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The British Cars That Command the Most Reverence—and the Highest Prices

With ultra-advanced models from Lotus and the mad speed machines sneaking out of Ariel, the world now looks farther afield for its daily drives, but thoughts return to England's green hills when it's time to show a little more style.

The echoes of British influence around the globe encompass tea time, stiff upper lips, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and Sunday roasts, but the U.K. also has a beloved and enduring automotive culture, having produced some of the most desired and collectible machines in four-wheeled history. While some of the automakers involved have since sold to foreign interests or faded from active business altogether, multiple generations of gearheads will go on honoring the legends their workmen left behind.

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No medium drives a car into hallowed history faster than the movies, and 007 deserves the credit for making the Aston Martin DB5 world famous (RM Sotheby's has called it the “most iconic and recognizable Aston Martin ever built”). Produced between 1963 and 1965, not every DB5 rolled off the line with machine guns and rotating number plates, but James Bond’s gorgeous coupe tore through several of his movies, from 1964’s Goldfinger to the most recent entry, No Time to Die. The most coveted versions still in circulation recreate the improvements Q Branch built in for the big screen, but any DB5 is precious. A pristine example built for the promotion of Thunderball—complete with Ken Adam and John Stears’s special-effects modifications—sold at RM Sotheby’s........

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