There is intense speculation on who will be the next Bond. Yet for all the chatter about whether it will be Theo, Aaron or Callum, many of us are equally concerned about another critical casting decision. Just as a particular actor brings something special to the role of Bond, the four-wheeled vehicle Britain’s most famous spy gets into contributes significantly to the character’s identity.
Ian Fleming had Bond driving a 1930 4½ Litre “Blower” Bentley in the books, but it was a quirk of fate that made Bond synonymous with another British marque. The story goes that the film-makers originally wanted Bond in a contemporary Jaguar E-Type. Yet Jaguar’s founder, Sir William Lyons, reportedly refused to provide the cars free of charge, as they were selling so well. That led to Sean Connery being behind the wheel of the now iconic Aston Martin DB5 in the third Bond film, Goldfinger, in 1964. This is undoubtedly the Bond car, but certainly not the only one.
Bond’s signature car, the silver birch 1964 Aston Martin DB5, debuted in Goldfinger (1964)
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The Aston Martin DB5’s gadgets in Goldfinger (1964)
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Assouline has just released one of its typically lavish books to celebrate Bond and his enduring connection to cars, with the odd motorbike, tank, gyrocopter and amphibious Venice gondola thrown in for good measure. While we ponder on what the next Bond, whoever that Bond may be, will drive, we now have a sumptuous book to remind us of all those Bond cars that have gone before. James Bond Cars is written through the lens of an insider. The author, Chris Corbould, has been involved in 15 Bond films as special effects supervisor and second-unit director. His book celebrates cars as characters in their own right. And it includes not just the vehicles but the extraordinary stunts done with them, which are part of the recipe for a successful Bond film.
The book recalls all those memorable scenes in which the car was as much of a star as the man himself. Who can forget the white Lotus Espirit S1 that Roger Moore drove in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me? The chase sequence is covered extensively in the book, the stunt performer Martin Grace explaining that he was instructed “not to scratch the car as it has to go back to Lotus in the condition it was delivered in”.
The Lotus Espirit S1 that Roger Moore drove in 1977’s The Spy Who Love Me
In the film we see Moore and Barbara Bach in the sleek but seemingly stock white sports car being pursued by the smiling would-be assassin Naomi (Caroline Munro) in a Bell Helicopter. The car drives off a pier and into the sea, turning into a submarine, nicknamed “Wet Nellie”, before promptly blowing the helicopter and Naomi out of the sky with a surface-to-air missile — making her the first female Bond kills in a film.
Less memorable is the Ford Mondeo hire car that Daniel Craig drives to the Ocean Club in Nassau in Casino Royale. He makes up for it later in the film when he spectacularly completes seven barrel rolls in an Aston Martin DBS to avoid running over Vesper Lynd, played by Eva Green. These stunts not only delighted viewers but also set the benchmark for car action in films and, in that case, a world record — it was groundbreaking and often brave work.
The jet boat fitted with a 300hp V8petrol engine featured in The World Is Not Enough (1999)
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An everyday Indian tuk-tuk transformed into a three-wheeled rocket for Bond in Octopussy (1983)
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Aston Martins, of course, feature heavily. The book reminds us that Aston Martins have been in every Bond film since 1995. The apotheosis of the collaboration probably occurred in Spectre – celebrated fifty years of the partnership between the carmaker and movie franchise — which saw director Sam Mendes working closely with Aston Martin’s Chief Creative Officer, Marek Reichman, to create an actual model which was made and named but never went on sale and exists only for the film. The DB10 in Spectre was an official Aston Martin model, but DB9 owners would need to wait for the DB11 to upgrade their cars, as it was never made available to the public. Yet, the spy has occasionally been unfaithful to the British brand. In Live and Let Die alone, Moore drives everything from a double-decker bus to a Mini Moke.
Of course, the automotive history of Bond cars is not solely about the cars Bond himself drives. Aki, the Japanese secret service agent who helps Bond in You Only Live Twice, drove an extremely rare Toyota 2000GT that has gone down in Bond folklore. The car, now considered Japan’s first supercar, was never sold as a convertible, but due to Sean Connery’s height Toyota customised two coupés by cutting the tops off, adding to the cult exclusivity of the Bond 2000GTs. In the book we also learn that the actress who played Aki, Akiko Wakabayashi, couldn’t drive, and two Toyota test drivers
were commandeered to operate the pedals and gears for her.
Goldfinger’s men prepare the 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III Sedanca de Ville
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No book on Bond cars would be complete without a healthy dose of baddies’ cars, such as the most famous of them all, Auric Goldfinger’s 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III Sedanca de Ville. Less ornate was Francisco Scaramanga’s AMC Matador Coupe featured in the 1974 film, The Man with the Golden Gun. He was chased by Roger Moore’s Bond in an AMC Hornet, freshly stolen from a car showroom, with the Louisiana parish sheriff JW Pepper riding shotgun. The Hornet’s famous corkscrew jump across the canal was “one of the most thrilling moments of my career”, according to the stunt driver Loren “Bumps” Willert. The “Astro Spiral” jump, as it is known, spanned the gap of a broken Thai bridge and was “the first movie stunt ever calculated with computer modelling”, with a precise 48mph approach needed to earn “Bumps” a place in the Guinness Book of Records. He nailed the stunt in one take. Meanwhile, Scaramanga didn’t need to jump his vehicle as his AMC turned into a flying car.
The Hornet X hatchback in a midair “Astro Spiral” In The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
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This book is a joyous reminder of Bond’s rich automotive history. The smart money will be on Bond back behind the wheel of a car from the British sports car manufacturer. Who knows, he may even find himself in some semi-implausible scenario behind the wheel of an Aston Martin Formula 1 car or maybe a Valkyrie Le Mans racer. But for now we can enjoy a comprehensive look back at Bond and his four-wheeled companions.
James Bond Cars, £100, assouline.com