Goldfinger Db5 Number Plate

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Thisexclusive and personalised number plate is now available for purchase, catering to entertainment enthusiasts and investors recognising the growing trend of number plates as valuable assets, as well as the chance to own a piece of motoring history.

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DVLA is the government agency responsible for all regulatory matters related to the issue and display of private number plates and car registrations in the UK. The DVLA acronym means Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and its head quarters are here in Swansea from where it controls all UK private registration plates. It was formerly called the DVLC standing for Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centre but this title was changed in 1990 and so is now obsolete. In Northern Ireland the government agency responsible for controlling and issuing Northern Ireland format (commonly known as Irish) registrations was the DVA, this is an acronym meaning the Driver Vehicle Agency.

All personalised number plates mentioned in this site are British i.e. issued and controlled by the DVLA Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency here in Swansea. They are only for display on vehicles registered in the UK and Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland format registrations are commonly known as 'Irish' registrations prior to the separation of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Any reference to 'Irish' registrations on this page relate to registration marks now known as 'Northern Ireland format' registrations.

As responsible personalised number plates agents we feel it is important that our visitors and customers understand the law regarding the supply and display of cherished number plates as they are valuable assets and should be protected. It was once possible to buy cheap number plates from any private car numberplates maker without any evidence of your entitlement to the car registration numbers. These days you need to provide the private registration plates manufacturer with a V948 number plate authorisation certificate which is issued by the DVLA only after your keeper's entitlement has been checked. Your numberplates are an important identifying feature of your vehicle and can be cloned to provide a false identity to any vehicle for those engaged in vehicle related crime. There are now many stories that tell of speeding fines collected in areas of the UK where car owners have never visited, due to the display of duplicate number plates by criminals. The law on the display of vehicle registration numbers is now very strict and personal number plates owners may not use decorative or fancy fonts. Letters and numbers must be of the correct size, style and spacing with private registration plates also conforming to strict British Standards in their materials and manufacture. To break the law on the manufacture and display means you risk having your entitlement to your cherished registration plates permanently withdrawn and face a substantial fine of up to 1000. Incorrectly displayed private plates or personalised reg marks will be enough to make your vehicle fail its MOT test.

VRM Swansea Plates4less is a DVLA registered number plate supplier (supplier no: 3166) and a recognised reseller of DVLA Personalised registrations. In recognition of this fact we only supply fully road legal number plates. DVLA, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, DVA NI Driver and Vehicle Agency Northern Ireland, are registered trademarks

VRM Swansea (Vehicle Registration Marketing) Limited is registered with Companies House at C/O Bevan Buckland LLP Ground Floor Cardigan House, Castle Court Swansea Enterprise Park, Swansea, SA7 9LA in Wales. Company Number 05408322.

VRM Swansea (Vehicle Registration Marketing) Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority FRN 734204. We act as a credit broker not a lender and offer finance options from a panel of lenders.

As we mentioned in another article, when the private registration number BMT 216D sold in the September 2022 DVLA auction for 24,553, we struggled to fathom what appeal such a number might have for its buyer. At first sight, it is a fairly unremarkable suffix registration that doesn't seem to spell a name or word. Eventually, we noticed that the BMT 216D is just one character away from BMT 216A. Of course, that fact only becomes meaningful when one realises that BMT 216A was the registration of the iconic Aston Martin DB5 that appeared in the James Bond movies Goldfinger (1964) and Thunderball (1965). Our working theory is that the purchaser of BMT 216D bought the private number plate as a reference to Bond and, possibly, to display on a similar car. Time will tell.

For some years, the Bond DB5 was known as 'the most famous car in the world' and it still holds a special place in the hearts of many a Bond fan. The new DB5 was the perfect car for the suave secret agent: stylish, fast and British. In the movies, Bond's Aston Martin was fitted with all the custom gimmicks a spy could want: machine guns, battering rams, bullet-proof rear screen, ejector seat and more.

