It is not unusual for a classic car owner to swap his car for a piece of paper – usually one marked `Bank Cheque' with several zeros on the end of the payment figure. If it were, for instance, an Aston Martin DB5, you would think the figure would contain at least four zeros and more than likely five.

 This 1965 DB5, however, was swapped for a tiny piece of paper, or papers, that probably had just a few cents cents written on it ... a scrap of thin paper no bigger than a postage stamp. And, there's a good reason for that description. This stunning, original DB5, was swapped for a single postage stamp, or stamps, in 1971.

 What stamp that was we do not know. It might have been the famous American `Inverted Jenny' the best-known American philately error which features a Curtiss JN-4 aircraft upside down. Only a pane of 100 stamps were ever found. In 2007 one sold for $825,000.

 That is only part of this car's interesting history. It is now owned by Doug Young who has researched it's background. It was sold as a new car in England to an Adelaide solicitor – who bought a DB4, DB5 and DB6 at the same time and in the same colour. The lawyer also happened to be a stamp collector.

 On returning to Adelaide he found a stamp, or stamps, he desperately wanted and offered the stamp dealer a choice of one of the three Aston Martins in return for the stamp. There was a fourth option also. Another car that was dismantled. The dealer selected the DB5. It was a decision that may well have cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars. The dismantled car was a Bugatti, believed to be a rare racing version and worth telephone numbers even then. But, the Astons were complete and compared to a pile of metal, was an immediately usable option with no further financial outlay.

 The stamp dealer apparently kept the car for almost 30 years and in 1998 it was sold in Sydney to a friend of controversial stockbroker, Rene Rivkin. From there it was sold to a WA couple in 2006 and then purchased by Doug Young. Since acquiring the car Doug has gradually improved the car by fitting new wheels, springs, shock absorbers, sway bar, had the head gasket replaced and fitted new master and slave cylinders to both the brakes and clutch. It is now, he says, a much improved drivers car.

 “It's terrific – when you drive it you have a sense of being alive, the new springs in particular made a significant difference to the handling.” The Italian-designed Aston though is no pushover when it comes to the driving experience. “It's a little bit demanding,” said Doug. “The brakes are like pushing on a piece of wood, the steering is heavy at low speeds, but loosens up when you gather speed.” It's a car that is heavy and cannot just be thrown into corners. Like all great cars it needs to be `set up' by the driver to corner gracefully, as befitting an Aston.

 There are a number of aspects of the DB5 that appeal to Doug. Unlike many modern cars the windscreen support or A-Pillar is thin and gives the driver an excellent forward-right view. The car also feels well `planted' on the road as well as the rear end – being a rear wheel drive vehicle – feeling like it's tied down giving the driver confidence in the cars handling capability when driven enthusiastically. For Doug, the Area Representative for Queensland for the Aston Martin Club of the UK, these are a vital ingredients in owning an Aston. We have so far avoided the obvious. No story on the DB5 can be complete with reference to you know who: Bond. James Bond: 007.

 It is perhaps trite to say Bond, - the Sean Connery Bond - via the 1964 movie `Goldfinger' made the DB5 famous. The DB5 and it's predecessor the DB4 and subsequent DB6, were classic British sports cars. What the highly successful Bond film did was expand the brand's image around the world. From relative obscurity as a brand Aston Martin became an overnight world-wide, gun-blazing phenomena. You cannot buy that type of publicity.

 Aston Martin has a long history but the DB series began when tractor manufacturer David Brown purchased the company and led it from 1947 to 1972. Hence the DB moniker for these classic cars that at the time were worthy rivals to both Ferrari and Jaguar. The DB5 was in effect a facelifted DB4 with the Tadek Marek designed DOHC engine bored out to almost 4.0 litres and now wearing triple two inch SU carburettors along the right side. The exhaust had been improved, the magneto gave way to an alternator and electric windows were now standard. Some 1021 DB5s were built between 1963 and 1965 when the DB6 was introduced.

 The big, straight-six in-line engine is an impressive sight. It was able to propel the 1500 kg car to speeds up of 144 miles per hour (233 km/h) and reach 100 km/h in just 7.1 seconds. The engine and car body are alloy. It has servo assisted disc brakes front and rear and the front suspension is coil and wishbone while the rear is coil and live axle. It was, for the time, a high-tech speed machine.

 As such, it is hard to imagine anyone would want to swap it for a tiny piece of printed paper that probably cost a fraction of a cent, at most, to produce and whose value dipped even further after it's one and only use. It goes to show again that fact is always stranger than fiction. One thing is for sure: This DB5 has Doug's stamp of approval.