A man's DB5 sat on a driveway for decades and now Aston Martin brought it back to life at a $1,319,715.00 value

Aston Martin Works has just unveiled a fully-restored DB5 that might be one of the most patient comeback stories in classic-car history.

Its owner, Welsh welder John Williams, first bought the 1965 Vantage-spec DB5 in 1973 at age 19, after saving for more than a year.

He drove it daily, until work demanded that he left for the Middle East in 1977.

The car then spent decades sitting on his driveway, until a three-year restoration returned it to its original condition.

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The car became a playground for neighborhood children

For Williams, the DB5 wasn’t an ordinary machine.

After all, it was the dream car he had set his sights on as a teenager.

Back in 1973, the advert for the car boasted Weber carburettors, wire wheels, Sundym electric windows, and ‘many bills,’ which was enough to convince him to take a long train ride to London to buy it.

However, when worked pulled him abroad, he reluctantly parked the DB5 at home, leaving it to weather the elements on his driveway for decades.

His wife Sue remembers neighborhood children bouncing on the bonnet and even snapping off the exhaust pipe.

The deterioration was difficult for Williams, a garage owner by trade, but sentiment kept the car firmly in the family.

Despite multiple offers, he never got tempted to sell it.

While the plan was always to restore it, ‘life happened’, and the car was left rotting away for decades.

Restoring the car took three years of effort

When the time finally came, there was no question where the restoration would take place: Aston Martin Works in Newport Pagnell, the birthplace of more than 13,000 of the brand’s classic sports cars.

Over 2,500 hours went into reviving the DB5.

The workshop teams restored the chassis and Superleggera frame, hand-formed every aluminium body panel, and meticulously recreated its original 1965 specification.

The Williams car is particularly rare: of the 1,022 DB5s built, only 887 were saloons, and just 39 combined Silver Birch paint, the uprated Vantage engine, and right-hand drive.

Seeing the fully-restored DB5 was an emotional moment for the couple.

Williams described driving it again after nearly 50 years as ‘phenomenal’ and ‘unbelievable,’ calling it worth every penny.

Perhaps the best part of the story is that Williams only spent £900, or the equivalent of around £15,000 ($19,840) in today’s money to purchase the car.

After the successful restoration at Aston Martin Works, it is now worth up to £1m (around $1.32 million).

Talk about a healthy chunk of change.

History of the Aston Martin DB5

1963: The DB5 was introduced, updated from the DB4 with a larger 4.0-liter straight-six engine and improved interior

1964: The DB5 skyrockets to global fame after appearing in Goldfinger, cementing its status as one of the most famous cars in the world

1964-1965: The vantage specification was launched, with a higher-output engine and performance tweaks that makes it the most desirable variant

1965: Production ends after a total of 1,022 DB5s are built, including 887 saloons

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