New Delhi. Everyone wants that their money should double and triple with time, in this hope people invest in the stock market. But, this does not happen often. But now a very interesting story of a person has come to light whose small investment multiplied thousands of times. And let us tell you that this is not a stock. Rather it is a car. Yes! You read it absolutely right. According to a BBC report, a car which was purchased by a person named John Williams in the year 1971. At that time, he had spent only 985 pounds (about Rs 13,000 at that time) for this car. Now the price of this car has reached 10 lakh pounds i.e. around Rs 11 crore as of today. Now you can understand that hardly any stock can give such tremendous returns. And a car increases your expenses with time. But John’s story tells something else. Read further this interesting heart touching story of John Williams and his wife Suzanne.
James Bond-Style Aston Martin DB5
The car that John bought was not an ordinary car. In fact, it was a 1960s James Bond-style Aston Martin DB5, which had fallen into such disrepair that the children played on it, forcing John and his family to scold the children and drive them away. John Williams, 71, of Mold, Flintshire, bought this car second hand in 1973 for £ 985, which is equivalent to about £ 15,000 today.
The car kept rusting for years
Price increased to 10 lakh pounds after restoration
Now it has been completely restored and its price is now 1 million pounds. He drove the car, made famous in the films Goldfinger and Thunderball, for the last time in his 20s, then left it in his driveway, where it rusted for years.
Money collected for many years for restoration
Mr Williams saved £400,000 by undertaking a three-year restoration at Aston Martin’s Buckinghamshire workshop, where experts had to remove a rat’s nest and spend 2,500 hours laboring before the restoration could begin. Williams fell in love with Aston Martin when he received a toy car at the age of eight, and by the age of 19 he had saved up enough money to buy one after seeing advertisements in motoring magazines.
This car was lying in storage since the 70s
But when he got a job in the Middle East in the late 1970s, the DB5 was put into storage, and then parked outside the house – and became a plaything for the neighborhood children. His wife Suzanne said, “The neighborhood children used to jump on the bonnet and we used to scold them.” “Then there was a kid jumping on the roof, wondering ‘Does this work?’ Because he had seen a Bond movie and thought the car would lift up.” Only 1,022 DB5s were built between 1963 and 1965, which gained immense popularity after James Bond (played by Sean Connery) drove one, which also featured ejector seats and rotating number plates.
Aston Martin Works restored it in 2500 hours.
Only 39 such cars in the world
The silver birch gray DB5 Vantage that Mr Williams owns is one of only 39 such cars in the world. Even when the car was rusting outside their house and undriveable, Aston Martin valued it at £500,000, leading the couple to consider selling it. And he had no dearth of offers either.
“The question of money comes up, and so does reality,” Susan said, “and sitting at the kitchen table, he asked, ‘What do you think?'”
“I said, ‘You’ll never get a car like that again.'”
“So they said, ‘No, we’ll keep it.'”
2500 hours of hard work
The decision was made, and he described how he ‘saved and sacrificed’ for a three-year restoration. After removing the rat’s nest, technicians spent 2,500 hours replacing parts and restoring many features, including the original paint. Mr. and Mrs. Williams visited the workshop regularly to see the progress of the work. Now that the work is complete, the carmaker estimates it to be worth £1 million.
John Williams and Suzanne
The car is very special
‘It’s a special feeling just to be in possession of this car’ Steve Waddingham, Aston Martin historian, said: “It might have been easier to build a new car, but it took a lot of skill and patience to repair and replace such a heavily rusted car.” But he said that the hard work is indeed worth appreciating, “Just being near this car is a special feeling – its smell, its feel, its sound.”
Better than new after restoration
“They are so special and you can’t get those famous movie scenes out of your mind.” After driving the car for the first time in 45 years, John said, “This car is probably better now than when it came out of the factory.” “It was really surprising. I wish they could do the same to me to make me look 27 again. Today I feel 27.”
‘I will always keep this car.’
Susan had previously only sat in the car when it was being towed out of storage. He enjoyed his first proper ride with John, saying, “It sounded fantastic and as we were going a little faster I thought, ‘Yeah, go a little faster. Let’s see what it can do.'” Although John has achieved his life’s dream, he said he won’t be driving the car too much, “You can’t take it everywhere or leave it anywhere. The weather also has an impact. I don’t want to take it through big water holes, and I’ve neglected it once. Won’t do that again.”
