For sale: an Aston Martin DB5 owned by a WWII Bletchley Park Enigma codebreaker

This is a rare 1964 Aston Martin DB5. It is beautiful, because it is a 1964 Aston Martin DB5. It’s also got links to British Intelligence, but it is not a James Bond car. It was in fact owned by someone who worked, for real, in the Intelligence services.

Former owner P. H. Manners Wood Esq bought this DB5 in 1964 – the year Goldfinger was released, so there’s a small 007 link – but before that worked as a British Intelligence Officer during World War II at Bletchley Park.

There, Wood and his colleagues were responsible for interpreting decoded Enigma messages during the war, which massively aided the Allied war efforts over land, sea and air.

Indeed, such was Bletchley Park’s impact, Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D Eisenhower – who would later become US President – wrote a personal thank you letter praising the intelligence gathering efforts of the British team.

“It has saved thousands of British and American lives,” wrote Eisenhower.

Nearly twenty years after the war ended, Wood would purchase this DB5 brand new – one of just 898 cars built. It’s had only two owners, the last one for 56 years, and shows 94,000 miles on the clock. It’s got a five-speed manual, bears the original engine, the original interior, and glorious (original) red factory paintwork too.

It’s also “amassed numerous awards over the past quarter century”, according to auctioneers H&H Classics, who reckon the classic Aston could fetch anywhere between £350,000 to £400,000 when it comes up for auction at Sandown Park on 10 December.

“James Bond was not the only British Intelligence Officer to take delivery of an Aston Martin DB5 during 1964, as seen with this wonderful example first owned by Mr Manners Wood,” said H&H’s Paul Cheetham.