Many of you will be aware that Sir Paul McCartney was a member of the world famous pop group called The Beatles who originated from Liverpool. They had a number of top selling records. Sir Paul obviously had an excellent taste for quality cars as he was the original owner of a 1964 Aston Martin DB5 4.2-Litre Sports Saloon.
He paid just short of £4,600 for the beautiful vehicle including purchase tax and drove the car for about six years before he sold it. The car had just over 40,000 miles on the clock around that time so it certainly appears the musician got his money’s worth out of owning it.
Over the years, it changed hands on a few occasions and was at one point owned by the radio broadcaster Chris Evans who also has a liking for classic Ferraris. In 2012 the classic Aston Martin was bought by someone at auction who had it restored to concours standard. During this restoration work the capacity of the engine was increased to the figure quoted above with this improving the brake horsepower to 315. The interior was fitted out in Mulberry leather and the bodywork was painted in Silver Birch.
The car featured in The Bond Street Sale of Bonhams on the 2nd December of this year when this wonderful classic car sold for £1,345,500 including premium- considerably more than what Sir Paul originally paid for it.
Whilst writing, you may also be interested to note that, at the same auction, a 1966 Austin Mini Cooper “S” Sports Saloon Radford Conversion was sold. It was once owned by another member of The Beatles – Ringo Starr. He had it adapted to enable his drum kit to be transported in the classic car and had it in his possession from June 1967 to December 1968. The car has featured in the well-known car series called Top Gear and it has been in the same family ownership for 40 years. The classic car was sold at Bonhams auction for £102,300 including premium.
It is to be hoped that these cars are covered by suitable classic car insurance in case something untoward happens to one or both of them. No doubt the new owners will enjoy driving them for many years to come.
