Throughout the James Bond series of films and novels, Q Branch has given Bond a wide variety of vehicles with which to battle his enemies. Among the most noteworthy gadgets, Bond has been equipped with various vehicles that have numerous modifications to include elaborate weapons and anti-pursuit systems, alternative transportation modes, and various other functions.
Bond steals the parked car while its owner uses a pay phone booth and makes haste towards Octopussy's Circus, pursued by two Bavarian BMW police cars.[1]
Shortly after capturing Mr. White, Bond is chased by two Alfas from Lake Garda to Siena, Italy. Despite sustaining heavy damage, Bond's Aston Martin DBS V12 manages to escape while both Alfas are destroyed.
Featured in The Man with the Golden Gun.[4] Bond steals this red 1974 hatchback from an AMC dealership in Bangkok, Thailand. He makes his exit by crashing through the showroom window.[5] unknowing that Sheriff J.W. Pepper was in it looking to test drive it. A Hornet was also used for the famous twisting corkscrew aerial jump that was captured in just one filming sequence.[6][7] A special modified car performed the stunt with a lower stance and larger wheel wells (just as the Astro Spiral Javelin stunt cars that performed that same jump in AMC sponsored thrill shows) compared to the stock Hornet X model in all of its other appearances in the movie. Seven tests were performed in advance before the one jump performed by an uncredited British stuntman "Bumps" Williard for the film with six (or 8, depending on the source) cameras simultaneously rolling.[8] Two frogmen were positioned in the water, as well as an emergency vehicle and a crane were ready, but not needed. An engineer[9] at the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory (CAL) used computer modeling to calculate the stunt and specified 1,460.06 kilograms (3,219 lb) for the weight of car and driver, the exact angles and the 15.86-metre (52 ft) distance between the ramps, as well as the 64.36-kilometre-per-hour (40 mph) launch speed.[10] This vehicle is on display at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, Hampshire.[11] The ramps are still in the possession of the Jay Milligan's stunt company, JM Productions in Hamburg, New York.
The featured car in The Man with the Golden Gun.[12] "Bond is foiled by perhaps the best trick a getaway car has ever performed; the Matador transforms into a plane."[13]Francisco Scaramanga and Nick Nack use this 1974 car to kidnap Mary Goodnight and make their escape. In the film, the Matador coupe is converted into a 'car plane' to fly from Bangkok to an island in the China Sea. With the flight tail unit, the complete machine was 9.15 metres (30 ft) long, 12.80 metres (42 ft) wide, and 3.08 metres (10 ft) high and the "flying AMC Matador" was exhibited at auto shows; however, it could only make a 500-metre (1,640 ft) flight so for the film's aerial sequences it was replaced by a meter-long (39-inch) remote controlled model.[10] Transformation of the AMC Matador into a light airplane occurred when wings and flight tail unit were attached to the actual car (that served as the fuselage and landing gear) and a stuntman drove the 'car plane' to a runway at which point the scene cut to the radio-controlled scale model built by John Stears.[8] See Aircraft section below.
The featured police car in The Man with the Golden Gun.[14] The 1974 Matador used in the chase is a left-hand drive model although Thailand operates with UK style left-hand traffic rules.
A 1976 Renegade-II is seen in Licence to Kill.[18] It is used by Sanchez's henchman Perez, who fires a FIM-92 Stinger missile at a commandeered oil tanker where Bond does a wheelie (in this scene, Bond crushes the Jeep).
Featured in six films (Goldfinger, Thunderball, GoldenEye, a small appearance in Tomorrow Never Dies, Casino Royale and Skyfall – to this list can be added The World Is Not Enough, though shots of the DB5 being driven to MI6's Scottish HQ were cut, leaving its only appearance a confusing satellite image at the end of the film[citation needed]). In the novelisation of GoldenEye it is stated that Bond purchased the DB5 as his own personal vehicle, although the 2006 version of Casino Royale, which reboots Bond film continuity, shows Bond winning it in a game of poker in The Bahamas; as such the Casino Royale version of the vehicle is the only one that is not outfitted with special equipment (Brosnan's DB5 is shown to have special features in GoldenEye). The DB5 can also be used in the video games Agent Under Fire and From Russia with Love. The DB5 also made cameo appearances in the comedy film, The Cannonball Run, driven by Roger Moore's character, and in the TV-film The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E., George Lazenby, playing a Bond-like character referred to as "JB", drives a DB5 (with the licence plate "JB"). It also appears in numerous other films in association to Bond including a small cameo in Catch Me If You Can (2002) where the main character purchases one to be like Bond, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle(2003) in which Bernie Mac's Bosley drives one and The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) in which Geoffrey Rush, playing Peter Sellers, is shown driving one at the time of making Casino Royale, even though in real life that film did not feature the vehicle. A model is currently on display in the International Spy Museum in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
The Goldfinger DB5 with gadgets was sold on October 27, 2010 for $4.6m (£2.9m) to the car collector Harry Yeaggy.[21][22] It features the pop out gun barrels behind the front indicators, the bullet shield behind the rear window and a 3-way revolving front number plate showing "GOLD FINGER" or "JB007" or "BMT216A".
