Now Pay Attention, 007..

The best thing about driving the Aston Martin DB5 Goldfinger Continuation?

- ANGUS MACKENZIE

No, it’s not just playing with the gadgets—the revolving license plates, the machine guns, the bulletproof shield, and the rest of the 007 arsenal. It’s the fact that you’re driving a genuine 1964 Aston Martin DB5 that’s brand new from its Avon cross-ply tires up.

OK, the machine guns don’t fire real ammo, it sprays water out the rear rather than oil, and you can’t get rid of a tiresome passenger with an ejector seat. But the Goldfinger Continuation is still the real deal. It’s a real Aston Martin, built in the same shop in Newport Pagnell, England, where fewer than 900 DB5s were built between 1963 and 1965, with components manufactured using original drawings and digital data taken from original DB5 bodies and engines.

Sliding behind the wheel of the DB5 Goldfinger Continuation and firing up the 4.0-liter I-6 is like tumbling down a wormhole in the space-time continuum. You half expect to hear a Beatles tune crackling on the radio as you muscle the shifter into first, taking care, of course, not to lift the flap on the knob and accidentally thumb the red button hidden underneath.