Silver James Bond Aston Martins. A simple repair.

 

I was fortunate to find two of the first 270 issue, with silver grille and bumpers, which have survived the years pretty well. They each have all the features working although the ejector seat on one has a mind of its own and sometimes stays put. They both have a small number of chips to the paintwork but do look very nice still in the photographs.

Both were missing the front bumper corners, which seems to be a common problem with these models. I bought what appear to be excellent metal replacement front sections which comprise the grille and the bumper sections and have managed to cut off the parts required and fix them in place without disturbing the base at all. So whilst they will not have the £100+ price that totally original models would make they would make a good space filler or display item at a much lower price.

They both suffer from the raised roof thing. This is a common fault and may explain why nearly all sellers advertise this model with the roof completely open! As you'll see from the small images below, that raised front edge really spoils the look of the car! 

However, add a small piece of Blu-tac, and the problem is solved! Well, for the photos, at least.

This model was first issued in a bubble type of box, similar to that used for the 335 Jaguar E Type but very few of them seem to have survived. So a first issue 270 in its original box is a valuable item indeed. It is pity but you do need to be careful. Because the car was produced in very large numbers there are even quite a few of this first type to be found but sellers put this in a very much later style of window box, the one used for the much later editions still numbered 270.

Those late boxes are not that expensive to find and good reproductions exist too. I recently sold a very nice example of the first 270, even the roof lay flat too, to a lady in Surrey who beat me down to a discounted £95 or thereabouts. A week or so later I see the same car advertised by the same lady for some ridiculous figure of more than double the price she paid and sitting in a late 1970s box. It was still unsold, thankfully, a little while before writing this and I do hope that she gets no takers but I fear that someone will get fooled. She gave the impression that she was buying for her collector husband but now I see that she was just a dealer I shall not be giving her any more discounts in future!

There was a window box which replaced the bubble type and which might possibly have contained the first model but this would be the narrow yellow type that was used for several models in 1969.

Here is a reminder of the five types of 270:

1 1968-69 wire wheels, silver grille and bumpers, round section near exhaust on base

2 1969-75 wire wheels, gold grille and bumpers, round section

3 1975-76 wire wheels, gold grille and bumpers, oval section

4 1977-77 Whizzwheels, grey base

5 1977-78 Whizzwheels, silver base

Beware of models fitted with 'red spot' Whizzwheels. These were not issued for sale in shops. They may have been production samples but it is far more likely that someone made them either at the time in the factory or, indeed, the most likely answer is that someone has changed the wheels since. Without some form of certification of provenance give these models a wide berth. If you really want to have one, ask me and I will make one one you for a lot less than the price demanded by sellers pretending they have something genuine.

Something else to watch out for is the model below. It is almost identical to a 270 but made in China in 1995 and is actually model number 96655, an Anniversary edition with exactly the same look as the 1968 model and all the same features. The base will give the game away, of course, but some sellers use very clever phrases in their descriptions and I have even seen this model being sold in a 270 box!

Whilst this is a copy, it can be quite expensive with mint examples in the box making £100 as it is is a splendid item to display and the issue was limited to 29,000.

I have two of these available at the moment in mint condition if any is interested. Nice Christmas presents?

There are also excellent copies of the 338 Toyota 2000GT model from the same era.