You could be forgiven for not remembering the Ford Consul Classic 315. Launched in the UK in 1961, it looked like a Toytown Ford Galaxie, with hints of Lincoln Continental in the raked-back rear roofline. Ford claimed that it would be ‘suitable for the golf club car park’, and with a 0-60mph time of 22.5 seconds, it clearly wasn’t designed for the sporting motorist.
Yet somehow, an up-and-coming young musician called Paul McCartney managed to collect three speeding tickets at the wheel of his Consul Classic, earning a driving ban and a reprimand from Alderman WO Hanford, who told him, “It’s time you were taught a lesson”.
Dumping the Ford and buying a 145mph Aston Martin DB5 was probably not the lesson Alderman Hanford had in mind. But by the time the ban was over, Beatlemania was in full spate, the Beatles had concluded their first sellout US tour, and McCartney was a global superstar. He collected the Aston Martin in September 1964. It was finished in Sierra Blue, with a black leather interior and a must-have bespoke fitment for a pop star; a Phillips Auto Mignon in-car record player, designed to play the 7-inch 45rpm singles that the Beatles were selling in their millions at the time.
Paul McCartney must have cherished that DB5, because he kept it for six years (it was later bought by presenter and producer Chris Evans, who added the ’64 MAC’ registration plate). In 1966, McCartney added another Aston Martin to his fleet, the newly launched DB6. Outwardly similar to the DB5, the DB6 featured a longer wheelbase and raised roofline for more space inside, while the rear featured an aerodynamic Kamm tail for extra stability at speed.
The DB6 was finished in Goodwood green, and instead of the Auto-Mignon record player, McCartney had specified a fitted reel-to-reel tape recorder. Legend has it that he used it to compose a song, ‘Hey Jules’, while driving to comfort John Lennon’s wife Cynthia and five-year-old son Julian after Lennon had left them for Yoko Ono.
Cynthia recalled McCartney’s visit: “I was touched by his obvious concern for our welfare. I will never forget Paul’s gesture of care and concern in coming to see us.” Retitled ‘Hey Jude’, the song had a nine-week run at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and tied the record for the longest run at the top of the US charts.
Sir Paul McCartney has owned other special vehicles down the years, from a Land Rover christened ‘Hell on Wheels’ to Italian exotica, but none since the DB6 have been the birthplace of a number one hit.
After the Beatles, he formed the band Wings with his late wife, Linda, and carried on writing and performing a stream of hits, including the Bond movie title track, ‘Live and Let Die’. A 2026 documentary, Man on the Run, portrays McCartney’s post-Beatles era. It’s a thoughtful and engaging tribute to an enduring musical talent whose 18th solo album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, topped the U.K. Albums Chart this summer, becoming his 24th No. 1 album.
© Paul McCartney under exclusive licence to Linda McCartney Archive LLP. Photographer: Linda McCartney