In several of Ian Flemming's original James Bond stories, the agent drove a 1930, 4.5 litre Bentley Blower. The first time Bond took the wheel of an Aston Martin was in the Goldfinger book that was later adapted for the big screen. Bond's Aston Martin in the book was, in fact, a DB Mk III.

For the 1964 movie of Goldfinger, a more up-to-date model was desired, so someone (reputedly the film's production designer, Ken Adam and its special effects expert, John Stears, persuaded Aston Martin to lend the prototype of their recently introduced DB5 model and to allow Eon Productions to make substantial changes to the car. Those changes included a new 'Silver Birch' paint job and the installation of the secret-agent gadgets seen in the movie. Thus the Aston Martin was transformed into the famous Bond car that was such a big hit with the fans.

Surprisingly, Bond's acquisition of the pre-production prototype DB5 (chassis no. DP/216/1) wasn't quite the exclusive one might have imagined. That very same car, with its BMT 216A registration plates, had already appeared on television in a 1964 episode of The Saint, an adventure series based on a series of books and stories by Leslie Charteris. The car's appearance in The Saint predates the Silver Birch respray done for the Bond movies, but, as early episodes of the show were shot in black and white, viewers would not have been able to appreciate its original Dubonnet Red colour.

The protagonist of The Saint, Simon Templar, is reminiscent of James Bond in many ways. Like Bond, Templar is ostensibly the hero of his tales despite his willingness to do ruthless and questionable things when fighting the baddies. Also like Bond, the Saint is portrayed as dashing, suave and very British. Perhaps the most striking link between the two is the fact that the actor who played Templar in The Saint, one Roger Moore, would later step into the role of James Bond upon Sean Connery's departure from the Eon movie franchise.

Aston Martin also loaned Eon a second DB5 (chassis no. DB5/1486/R) for Goldfinger, which was used for close-ups and for scenes that required fast driving. This second car eliminated the need to make the gadgets installed in the first car completely invisible until deployed, which would have been very difficult. It also got around handling issues caused by the additional weight from all the special equipment added to DP/216/1.

In addition to the two cars actually used in shooting the film, Eon ordered two more DB5s for use as promotional vehicles. These "press cars" bore the chassis numbers DB5/2008/R and DB5/2017/R and we will be hearing a little more about them a little later.

The Aston Martins used in the Goldfinger production returned to feature in Thunderball the following year. This marked the last time the original BMT 216A registered car and its "stunt double" would appear in a Bond movie. The DB5 would, however, later appear in six more films in the series but the vehicles used in those were replacements as, by this time, the original cars could not be acquired.

After Goldfinger and Thunderball were complete, the original BMT 216A - the prototype vehicle with chassis DP/216/1 which had been modified for effects - had its Bond gadgets removed and was returned to standard specification. It was then sold on to a new owner who promptly reproduced and installed the secret-agent features that had been removed.

The car made one more notable screen appearance in the 1981 movie Cannonball Run. In another amusing twist of coincidence, the car's driver in Cannonball Run was Roger Moore, AKA The Saint and James Bond. Wikipedia states that the DB5 bore the registration number 6633 PP - however, clips and stills from the movie appear to show the Aston Martin displaying P4C 597 E on its plates. Subsequent to this last shot at movie stardom, the original Saint/Bond DB5 was sold at auction in 1986.

No Bond story would be complete without a bit of mystery and villainy and we'd hate to disappoint. In 1997 it was reported that the vehicle had been stolen from Boca Raton Airport in Florida, USA. It is there that the story of DB5 chassis no. DP/216/1 ends for now, as the car has, so far as we can discover, never been recovered, and there remains a reward on offer for its safe return.

Coincidence seems to be a feature of this article and the history of James Bond's Aston Martin DB5, in its various incarnations, is littered with unexpected connections and associations. One, in particular, caught our attention. In 1969, when producers Eon had finished with the two promotional vehicles from Goldfinger and Thunderball, the cars were sold by Eon's Swiss holding company.

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