For most of us, the idea of buying a dream car as a teenager and still owning it half a century later feels like pure fantasy. For Welsh welder and garage owner John Williams, it is simply his life story. In the early 1970s he handed over £900 for a used 1965 Aston Martin DB5, then an aging performance car rather than the blue-chip collectible it is today. After years of hard work, decades of patience and a mammoth restoration at Aston Martin Works in Newport Pagnell, that same DB5 now sits in better-than-new condition and is thought to be worth up to £1 million.
Williams was only 18 when he set himself a bold target: save enough to buy an Aston Martin DB5, the car he had pinned his dreams on. He spent more than a year putting aside every spare pound, taking overtime whenever he could, until he had £900 in cash, roughly equivalent to around £15,000 today. In September 1973, aged just 19, he took a long train ride from North Wales to London to see the car advertised in Motor Sport magazine. What he found was a 1965 DB5 with the desirable Vantage engine, triple Weber carburetors, wire wheels and Sundym electric windows. He bought it on the spot and drove his prized Aston back home.
For about four years the DB5 did exactly what any good car should do: it was driven. Williams used it as his daily transport around North Wales, a silver Aston threading through rain-soaked roads and village high streets. Then life, as it tends to, got complicated. A job in the Middle East in 1977 meant the DB5 was parked on the family driveway, where it slowly deteriorated. Neighborhood kids treated it as playground equipment, bouncing on the bonnet and even snapping the exhaust, while time, weather and neglect did the rest. Through it all, Williams ignored offers to buy the car, encouraged by his wife Sue, who kept reminding him that he would never find another quite like it.
What followed is the kind of long-game dedication only true enthusiasts understand. As the years passed, Williams grew increasingly determined to see his Aston properly reborn, driven partly by pride as a garage man and partly by the guilt of letting his dream car decay. When the moment finally came, the family chose Aston Martin Works in Newport Pagnell, the spiritual home of classic Astons and the place where more than 13,000 cars were hand built over a span of five decades. The restoration began in late 2022 and would ultimately consume over 2,500 hours of skilled labor, including a bare-metal rebuild of the Superleggera frame, hand-formed aluminum bodywork and painstaking mechanical refurbishment using factory-correct parts.
The car itself is worthy of that effort. Williams owns what many consider the ultimate DB5 specification: a right-hand-drive 1965 saloon with the higher output Vantage engine, finished in classic Silver Birch. Of the 1,022 DB5s produced between 1963 and 1965, only 887 were saloons, and just 39 left the factory in this exact combination of Silver Birch paint, Vantage powertrain and right-hand-drive layout. That alone would make the car special, but its backstory adds another layer, starting with an original owner from the exclusive St George’s Hill enclave in Surrey, a neighborhood that once counted John Lennon and Ringo Starr among its residents.
When John and Sue finally saw the finished DB5 at Aston Martin Works, the emotional weight of five decades hit at once. Williams described the moment as worth every penny and nearly 50 years of waiting, marveling at how his long-dormant Aston now drives with a phenomenal feel. In a world where classic cars can easily become commodities, this DB5 stands out as something more personal: a teenage dream, a family constant, a survivor of neglect and, ultimately, a beautifully crafted reminder that some relationships with cars really do last a lifetime. With its Silver Birch paint gleaming once again and that straight-six singing, one of the most famous shapes in motoring is back on the road, exactly where it belongs.
Lloyd Tobias is a seasoned automotive journalist and passionate enthusiast with over 15 years of experience immersed in the world of cars. Whether it’s exploring the latest advancements in automotive technology or keeping a close pulse on breaking industry news, Lloyd brings a sharp perspective and a deep appreciation for all things automotive. His writing blends technical insight with real-world enthusiasm, making his contributions both informative and engaging for readers who share his love for the drive. When he’s not behind the keyboard or under the hood, Lloyd enjoys test driving the newest models and staying ahead of the curve in an ever-evolving automotive landscape.
