry Lee, bought it for US$12,000 in 1969 and hopes the sale will raise money for his charitable foundation.(AFP)
詹姆斯‧龐德電影中有名的奧斯頓馬丁車，整部車全套特殊行頭，包括彈射椅與能變換數字的車牌，上週於倫敦以低於預期價格的四百萬美元拍賣。
原本預期這部一九六四年銀色奧斯頓馬丁DB5，售價將突破五百萬美元，但這部曾由演員史恩‧康納萊駕駛的車輛，最後還是沒以期望的價格出售。
老牌演員康納萊於一九六四年的「金手指」與一九六五年的「霹靂彈」兩部影片中飾演零零七情報員時，駕駛這部車。
中古車拍賣公司RM Auctions一位發言人將這部車比喻為世界上最有名的一部車。他說「售價還是挺可觀的，我想應該不會有人感到失望。」
拍賣商並未公佈以二百六十萬英鎊（約四百一十萬美元，台幣一億兩千七百萬元）購買這部奧斯頓馬丁的買者身分。
這部龐德電影的車子配有整套的「Q-Branch」軍事裝備。
車上還有機槍、防彈擋風玻璃、雷達追蹤器、移除式車頂、滑油噴灑器、與煙霧製造器。所有的這些功能都以「暗藏於中央扶手中的各式開關」控制。
拍賣公司的汽車專家，唐‧羅斯告訴法新社，「如你所見的，這些機關槍確實自隱藏的地方冒出來。據我所知，機槍不會發射子彈，但話說回來，我也未曾嘗試。」
這部汽車過去五個月來在世界各地巡迴展出，蹤跡跨過英國、德國、蒙地卡羅、紐約，與香港。
它的美國擁有者，賓夕凡尼亞州的廣播電臺老闆傑瑞‧李於一九六九年以一萬兩千美元購買，並希望這次出售能替他的慈善機構籌募基金。（法新社／翻譯：吳岱璟）
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