James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger is 'in mystery Middle East fan's collection of 4,000 cars' and is now worth $15MILLION after being stolen from Florida hangar in 1997
A gadget-filled Aston Martin DB5 which featured in two James Bond films and went missing in 1997 could be in the Middle East, a stolen goods sleuth claims.
The iconic 1964 motor was purchased at auction for $275,000 back in 1986 by real estate developer Anthony Pugliese.
However, the Aston Martin, which was one of two cars that featured in both Goldfinger and Thunderball, vanished from an aircraft hangar at Boca Raton airport in Florida. It was insured for $4.2million at the time.
A gadget-filled Aston Martin DB5 which featured in two James Bond films and went missing in 1997 could be in the Middle East, a stolen goods sleuth claims. Pictured: Sean Connery leans on the front of a DB5 in Goldfinger
Now, a new podcast called The Great James Bond Car Robbery and narrated by Elizabeth Hurley has forensically examined the case, with one contributor claiming the missing motor could be in a country in the Middle East.
CEO of Art Recovery International Christopher A. Marinello, told Fox News that he believes the missing Bond car is now part of a 4,000-strong collection of vehicles.
Marinello, who has been hunting for the car which he describes as his 'Holy Grail' for the past 10 years, claims it is now in the possession of one of the world's top car collectors, but he is not ready to name which country where he believes it is being kept.
He claims that a source revealed details about a DB5 they had recently come across that were too detailed for anyone who didn't know about the car.
The iconic 1964-dated motor was purchased at auction for $275,000 back in 1986 by real estate developer Anthony Pugliese (stock image)
The sleuth said he isn't accusing the current owner of having stolen the car or even of knowingly having purchased a stolen vehicle.
He told Fox News: 'These sorts of people buy a lot of luxury items, often without going through due diligence, and when they find out something is stolen, they think they're above the law and that it's not their problem, but it is their problem.'
Marinello has been searching for the car for an insurance company, which is offering $100,000 to anyone with information that leads to its discovery. He claims the car could now be worth as much as $15million.
However, the Aston Martin, which was one of two cars that featured in both Goldfinger and Thunderball, vanished from an aircraft hangar at Boca Raton airport - and had been insured for $4.2million at the time
Bond's DB5 made its debut in Goldfinger, the third 007 movie starring Sean Connery that is widely accepted as setting in stone the template for the franchise.
Among its many gadgets was bullet-proof glass, rotating number plates, machine guns hidden behind the indicators and a tracking device he uses to follow Goldfinger. But most famously of all it had an ejector seat that Bond uses to dispatch a hapless guard.
It reappeared in the following film, Thunderball, by which time Q branch had added water jets to the exhausts to aid Bond's escape.
The DB5 did not appear again until Pierce Brosnan's first two films, Goldeneye in 1995 and Tomorrow Never Dies two years later, and has subsequently been a regular in the Daniel Craig era. It has only been missing in Quantum of Solace, and will be seen again in the much-delayed No Time To Die when it finally opens in UK cinemas on September 30.