An Aston Martin DB5 that proves teenage dreams can come true

Washing cars: the teenage rite of passage before inevitably getting behind the wheel. 

Paul Carrubba knows it well. 

While a teenager, Paul was tasked by a neighbor, Tony, to wash his 1964 Aston Martin DB5. Back then, the only way Paul saw himself in the car was either as a passenger or in the reflection of the freshly shined paint. 

Fast-forward 50-plus years. Now Paul regularly drives that very car, still taking pride in keeping it clean. And it still turns heads, winning awards at concours and, last summer, earning best in show at the Classic Motorsports Monterey Kickoff.

[Aston Martin DB5 wins 2024 Classic Motorsports Monterey Kickoff]

His neighbor seemingly always had the hot cars–a Sunbeam Alpine, a V8 Chevrolet Malibu, a Porsche 356B and a Corvette. It left an impression on a young Paul, whose trajectory to becoming a lifelong car nut started early. At age 7, he restored a 1940 Packard with his father, helping his dad clean parts.

Tony seemed to see something in Paul. Interest? Definitely. Cheap labor? Perhaps. Ability? Absolutely.

“[Tony] recruited me,” Paul says. “I was better at cleaning them than he was. I used good ol’-fashioned DuPont rubbing compound to bring the shine back to it. He took the same kind of rubbing compound and decided to do it himself. He rubbed it all the way through the paint in one spot.”

About a decade after Paul washed his neighbor’s cars, Paul’s brother saw the Aston Martin go up for sale. Paul bought it. While he rode in it quite a bit as a kid, he never actually got to drive it. Not until he bought it on July 30, 1983, a date Paul remembers vividly. It didn’t go quite as he’d envisioned years earlier. 

“It needed to be jumped,” Paul recalls. “It overheated. Cylinder number 3 had zero compression. Number 4 had 35 pounds. It needed brakes. It was a long 90-mile ride home, but we made it.”

A rarity in today’s world: Paul Carrubba’s Aston Martin DB5 wears Fiesta Red, its original hue, and not 007’s ever-popular silver.

Then it sat. And sat. And sat. For 19 years. Life gets busy. A wife. Two children. Finally, though, he got the spark to get it running again.

“It was on the 19th anniversary of owning it,” Paul remembers. “I donned my white dinner jacket and a cigar, and about halfway through a bottle of Bollinger I said, ‘It’s time to get off the pot. I either got to restore you or sell you–and I’d never be happy if I didn’t get to restore you.’”

The next day, Paul called Kevin Kay Restorations. The shop specializes in Aston Martin DBs. It took a class win at Pebble Beach in 2023 with a 1954 DB2/4 Bertone coupe. Its James Bond recreation made the cover of our November 2024 issue. Paul found the right shop to take care of his prized car.

“They were absolutely wonderful,” Paul says. “They allowed us to keep it as close to the original build specs as possible. The car was a good original example. It didn’t need a lot of things. We did go through the motor. We did go through the entire paint.”

So, that paint. Most Aston Martin DB5s are clad in Silver Birch, paying homage, of course, to James Bond. This one doesn’t follow that formula.

It came from the factory in Fiesta Red. According to Paul, only 42 were produced in this color. He adds that just 14 remain as per the Aston Martin Heritage Trust. The body needed repainting, but Paul wanted to keep it to its original hue.

“The hood had that little spot that rubbed through,” says Paul. “It had a couple of small dings on it. It was covered in the garage for many years. We used it to hide the Christmas presents.”

Paul didn’t want to lose any of the car’s original equipment. That included the factory a/c. Paul was adamant about keeping that as it came from Aston Martin, even if no one would see it.

“I spent more on the air-conditioning restoration than that car,” Paul admits. “When I went to Newport Pagnell, the Aston Martin factory, they suggested that we pull the factory air-conditioning out and replace it with a newer model. No one would know, but I would. So, I didn’t.”

The restoration took a few years. Kevin Kay Restorations started on the project in 2002 and finished in 2005. After that, the shop delivered the car straight to the 2005 Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance. There, it won over the judges, earning best in class. Once Paul received his award, he got the opportunity he’d waited oh so long for.

More than two decades since he bought it.

More than three decades since he first started washing it.

But finally–finally–Paul opened the door, hopped in and sat behind the wheel of the now-operational Aston Martin DB5. He turned the key. Put it in gear. And drove off.

“I got to drive it home. It was wonderful,” says Paul. “It felt like a brand-new car. I definitely was emotional. I felt the car was getting what it deserved.”

Since then, Paul hasn’t kept the car in the garage for too long. In 20 years, he has put about 9000 miles on the Aston Martin, with the odometer now reading 93,000. Paul has made sure it will never be forgotten again–and with good reason.

It’s been a part of Paul’s life for most of his time here on earth. He’s known it for longer than his wife and two children. It’s become an integral part of his family.

“It gets exercised often,” Paul notes. “It’s been in the weddings of both my daughters. It’s been in a couple of other people’s weddings. I keep it, clean it and wax it. I send it up for maintenance to Kevin Kay Restorations–I won’t let anyone else touch it. It’s exactly what it should be: a wonderful piece of automobile history that gets to keep shining and making people smile.”

After spending nearly 20 years stagnant in the garage, Paul’s Aston Martin has been turned into a show winner. His plans? Keep driving it.

One of those smiling people includes Paul Carrubba. He can’t help it. Teenage dreams rarely come true, but for Paul, one of his certainly did.

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