Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Peter Sellers, King Charles, Twiggy. It could be the answer to, “Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?” But the link is that they all were (and in the case of His Majesty King Charles, still are) DB6 owners. And as the DB6 celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, its stellar appeal remains as strong as ever.
Launched in 1965, the DB6 had retained the body construction, 4.0-litre Tadek Marek straight-six, grille and faired-in headlamps of the DB5, its celebrated predecessor. But, beneath the skin, there were significant improvements.
The DB6 body featured a longer wheelbase and raised roofline, which made life a little more comfortable for passengers, especially those in the rear seats. Clever changes to the under body construction added rigidity and refinement with negligible weight penalty. Perhaps most striking of the improvements was an aerodynamic Kamm tail, which provided extra stability at speed.
Captured in 1969, taking delivery of her DB6, is Lesley Hornby (better known as Twiggy). Four years earlier, as a 16-year-old schoolgirl, she’d visited hairdresser Leonard of Mayfair, whose striking new crop haircut suited her gamine physique and expressive eyes. His publicity photos were discovered by The Daily Express, who declared her, “The Face of 66.”
Twiggy’s stick-thin figure, short haircut and dark eyelashes came to define an era of fashion centred around Swinging London in the Sixties. She appeared in all the major fashion magazines. As her fame went global, the Twiggy ‘phenomenon’ drew lengthy coverage from The New Yorker, Life and Newsweek. By 1970, she had been photographed by Richard Avedon, Cecil Beaton, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin and Norman Parkinson. Her new DB6, with a list price of £4,412, was a measure of that stardom.
Without the halo effect of the 007 movies, the DB6 never attained the cult status of the DB5. Yet, as many current owners would suggest, it’s a better grand tourer. It’s also a relative bargain compared with the prices commanded by DB5s in today’s classic car market.
And Twiggy? She stepped away from modelling in 1970, declaring, “You can’t be a clothes hanger for your entire life!” She went on to have a long and successful career as an actress and singer, winning two Golden Globes for her performance in Ken Russell’s The Boy Friend and a Tony nomination for My One and Only. In 2019, she was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for services to fashion, to the arts and to charity. Fashion was only ever a small part of her life, but as Twiggy she defined a look and an era like no other. As, in its own way, does the DB6.
