Cincinnati Banker Buys The Most Famous Car In The World: $4.6 Million For James Bond's Goldfinger-era Aston-Martin

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Such a man with a Midas touch. Union Savings Bank exec Harry Yeaggy bid $4.6 million at a London auction yesterday to buy James Bond's 1964 Aston Martin DB5.  Sean Connery drove it in the Goldfinger and Thunderball movies.  Remember it racing though the Alps?  Yeaggy told British reporters that he plans to put the car in a museum he has back home in Greater Cincinnati. The car is iconic and is considered the most famous vehicle on Earth. The London Daily Mail said, "There won't be any Bond girls for Mr. Yeaggy, or any vodka martinis as he does not drink. But he will be taking his wife for a spin and he will certainly be able to impress her with an array of gadgets."

Those gizmos, of course, were designed by Q, the gadget master of Her Majesty's Secret Service in the Bond films. There's an oil-slick sprayer, a revolving license plate with French and Swiss tags, smoke screen dispenser and bullet-proof shield. The ejector seat apparently has been disabled and the pop out machine guns and tire-shredders were add ons for Connery's ride in the Bond films. Here's a YouTube clip from the movie Golfinger of the scene of Q giving Harry Yeaggy's Aston Martin to James Bond. Q explains it's an experimental model. And here's a chase scene from Goldfiner with Yeaggy's DB5 in the the Alps (dubbed in French). Now, the car has 30,000 miles on the odometer and can reach 145 mph tops. 0 to 60 takes about 7 seconds. Sotheby's and RM auctions in London held the sale, and the car went for less than the estimated pre-sale price.

It belonged to Jerry Lee, a Philadelphia broadcaster who bought it from the Aston Martin factory in 1969. Lee paid $12,000. Goldfinger himself would be impressed by the profit. Lee says he plans to use the money for a charity, the Jerry Lee Foundation, that fights poverty and crime. Author Dave Worrall christened the Bond's DB5 the most famous car in the world. Worrall writes books about James Bond movies and memorabilia.

The Daily Mail piece has lots of photos of the car in London. Here's another story from the International Business Times. Cincinnati's Yeaggy may not have shaken up the world, but he's certainly stirred things. Remember the name, Yeaggy, Harry Yeaggy.