There is no doubt that the Aston Martin DB5 sedan is a stunning and desirable automobile, yet ever the perfectionist, David Brown managed to find a flaw in it that few would have foreseen. Being a sporting sort he struggled to fit his polo gear in the trunk. An even more pressing concern was the lack of space for his hunting dog; it had to sit up front, which didn’t bode well for the hand-crafted interior.
To remedy the situation, Brown instructed his engineers to design a more spacious shooting brake variant, but with the factory already at capacity building the sedan version, the work was outsourced to coachbuilders Harold Radford. The result was the rather obviously named Aston Martin DB5 Shooting Brake by Radford. Costing around twice as much as a contemporary British house it is perhaps unsurprising that just 12 were eventually built. With a loading area of more than 40 cubic feet when the rear seats were folded flat, this rare DB5 was in many ways the precursor to the modern sporty estate, and Radford claimed that it was just as dynamically capable as its standard counterpart.
This 1965 model, chassis DB5/2273/L, is one of only four left-hand-drive versions and was ordered new with the shooting brake conversion. It has remained in Switzerland throughout its life with only three private owners on file and is a matching numbers example with a comprehensive history file.
Notable modifications to the car over the years include an upgraded motor to 4.7-liters with triple SU carbs, five-speed manual transmission conversion, reinforced roof structure and suspension upgrades. Repainted in its original Silver Birch from an earlier color change to Grigio Quartz, and featuring a re-trimmed interior, this DB5 Shooting Brake is in exceptional condition and is estimated to sell between $1,000,000 to $1,400,000 at RM Sotheby’s Monterey sale, taking place from 15-17 August.
Images courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