The car was seen in only four scenes, including the pre-credits teaser and as James and Tracy's wedding car. Nothing is known about what kind of gadgets were installed, except that it had a hiding place for a sniper rifle in the glovebox. Obviously — given what happens at the end of that movie — it was not fitted with bulletproof glass. The DBS is glimpsed in the subsequent film, Diamonds Are Forever, parked up in Q Branch back in London when Bond calls Q from Amsterdam. The car was actually cropped out of the frame on the "pan-and-scan version" of the film.
A convertible, it is later "winterised" with a hardtop. It comes with all the usual refinements, including extending side outriggers, spike-producing tires, missiles, lasers (an update of the DB5's tyre-slashers), signal-intercepting smart radio, head-up display and rocket propulsion. It could also self-destruct when primed.
The car is equipped with all the usual refinements, including front-firing rockets, hood-mounted target-seeking guns, spike-producing tires, again and a passenger ejector seat in homage to the original Aston Martin DB5, but used here in a clever bit of improvisation by 007 to right the car when it's been flipped onto its roof. The Aston was also equipped with "adaptive camouflage" – a cloaking device that allowed it to become effectively invisible at the push of a button. This vehicle was also featured in the video games Nightfire (2002) and Everything or Nothing (2004).
Featured in the second Casino Royale.[25] No special gadget was visible on the DBS other than the secret compartments which housed Bond's Walther P99, and an emergency med kit which includes components of an emergency medical link to MI6 HQ, antidotes to various poisons and a small defibrillator. The DB5 is owned by a gambling villain in the Bahamas, which Bond acquires in a poker game. It has no special modifications.
Two gadgets are shown on this vehicle, the ejector seat (although not demonstrated) and two front firing machine guns. This is the first time the machine guns have been used in action since 1964s Goldfinger. This car is destroyed in the climactic battle scene. An Aston Martin DB5 appeared in 007 Blood Stone and shared a similar fate to the DB5 in Skyfall.
Bamford & Martin 1.5 litre Side Valve
The Bamford & Martin 1.5 litre Side Valve Short Chassis Tourer was James Bond's first car. He inherited it around Easter 1933 in the first Young Bond novel SilverFin from his uncle Max at the age of thirteen. Bond regularly drove the car, although he was underage, and stored it in a nearby garage while he attended Eton. The car was destroyed in the third Young Bond novel, Double or Die, in December 1933 leading Bond to replace it by purchasing the Bentley Mark IV shortly thereafter in the same novel.
Aston Martin DB Mark III
Bond drives an Aston Martin DB Mark III, which is referred to as a "DB III" in the novel Goldfinger. The "DB3" was a car designed specifically for racing and is unlikely that Bond would drive one. The DB Mark III is often called the DB III and is more comparable to its description in Fleming's novel. This car was the only gadget-laden vehicle to be mentioned in the original Bond novels, though Fleming generally avoided gadgetry in his books. It included switches to alter the type of color of the front and rear lights, reinforced steel bumpers, a Colt .45 pistol in a trick compartment under the driver's seat, and a homing device similar to the DB5 in the film.
Driven by the villain in a car chase through Istanbul that precedes the film's opening titles. The car ends up flipped over and the villain continues his escape on a Honda motorbike.
There has never been a Bentley model known as the "Mark IV": neither from the "old" W.O. Bentley firm, nor from Rolls-Royce after the takeover of Bentley Motors in 1931. The "Mark IV" appellation seems to have been created by Ian Fleming, and erroneously perpetuated since. In contradistinction to the films, James Bond's official car in the Ian Fleming novels was a grey 1933 Bentleyconvertible. The car featured a 4.5 L engine with the Amherst Villierssupercharger. In the novels, no gadgets were installed; this was Bond's personal vehicle that is mentioned in Casino Royale as being a hobby that Bond enjoys working on. Its only armament, in the novels, is a .45 Colt Army Special revolver Bond keeps in the glove compartment. The novel version of the Bentley Mark IV was destroyed during a chase sequence in Moonraker. The Bentley is also the very first Bond vehicle seen in the film series, although it was shown very briefly during Bond's first scene in From Russia with Love and mentioned only in passing in Goldfinger. In From Russia with Love, the only gadget known to be included was a car phone, which in 1963 was very uncommon. The film version of Goldfinger strongly implies that the Bentley was issued to Bond by Q-Branch, since he asks Q about the vehicle, only to be told that it had "had its day". He is given the Aston Martin instead.
