The rarest DB5 that nobody saw coming
The Aston Martin DB5 Shooting Brake is not only the rarest DB5, but also one of the Aston Martins with the best story behind it.
The Shooting Brake grew out of a very personal frustration of David Brown, the man whose initials are on every DB. Brown wanted a DB5 that could carry his polo gear and his dog. The saloon simply did not have the room. What sets this DB5 Shooting Brake apart is how effortlessly function and elegance come together, without one ever coming at the expense of the other.
Who is Radford?
Aston Martin did not build the Shooting Brake itself. The factory was full, the James Bond film Goldfinger had driven up demand for the DB5, and so the work went to coachbuilder Harold Radford. According to the factory description, the car was rebuilt from the windscreen back. The original Superleggera structure gave way to bespoke steelwork and a one-piece tailgate. The result was a car with more than forty cubic feet of load space, four extra inches of length and, according to the original specification, still a top speed of 150 mph or 240 km/h. Only twelve were built, eight of them with right-hand drive. That is not just rare, it is almost impossible to find.
The car at Woodcote Park
On 8 July 2026, RM Sotheby's offers chassis number DB5/2014/R at Woodcote Park. It is one of the twelve, one of the eight right-hand-drive cars, and according to the catalogue it stayed in the same family for almost twenty years. The car is finished in silver over grey Machir wool tweed and black leather, with a black Webasto folding sunroof. The matching-numbers engine carries a “V” suffix, which indicates it was once brought up to Vantage specification.
The file makes the difference. More than £105,000 in invoices, over £92,000 of it at RS Williams in Cobham, plus a full respray in 2021 and an electrical service with road test in January 2025. The estimate: £800,000 to £1,000,000. Whether that is a lot depends on your reference point. Against a regular DB5 it is a serious difference. Against twelve cars built, with this story, it makes sense.
Why does this matter?
The DB5 Shooting Brake is exactly the kind of car the market only truly values once it has matured as an object. It is an Aston Martin for people who already know the obvious car and deliberately look further.
Frequently asked questions
How many DB5 Shooting Brakes were built?
Twelve, by Harold Radford. Eight of them are right-hand drive. That makes the Shooting Brake by far the rarest DB5 variant.
What is an Aston Martin DB5 Shooting Brake worth?
The car RM Sotheby's offers on 8 July 2026 carries an estimate of £800,000 to £1,000,000. Value depends heavily on originality, matching numbers and documented history.
Why a Shooting Brake rather than a regular DB5?
Because the Shooting Brake combines the same mythical base with extreme rarity and a genuine origin story. The saloon is the icon everyone knows; the Shooting Brake is the version you only choose if you follow us.
