No one may want to talk about it, but James Bond must have a bunch of illegitimate children. This would present a problem: how to get all the kids to school on time, while still looking stylish enough to snog the teacher? One option would be this Aston Martin DB6 shooting brake. And luckily for Mr. Bond, it’s even coming up for sale.
The car is one of only three such customized Astons to have been built, and it even has a history interesting enough to fill up its copious boot.
The car was originally purchased in 1967, by British officer and Formula One Driver Innes Ireland. According to DDClassics.com Ireland decided that the car just didn’t have enough luggage room, so he turned it over to the coachbuilders FLM Panelcraft.
Unfortunately, from the looks of it, the folks at FLM Panelcraft, decided to base their shootingbrake design on a Ford Transit van. I love shooting brakes and wagons, but even I can’t get behind the terrible backyard greenhouse that they built on the back of this Gentlemen’s Express.
Misguided styling or not, this Aston is special. Not only is it rare; it’s a throwback to the lost art of coach-building. When car bodies were built on top of chassis, it was possible for rich dilettantes to reshape their luxury rides to their hearts’ content. Obviously the results weren’t always stellar, but they were personal and unique.
Those days are long gone. If you try to reshape your new Aston DB9 by cutting off body panels, the unibody will fold up like laundry.
So if you want an Aston Martin Shooting brake you better settle for this one. And if that’s the case, I recommend that you start looking for someone to buy your children because this car is expected to sell for $500,000 plus.
(Main Photo Credit: DDClassics.com)