In Casino Royale, Fleming writes that Bond bought the car "almost new" in 1933 and had it stored during the war, which is mentioned in the Young Bond novel Double or Die. In Live and Let Die Fleming states the automobile's year as 1933, however in Moonraker Fleming states it's from 1930. This earlier date is the correct one, as the Bentley 4½ Litre ceased production in 1930.
Bentley Mark VI
Made in 1953, Bond purchases his second Bentley towards the end of the novel, Moonraker. Like his previous Bentley, the Mark VI is grey with dark blue leather upholstery. After Moonraker this model is never mentioned again.
Bentley Mark II Continental
A Bentley Mark II Continental was featured in the novel Thunderball and is Bond's final Bentley. Bond, having purchased the car in a wrecked state, upgrades the engine from a 4.5 L engine to a 4.9 L and has a custom drophead body from Mulliners. The Mark II was also grey; however, the interior was black leather. The Mark II Continental is last seen in the novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service where Bond upgrades the vehicles once again with an Arnott supercharger controlled by a magnetic clutch, causing Rolls-Royce, worried about potential damage to the engine, to disown the car. He uses the car in a race with the Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo in her Lancia Flaminia Spyder towards the beginning of the book. Bond dubs the car "the locomotive".
Two of these cars are seen in a short chase scene when Bond commandeers an Alfa Romeo GTV6 and makes haste towards Octopussy's circus. These two cars are in pursuit.
Supposedly equipped with 'Stinger' missiles and other armaments, which are never seen or used except for a deployable parachute and auto-HUD. Car is left-hand drive. Total screen time less than two minutes.
Loaned to Bond by Q at an Avis rental station in Germany, this car is equipped with missile launchers, caltrops, self-inflating tires and a near-impenetrable body. The BMW can be remotely controlled via a special Ericsson cell phone. During a chase inside a carpark, Bond exits the car and remotely drives it to the rooftop, sending it flying off the carpark before crash-landing into an Avis station across the street.
This tan MGB is owned by Hong Kong's MI6 agent Mary Goodnight. She and Bond follow Andrea Anders in her dark green Rolls-Royce; they end up at the Peninsula Hotel where Bond discovers that they have a fleet of dark green Rolls-Royces.
Used by Jaws posing as a telephone engineer. He subsequently tears it apart trying to thwart Bond and Anya's escape. The van's engine eventually overheats and seizes in the middle of the desert
Used to transport Raoul Silva whilst disguised as a police officer, to proceed to the inquiry. It is then driven by Raoul Silva as an escape vehicle after the attack on the inquiry.
Mobster shot in the backseat by Oddjob and crushed in a junkyard - Later in the film a pair (a sedan and a convertible) bring Bond to the airport on behalf of the U.S. Government.
As a punishment for failing to dispose of Bond, Lippe is killed in his Fairlane, which is blown up by villainess Fiona Volpe using rocket launchers mounted on her BSA motorbike.
Red on Red 1969 Convertible, Driven by Tracy onto a Portuguese beach where she attempts suicide, later in a winter stock-car race on an ice-covered track to help Bond escape from Blofeld's henchmen and Irma Bund.
The highlight of the Las Vegas car chase is the Mustang balancing on two side wheels to drive through a narrow alley (and mysteriously comes out of the alley on the other two wheels!).
The windscreen is sprayed with paint by Bond's Lotus Esprit, the driver loses control and the car careers off a mountainside and crashes through a barn roof. Jaws (as ever) walks away from the crash unscathed.
Ford Fairlane briefly driven by Bond during his visit to Cuba in Die Another Day. A homage to Thunderball where villain Count Lippe drives a 1957 Ford Fairlane Skyliner.
San Monique Police, Kananga's henchmen in New Orleans
Two of these police cars are seen chasing Bond's stolen AEC Regent RT-type-double-decker bus with three motorcycles across San Monique. Also seen chasing Bond's stolen Cessna 172 Skyhawk around an airfield in New Orleans.
Driven by Necros, this ambulance is only featured for a short time. During the short scene, Necros drives the ambulance from the airport terminal in Tangier across the tarmac to Koskov's plane, with the drugged Bond in the back.
