For more than sixty years, the Aston Martin DB5 has occupied a place in motoring history that few cars can rival. Its starring role alongside Sean Connery in Goldfinger transformed it from an elegant British grand tourer into arguably the most recognisable classic car in the world.
But recognition and desirability are not always the same thing.
The DB5 remains an automotive icon, and exceptional examples will always command exceptional prices. Yet the wider collector-car market is changing. Buyers are becoming more selective, the once seemingly unstoppable “Bond premium” has begun to soften, and attention is increasingly turning towards the car that followed it: the Aston Martin DB6.
Has the DB5 lost its licence to thrill?
It would be wrong to suggest that the DB5 has suddenly become undesirable. This is still James Bond’s Aston Martin, after all. However, there are signs that demand at the very highest price levels has cooled.
The market correction has affected many established blue-chip classics. Analysis of the 2024 UK market found that Aston Martin suffered an average fall of around 16%, with the DB4, DB5 and DB6 all appearing among the year’s notable price fallers. Across the wider market, only 8% of the models tracked increased in value, while 46% declined and a further 46% remained static. (Hagerty UK market analysis)
One particularly telling result came at RM Sotheby’s Monterey sale in 2025, where a matching-numbers, factory-correct Silver Birch DB5 with remarkable single-family ownership from 1974 until 2024 sold for $500,000. That remains a substantial figure, but it sits well below the DB5 market’s recorded historical average of approximately $848,000. (RM Sotheby’s, CLASSIC.COM)
This does not mean the DB5 has lost its magic. It means that buyers are no longer prepared to pay any price simply for the badge, the shape and the Bond connection. Provenance, originality, condition and specification now matter more than ever.
And that change is allowing the DB6 to emerge from its predecessor’s considerable shadow.
The DB6 was never simply a “lesser DB5”
Introduced in 1965, the DB6 retained everything enthusiasts loved about the DB5: the beautifully engineered four-litre, twin-cam straight-six engine, hand-finished interior, muscular proportions and unmistakable Aston Martin character.
But it also improved upon the formula.
A longer wheelbase created more usable rear accommodation, making the DB6 a genuine four-seat grand tourer. The redesigned Kamm-style tail and subtle rear spoiler improved high-speed stability, while increased luggage space made it better suited to the long continental journeys for which these cars were created.
Its 3,995cc straight-six produced 282bhp in standard form, with Aston Martin quoting 0–60mph in 6.1 seconds. Buyers could specify a ZF five-speed manual gearbox or Borg-Warner automatic, while all-round disc brakes provided serious stopping power for the period. (Aston Martin)
The DB6 was not an imitation of the DB5. It was its more mature, more spacious and arguably more accomplished evolution.
Values are beginning to reflect that
The market has not moved upwards in a perfectly straight line. No responsible observer could claim that every DB6 has risen in value, particularly during a correction affecting almost the entire 1960s Aston Martin range.
Nevertheless, recorded auction data shows an interesting underlying movement. The median auction value for a 1967 DB6 rose from approximately $260,000 in 2021 to $273,000 in 2022, $278,000 in 2023, $291,000 in 2024 and $307,000 in 2025. Annual volumes are small, so those figures should be treated as an indication rather than a guarantee, but the direction of travel is difficult to ignore. (Conceptcarz auction data)
CLASSIC.COM currently places the wider DB6 market benchmark at approximately $260,000, while Hagerty suggests that a good 1967 DB6 Mk I can command around $438,000 in the American market. (CLASSIC.COM, Hagerty)
Much of the DB6’s appeal lies in relative value. A buyer can acquire much of the beauty, engineering and craftsmanship associated with a DB5, together with improved usability, without paying such an enormous premium for the Bond mythology.
Collectors are also beginning to appreciate the DB6 on its own terms. Its distinctive rear treatment, greater rarity in everyday life and reputation as a more practical grand tourer give it an identity that becomes stronger with every passing year.
A rare Aston Martin you can actually drive
At RNG Classics, we believe cars of this calibre should be experienced, not simply parked beneath a cover and admired from a distance.
Our own 1967 Aston Martin DB6 Coupe is presented in an extraordinary Peacock Blue Green, one of those wonderfully complex period colours that changes character with the light. At times it appears deep blue; from another angle, a rich and elegant green emerges across its hand-formed bodywork.
Inside, swathes of black Connolly leather, traditional Smiths instruments and a Webasto sunroof create the unmistakable atmosphere of a 1960s British grand tourer. Ahead sits Aston Martin’s four-litre all-alloy straight-six, fed by triple SU carburettors and paired with a five-speed manual gearbox. The sound from its twin exhausts is refined at a cruise and wonderfully purposeful when the road opens up.
Our DB6 has also lived the sort of life for which an Aston Martin was intended. It has toured across Europe and competed at Spa in Belgium and in the legendary Mille Miglia, travelling from Brescia to Rome and back again.
Most remarkably, it is the only Aston Martin DB6 currently available for self-drive hire in the UK.
That makes it possible to do something increasingly unusual in the world of investment-grade classics: get behind the wheel, take hold of the wood-rimmed steering wheel and discover what the car actually feels like on the road.
The DB6 steps out of the shadows
The DB5 will always be the Bond car. Nothing will erase its place in cinema or motoring history. But fame can sometimes distort a market, and for many years the DB5’s celebrity meant that the DB6 was unfairly treated as the car enthusiasts bought when they could not quite stretch to its predecessor.
That perception is changing.
Today, the DB6 is increasingly recognised as one of Aston Martin’s finest grand tourers: beautiful without being obvious, powerful without being uncivilised and rare without being unusable. As buyers look beyond famous names and focus more closely on the quality of the car itself, its desirability has every reason to strengthen.
The DB5 may have the gadgets and the film posters. But for those who want to experience the ultimate expression of Aston Martin’s classic straight-six grand tourer, the DB6 might just be the smarter—and more rewarding—choice.
Experience our 1967 Peacock Blue Green Aston Martin DB6 for yourself and discover why this once-underappreciated British icon is finally having its moment.
