The 1962 Aston Martin DB4 used by Sir Michael Cain, as Charlie Croker, in the Italian Job, a special exhibition honoring this ionic British Film,
Charlie's 1961 (or '62) DB4 convertible was a stunning car (Registration 163 ELT). Caine couldn't actually drive whilst The Italian Job was been filmed, so clever editing had to be done when he collected it after his stay in Wormwood Scrubs! It's often said that the Aston blew up early in the filming, so it wasn't actually the DB4 that you see go over the mountainside. This is half-true, In actual fact the DB4 was pushed over the side of the mountain, but the crew weren't happy with the scene as they wanted it to burst into flames. But the special effects crew member (Pat Moore) with the 'explode' button had to run for his life as the Aston was heading for him, so they employed the services of an excellent body building firm in Turin, who dressed up a Lancia Flaminia 3c Cabriolet. (Not a Lancia Appia Cabriolet nor an Alfa Romeo which many have noted). You can tell when the car flips down the gorge, because the bonnet opens with the hinge at the windscreen end, whereas the real DB4 bonnet hinges at the headlight end - as seen when Charlie recovers his money from the engine bay after getting out of the nick. They were having difficulty actually getting the Aston over the wall, so bus driver Fred Toms dressed up like one of the mob and did the job! Rumours have it that the Aston has been restored, but there is no info available at the time of writing. The DB4 is a grand tourer sold by Aston Martin from 1958 until 1963. Technically it was a development of the DB Mark III it replaced but with a completely new body. The DB4's design formed the basis for later Aston Martin classics, such as the DB4 GT Zagato, the Lagonda Rapide 4-door saloon. It was eventually replaced by the Aston Martin DB5. A convertible was introduced in October featured in-house styling similar to the Touring saloon, and an extremely rare factory hardtop was also available. In total, 70 DB4 convertibles were made from a total DB4 production run of 1,110 cars. 30 of these were Series I
Size: 5616px × 3744px
Location: ExCel London, One Western Gateway, Royal Victoria Dock,
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -quarter, -type, 12th, 70, , 240, 1962, 2+2, 2019, 3671cc, 50th, anniversary, aston, beautiful, body, brakes, british, built, cain, car, carrozzeria, charlie, classic, convertables, convertible, croker, db4, designers, disc, dohc, drophead, exhibition, film, front, heist, iconic, indusrty, italian, job, lightweight, limited, london, marek, martin, michael, micheal, milan, motoring, movie, mph, newport, pagnell, productiopn, rare, servo-assisted, show, sir, special, straight, superleggera, tadek, touring, tribute, tube-frame, view, wheels, wire, works
