VIN: the Peter Sellers / Earl of Snowdon Aston Martin DB5 chassis DB5C/1512/R
History of chassis DB5C/1512/R
Chassis DB5C/1512/R was one of 85 right-hand drive DB5 Convertibles built between 1963 and 1965.
It was commissioned by British actor and comedian, Peter Sellers, who specified Caribbean Pearl paint with a dark blue interior and matching roof. Sellers also ordered the car with a five-speed manual gearbox, chrome wheels, a Motorola radio and electric antenna.
The DB5 was delivered on July 21st 1964 via Aston Martin main dealer, HWM of Walton-on-Thames, Surrey. It wore the licence plate DPH 5B and Sellers registered the car at his London residence (37 Panton Street, SW1).
By 1964, Sellers was an internationally renowned star and able to command around $1m per movie. He was also in the midst of a compulsive car-buying spree, a symptom of his increasingly erratic behaviour. Five months earlier, he had married his second wife, Britt Eklund, ten days after the pair had met on the set of the second Inspector Clouseau film, A Shot in the Dark.
The Carribean Pearl DB5 was Sellers’ second Aston Martin. It followed a DB4 GT (chassis DB4GT/0157/R) that he had purchased when it was a year old in 1962.
Peter Sellers retained the DB5 longer than many of his cars. He sold it to his friend, renowned high society photographer, Antony Armstrong-Jones, in the late 1960s.
In 1960, Jones had married Queen Elizabeth II’s sister, Princess Margaret, at which point he was bestowed with the title, the Earl of Snowdon.
Jones, Princess Margaret and their two children used the car extensively over the next few years. During this time it was fitted with the first in-car telephone in the UK; “it worked a bit like a walkie-talkie; you clicked a button twice and got through to the exchange”
In November 1985, the DB5 was gifted to Jones’ and Princess Margaret’s son, Viscount Linley, as a 25th birthday present. By this time, the car had been on display at the Beaulieu National Motor Museum for several years and required a degree of recommissioning.
Viscount Linley retained the Aston Martin until 1999 when it was sold to the first of several private UK owners.
Chassis DB5C/1512/R was subsequently offered by Bonhams at their 2021 Goodwood Festival of Speed auction.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Bonhams - https://www.bonhams.com/
