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“I’ve always loved James Bond and British cars”

Steffan Appel with his 1965 Aston Martin DB5 which is on show as part of the Guy Hamilton James Bond exhibition in the Casal Solleric in Palma. | Majorca Daily Bulletin reporter

Humphrey CarterPalma08/07/2017 00:00

The Daily Bulletin Bond theme dinner for subscribers and readers proved a great success on Thursday evening.
Prior to a gala Indian dinner at the Tajmahal Restaurant in Calle Blanquerna, guests were treated to special tour of the exhibition dedicated to the life and work of the late Guy Hamilton who directed a total of 22 blockbuster films, including four great James Bond films starring Roger Moore and Sean Connery. But, the star of the exhibition which runs until the end of this month was the famous Aston Martin DB5 driven in the film Goldfinger, which is now owned by Steffen Appel, who was on hand to answer questions about the car and its history.
The evening was also attended by Guy’s son Frank and his wife Ester and the president of the Majorcan Film Commission Pedro Barbadillo.

Steffen, who lives in Frankfurt but spends part of the summer in Majorca, admitted to not only being a massive James Bond fan, but also a lover of British cars. “I’ve always had British cars,” said the German who could have the pick of a Mercedes or an Audi. “My first car was a Triumph Spitfire then I had a Triumph TR6 PI and I’ve just bought the new Bentley convertible,” he said showing the pictures on his IPhone. He also owns an Aston Martin Vanquish like the one which appeared in the Bond films Die Another Day which starred Pierce Brosnan as James Bond.

“I bought the DB5 four years ago after having spent six years trying to get my hands on one and eventually I found one for sale in North London, It cost between 850,000 and a million euros and despite having been made in 1965, she’s only got 45,000 miles on the clock.

“It was a dream for me, OK, it’s not the actual car which was featured in the film, but the number plate is the original one from Goldfinger and every year I have to drive her over to the Aston Martin works in Newport Pagnell for a full service,” Steffen explained. “But, I don’t leave her parked in the garage, I driver her quite often,” he added.

The car has been signed by Daniel Craig, who Steffen would like to see continue as James Bond, although his favourite Bond was Sean Connery and film, Goldfinger, and a number of Bond girls including Britt Ekland who inaugurated the exhibition last week. But his connection with Bond does not end there. He was the production driver on Spectre which meant he was Barbara Broccoli’s personal driver for six weeks and was on the set nearly all of the time.

“I was even invited to the premiere at the Royal Albert Hall, that was an amazing experience, but Barbara, (who attended the gala concert in Palma last week) even though we got on really well, she was giving nothing away about if there will be another Bond film and if so, when. I hope there is and that Daniel Craig stars again.”