This Aston Martin DB5 Vantage, left the Newport Parnell factory on 22nd July 1965 finished in Silver Birch with the interior upholstered in dark blue Connolly leather.

Built for the export market, it was equipped with a Km/h speedometer and optioned with chrome wire wheels, Fiamm horns, a five speed ZF manual gearbox and a Blaupunkt radio. More importantly, this car was also equipped with the Vantage variant engine #400/2244/V denoting that the Weber 45 DCOEs were fitted, a very rare option for DB5! Having left the factory in July 1965 destined for Portugal, chassis 2214L was delivered to Mocar LDA in Lisbon. Thereafter the car was maintained by the Palma and Morgado garage in Lisbon.

The first owner of the car is unknown, the second owner and his family retained ownership from 1976 until 2017 in Portugal. In 1976, the second owners father bought the DB5 Vantage with some 34,000 kilometres and used the car sparingly. During their ownership the family allowed the car to be displayed in the museum Caramulo between 1985 and 2002 as the internal service record shows. The car remained in exceptional original time warp condition due to the dry climate and storage conditions, its total warranted mileage when the second owners parted with it in 2017 was 51,228 kilometres.

When the family decided to sell, the car was transported to the UK where the vendor undertook a written report on authenticity carried out by a renowned Aston Specialist. In addition to this the current owner, before he decided to purchase, personally inspected the car along with an ex-factory specialist to confirm authenticity and condition.

Once purchased, the DB5 was transported to the current owner’s workshop in Scotland for storage. The car remained in a climate-controlled store until April 2020, when due to the Covid outbreak plans to send the DB5 for restoration had to be put on hold. Not wanting to wait and having had extensive experience, the owner commenced a controlled disassembly of the car. All of the car’s components were photographed, cleaned and documented. The bare body shell and 24 boxes of parts were shipped to Desmond J Smail in Olney. The original engine No. 400/2244/V was sent to RS Williams for complete rebuilding to their 4.2 litre specification. The original 5 speed ZF gearbox & rear axle were dispatched to BPA Engineering for refurbishment.

Desmond J Smail was chosen to restore chassis #2214L due to their expertise in restoring the car in a conservation mode. The body shell was entrusted to Bodylines in Olney, where they reported “out of 350 Aston Martins they had repaired, only one DB4GT had a better original body shell”. Due to lower corrosion both door skins were replaced, the remainder of the body/chassis is factory original. The paint work was entrusted to Lone Pine Garage and returned to its original Silver Birch as per factory.

The original interior has been retained less the door cards which were re trimmed in the original Connolly dark blue hide. The car was completed and delivered to Scotland on 2nd July 2025 after extensive Road testing and servicing.

A comprehensive history file accompanies the car which details its provenance and restoration journey. As one of the reported 65 Vantage engined Aston Martin DB5’s this rare car with its original bodyshell and mechanical components is a testament to all the specialists whose skills reproduced this factory fresh example.