Just 1,059 will be made, mirroring the number of ‘real’ DB5s made, with the availability of a (much) more powerful Vantage variant, as with its real-life counterpart
Now, it’s hard to say for certain, but we have a sneaking suspicion that it might be toy-car season now. Hot off the heels of the Bugatti Baby and the McLaren Senna ‘Spider’ comes the latest from a company that makes what is arguably the ultimate ride-on toy car.
Behold, everyone, The Little Car Company’s take on the Aston Martin DB5. In case you need a primer on the model, it’s perhaps the best-known car driven by fictional super-spy James Bond (incidentally, Aston Martin has just released a capsule collection of limited-run cars celebrating the latest Bond film). It’s not the first car he drove in the movies (it’s actually the third), but its array of gadgets including deployable machine guns, bulletproof rear screen and an ejector seat cemented its place in the hearts of fans worldwide.
Just 1,059 examples of the DB5 were built between 1963 to 1965, and prices today are hovering around £500,000 (S$904,990) to £600,000 (S$1,085,988) mark, which is a remarkably reasonable sum considering the car’s celebrity status.
At any rate, if the real DB5 is proving a little too elusive, you could always plump for the aforementioned ride-on toy car. Though as with The Little Car Company’s take on the Bugatti, the term ‘toy’ is fairly churlish.
To start with, the DB5 Junior is modelled on a 3D scan of the actual DB5, which means the 3m-long toy car (the real DB5 is around 4.5m long) is an exact scaled-down replica of the original, with space for an adult and a child to ride in it side-by-side.
And the similarities don’t stop there. On the cosmetic front, the DB5 Junior carries all the badges and details of the original, including the wire-spoke wheels and instrument cluster. Even the suspension setup (double wishbones front, live-axle Panhard rod rear) is mirrored on the real car with an identical geometry. Whichever way you slice it, it’s incredible attention to detail.
If you feel that isn’t fastidious enough for you, The Little Car Company will also give you first right of refusal to match the chassis number of your DB5 Junior to the real DB5 you have sitting in your garage.
The only difference between the two cars lie in the ride-on toy’s powertrain. The DB5 Junior forgoes the internal combustion straight-six and instead has an electric motor with 6.7hp and a 48 km/hr top speed (in Expert mode) with the batteries stored under the bonnet where the engine would be on the real-life DB5.
More power can be had with the Vantage variant, which features a more powerful (double, to be exact) 13.4hp motor, second battery pack and limited-slip differential to prevent the ‘car’ from spinning its wheels. The aluminium chassis and composite body panels will also be replaced by a lighter, fully carbon fibre construction, which along with increased battery capacity, also doubles the Vantage variant of the DB5 Junior’s range to 64km.
Build slots for all 1,059 DB5 Juniors are now open through The Little Car Company’s website, with prices for the standard variant starting at £35,000 (S$63,349) and £45,000 (S$81,449) for the uprated Vantage model.
