Parked in the 70s: 1957 Aston Martin DB Mark lll
This 1957 Aston Martin DB Mark III is yet another barn find slice of exotica offered up for sale by Gullwing Motorcars. This is a very rare specimen, said to be one of 551 ordered in left-hand drive orientation, and it retains its numbers matching drivetrain despite not having been started up since the 1970s. The Aston has been repainted but otherwise remains largely original, save for the factory front seats having gone missing. Still, aside from this slight omission, the DB Mark III appears to represent an incredible opportunity to restore a car made famous in James Bond’s Goldfinger novel. Find it here on eBay with an asking price of $267,500.
We profiled another Aston Martin offered by Gullwing a few days ago; it would appear this one is from the same collection, but I’m not entirely sure. It does wear very old Oregon license plates, which aligns with the claims it hasn’t been used since the 1970s. The bodywork still looks straight and true and the seller notes it was originally ordered in a shade of paint known as Moonbeam Grey. It was resprayed black which appears to be holding up well, but a car like this will undoubtedly be stripped down and repainted its original colors. The knock-off wire wheels are a must-have on an Aston of this vintage, and those will certainly be re-chromed as well. Both bumpers appear to be in good order.
The engine bay isn’t exactly tidy, but we’d still love to hear that 2.9L Lagonda inline-six fire up once again. It’s easy to forget that despite the exotic appearance, Astons weren’t unilaterally powered by big V8 engines; the inline-six was a frequent site under the hood. Overdrive was offered on the manual gearbox, and an optional automatic was made available. Like all Astons, they were sophisticated machines, and a variety of options were available to discerning buyers to make the drive even more exhilarating. For instance, there was a higher-output engine made available with three Weber carburetors, and an optional dual exhaust system. In standard form, it made 162 horsepower.
The seller hasn’t made any attempt to fire up the engine or otherwise confirm its health; fortunately, the overall completeness of the DB Mark III inspires confidence that it hasn’t been messed with or otherwise opened up. The interior looks to be in good order, and more importantly, the seller doesn’t indicate there’s any major rot to contend with. The owner prior to Gullwing was the son of the longtime owner, and he inherited the car when his father passed away. The opportunity to purchase one of these in project-car form doesn’t come along all that often, and even with the high asking price, I’m sure there’s more than one potential suitor for this numbers-matching rarity.
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Comments
Sad. I guarantee this will be over restored and sit in some Rich dudes collection and be driven sparingly, if hardly ever. The magic in these cars was the driving experience; cars are meant to be driven. I cannot even start to comprehend how much they’re asking for this-267 THOUSAND dollars?
Rant over.
This looks an awful like a car that came into the shop as a barn find in the summer of 1973. I was working at the Seattle Brit car dealership and some guy brought in this Aston and wanted to get it running. I was tasked with making the brakes work. Needless to say 18 year old me was absolutely stoked. It doesn’t look like that owner got very far with it. Looked the same.
Pretty sure the Bond car was a DB5
Think post regers to Ian Fleming books, in which varoous cars feature. The films were later and introduced DB5 with “Goldfinger”. 1965?
Write up reference to V8 engines should be corrected as irrelevant. That engine only available much later in DBS series.
Car already posted here back in July
https://barnfinds.com/rare-barn-find-1957-aston-martin-db-mark-iii/
A number of years back I decided to get a British saloon. Was testing a number of them. At the same time I had some business in Japan. Was out with a friend and told him what I was looking for. He introduced me to a customer of his that had a number of cars and we had a good old time chatting the night away. I was invited to try out two of his AMs a DB2 and a DB2 MKIII.
Was thrilled with the offer and surprised with the reality. The MKIII was a much better looking car. The interiors and the experience was not what I had expected. Had been looking at Jaguars MK1and MK2, as well as Rover. Had expected the AM to be head and shoulder above them all. In reality I found the AMs to be rather crude and uncomfortable by comparison. Settled on a 3.8 S type which is a heck of a car. It is our daily driver to take the kids to school. My son says it is like flying down the road it is so smooth. Would never say that about this car no mater how well restored and how much money put into it.
Love me some Jaguar. Had 5. I’m in the XK-E First 500 Club (not a real thing).
No.
It’s not a fair comparison, really. There is 10 years between the DBIII, developed from early post war DB2 and an S-type Jag with sophisticated IRS. Agreed that S-type is a very nice car, however!
Yes this was just here recently, Gullwing Motorcars.
Those doggone Rich dudes. Paying big money for cars so not-so-rich dudes can’t buy them. There ought to be a law.
$200K+ for a car that doesn’t run and is missing the front seats? This outfit has high hopes, I’d offer to take it off their hands if they paid me. This car would need to be complete and in good running condition to be worth that kind of money! In this case buyer beware, pass it up until they put a better price on this pile of junk.
Listed by Gullwing Motors
Located in:Astoria, New York
you would be stuck with a 267,000 pile of junk.Try to gets parts for it.
even jay leno would shy away from it.
There is a reason Gullwing is “NOT” restoring this car.