Delivered to Bond by Q in Sardinia, this Lotus is capable of transforming into a submarine. In this mode, it is equipped with anti-aircraft missiles. This car is on display in the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu.[29]
Two Esprits are featured in this film. The first, a white model driven by Bond in Spain, is destroyed when a thug trips its self-destruct system by breaking the driver's side window. The second one is a bronze model driven by Bond at a ski resort in Northern Italy. Contrary to popular belief, these two were not repainted Essex-spec Turbo Esprits but specially commissioned cars.
After the raid on Kristatos' base in Albania, Locque attempts to escape Bond in the car by driving to the top of a cliff, but is shot by Bond, who loses control with the car hanging perilously off the edge. Bond kicks the car off the cliff to finish off Locque.
After the tires get torn off by a stinger device, Bond drives the car on the railway tracks in pursuit of the circus train. It was subsequently hit by a train coming down the opposite line and thrown into a river. It is later seen being recovered via crane and covered in seaweed.
Tibbet and Bond are knocked unconscious in the car, which is pushed into a lake by May Day and Zorin for the pair to drown. (The car in the film was owned by producer Cubby Broccoli)
Bond's vehicle of choice in many of the John Gardner Bond novels, beginning with Licence Renewed. Dubbed, "Silver Beast",[32] it is Bond's private vehicle modified by a real-life company "Communication Control Systems" (CCS) (now called Security Intelligence Technology Group[33]). He also rents a SAAB 9000 CD in Nobody Lives for Ever (1986) and No Deals, Mr. Bond (1987).
A car belonging to Havelock. The car used in the movie was allegedly fitted with a Citroën GS 4-cylinder boxer engine (in place of the standard 2-cylinder boxer), to make it able to outrun the two Peugeot 504s in pursuit.[citation needed]
This is the car that takes Bond from Miami Airport
Auto rickshaw—Featured in Octopussy. Two of these basic auto rickshaws are used in a chase sequence through the streets of Udaipur — Bond and fellow MI6 agent Vijay being in one, with Gobinda and his henchmen in the pursuing vehicle. It is insinuated that the auto rickshaw driven by Vijay has been modified by MI6 as the tone of the engine becomes more like a motorcycle and Vijay performs a wheelie, exclaiming, "This is a company car!"
Cord Model 810 from 1939—In Ian Fleming's Live and Let Die, Bond takes the car from Felix Leiter after he is injured and drives it down to the docks to get into the wild shootout with the Robber.
Dodge Diplomat—Featured in A View To A Kill as a San Francisco Police Department patrol car. A few late 1970s Dodge Monacos were seen, along with a Plymouth Volaré seen outside San Francisco City Hall. Late 1980s Diplomats were also featured in Licence to Kill as the squad cars in Key West, Florida (some may have been identical Plymouth Gran Furys).
Dodge Polara—a 1964 model year seen in You Only Live Twice as a getaway vehicle after Henderson is stabbed by a hitman.
Dodge Ram 150 pickup truck from the late-1980s—Seen in Licence To Kill during the tanker pursuit scene.
Ferrari F355 GTS—Featured in GoldenEye. Xenia Onatopp playfully races James Bond in his Aston Martin DB5 by chance on the mountain roads behind Monte Carlo in this vehicle, which is later revealed to have false French registration plates, hinting that it may be stolen. Another 355 appears twice in Die Another Day during the opening sequence, and later on the AN-124 airplane. It is then pushed out of the plane along with the Lamborghini Diablo.
Ferrari 360 Modena—appears briefly in the opening sequence of Die Another Day.
Ford Five Hundred: Two can be briefly seen in the parking lot of the resort in Nassau in Casino Royale after Bond backs the Range Rover into another car
Honda ATV vehicle: Featured in Diamonds Are Forever. Bond commandeers an all-terrain vehicle after he ditches the moon buggy.
Lamborghini Diablo is seen in the opening sequence of Die Another Day (film) and is later being loaded onto the AN-124 Airplane. The Lamborghini is then pushed out of the plane and seen sticking nose first in the mud by Bond and Jinx as they fly over.[34]
Mini Moke—Featured briefly in Live and Let Die and later in The Spy Who Loved Me. In Live and Let Die, Bond and Rosie use this vehicle to drive to the harbor to meet Quarrel Jr. In Spy, the crew of the Liparus supertanker uses a Mini Moke in their defense against a break out by the submarine crews. Also seen in Moonraker where Bond and Dr. Goodhead are hiding in a trailer (prior to boarding Moonraker 6 as pilots) after escaping from an air vent during Moonraker 5's launch.
Peugeot 504—Two Peugeot 504s featured in For Your Eyes Only, used by Hector Gonzales' henchmen to chase Bond and Melina driving with Citroën 2CV.
