The 1963 Aston Martin DB5 which was used in the James Bond film Goldfinger driven by the man himself, Sean Connery, has now been found. The mystery as to where it has been hiding and the journey it went on is still being played out but from what we know, the car has been located. This news comes to us from The Telegraph.

This amazing piece of film history Chassis No. DP/216/1 was stored at the Boca Raton Airport in Florida. It was put inside a very secured hangar or so everyone thought. In June of 1997 thieves broke in and stole it right from under the world's nose. This of course already sounds like a scene in the movie itself however it is very much a real crime. The only traces of the car were tire tracks from the car being dragged by a wrecker or another vehicle. That is only an assumption however as many believe it was directly loaded onto a plane. The theories don't stop there as many think the car was kept in the United States, while others believed it was taken overseas, which led to a global search for the missing vehicle.

Fast forward to the present day and investigators believe they’ve located the car in the Middle East. Now of course the details of where it is and where it is being kept have been kept sealed for now by Art Recovery International, a group that has tracked down countless stolen items. The clue that is out there is that a witness saw the car in a “private setting” and that Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain are “particular areas of interest.” What makes this Aston Martin a one of a kind is that this unique car is the “gadget car” used in filming Goldfinger. Some of the features that are installed for the movie are pop-out machine guns, tire shredders, smokescreen funnels, as well as water/oil sprayers. I mean it was driven by 007 so it has to be special.

We do know that someone has been able to verify the serial number on the ’63 Aston Martin DB5, and it is a match for the missing car. It is now estimated the very special classic car is worth over $25 million. Christopher Marinello, chief executive of Art Recovery International believes that the car will be recovered very soon.

“I’m hopeful that the possessor will come forward voluntarily before I have to make an announcement,” Marinello told The Telegraph in an interview. “It’s my policy to give possessors of stolen and looted objects every opportunity to do the right thing. I don’t believe the current possessor knew the car was stolen when he or she acquired it. Now they do know, I think they should make every effort to have a discreet confidential discussion about how we clear the title to this iconic vehicle.”

Anthony Pugliese, an American businessman and car collector, was the owner of the James Bond Aston Martin DB5 when it was stolen. One of the many theories out there says that he was behind the crime and paid someone to have it stolen as part of an insurance scam. The theory does not stop there as they say he had it dropped into the Atlantic Ocean from a plane so it would never be found. Of course, Pugliese has denied those allegations, saying he could have easily sold the classic movie car instead of collecting the insurance money. Still sounds like a James Bond plot to this writer.

Pugliese bought the car for $275,000 at a Sotheby’s New York auction back in 1986. After it was stolen, the insurance company paid $4.2 million and is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the safe return of the Aston Martin. Theories about where the Goldfinger 1963 Aston Martin DB5 driven by Sean Connery when he played James Bond went have spun out of control. Some believe a very wealthy person paid to have it stolen and has it sitting in a private collection in his house, just like a Bond villain. Others think it’s been sold on the black market, which seems kind of hard to do without getting noticed but anything is possible.

Whatever the real story is behind the car vanishing into thin air, it is now on its way back and whoever has it will have to answer to 007 or at least proper authorities.