Peugeot 403—In short story From a View to a Kill Bond uses Marie Ann Russell's car while on assignment in France.
Porsche 911 Turbo (993)—seen briefly in the opening sequence of Die Another Day. It is destroyed in an explosion.
Renault 11 Taxi—Featured in A View to a Kill, Bond commandeers this car and takes it on a pursuit through Paris. During the pursuit the car has its roof chopped off and then later the entire back half of the car is ripped off.
Renault Fuego—used in A View to a Kill to transport of the Bond Girl.
Studillac—A custom black Studebaker convertible with a Cadillac engine, plus special transmission, brakes and rear axle, owned by Felix Leiter in the novel Diamonds Are Forever. The combination of the aerodynamicRaymond Loewy designed body with the powerful Cadillac engine made it into a remarkable sports car. Studillacs were not fictional, but actually built by a Long Island, NY company called Bill Frick Motors from 1953 Studebaker Starlight bodies.
Sunbeam Alpine Series II Sports—Featured in Dr. No. Bond drives to Miss Taro's home in the Blue Mountains; he is pursued by Dr. No's thugs driving a LaSalle hearse. It is a Lake Blue example that was owned by a local resident in Jamaica where the scenes were filmed. In the novel Dr. No, Bond drives the car that formerly belonged to Commander Strangways, the murdered agent in Kingston. It is also driven by Quarrel. In The Man with the Golden Gun novel Mary Goodnight uses the car and she hands it to Bond so he can use it while he is on assignment.
Sunbeam-Talbot 90 Coupe—Featured in Live And Let Die novel. Commander Strangways gives this car to Bond.
Toyota 2000GT convertible—Featured in You Only Live Twice. Owned by Aki. Toyota built two convertibles especially for the film. One is displayed at Toyota's headquarters today while the location of the other is currently not known.[citation needed]
Toyota Celica GT—Briefly seen in The Man with the Golden Gun, Scaramanga and Nicknack get out and into his boat.
Toyota Crown—Osato's hitmen were seen in a Crown; this was the car that was picked up using an electromagnet on a CH-47 helicopter, later dumped into Tokyo Bay.
Little Nellie was flown, in the film, by its builder, Wing Commander Ken Wallis. Following the movie Ken Wallis toured airshows with G-ARZB. Trailered behind his Rolls Royce he put on an entertaining stunt show, usually involving the pursuit and shooting up of a scrap car containing his assistants, posing as villains. 'Little Nellie' was totally destroyed, at just such an airshow, in Newton Ardes on June 7, 1986. Ken Wallis walked away unhurt.
Bond and Tiffany Case (unknowingly being pursued by Wint and Kidd) fly from Amsterdam to Los Angeles with Peter Franks' corpse in the cargo hold being used to smuggle the diamonds.
The Chaplain said sent by Universal Exports, but owned by Blofeld, as he states when remotely takes over the helicopter, "do not worry about the pilot he was one of my less useful people"
Bede BD5J kitbuilt mini-jet. Originally owned and flown by the Budweiser beer company, later crashed following an engine fire. The pilot, Bob Bishop, bailed out and survived unhurt. The folding wing model seen exiting the horse-box was a mock-up.
Stolen by Pam Bouvier, this plane was used by her to fly to Sanchez's Olympiatec Meditation Institute and later to fly Bond to one of the tankers during the climactic truck chase.
Actually, two separate Dakotas were used in the filming. This short sequence demanded the use of two locations, so far apart that it was considered expedient to use two aircraft. Both were stripped back to bare aluminium and made to look identical, for continuity purposes.
Featured in Thunderball. A rocket pack based on the Bell Jet belt. Bell helicopters had previously been seen in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, and Moonraker.
Skyfleet S570
A "prototype" plane featured in Casino Royale, actually a Boeing 747-200 originally used by British Airways as "G-BDXJ". It was refitted with two mockup engines on each inner pylon and external fuel tanks on the outer pylons, somewhat anachronistically resembling a B-52 Stratofortress. This aircraft survives, permanently grounded and repainted plain white, at Dunsfold Aerodrome, England, where all the airfield action was filmed.[40]
^McGeer, Bonnie (2006-11-17). "Aston Martin DBS set for silver screen". Forbes Autos. Retrieved 2010-09-17. Original page was titled: "Honorable Mentions - AMC Hornet", dated 2006-11-09 at www.forbesautos.com/advice/toptens/bond-cars/02-honorable-mentions/05-amc-hornet.html and was retrieved on 2008-09-13
^"1974 AMC Hornet". National Motor Museum Trust - Museum in Beaulieu, UK. Retrieved 2012-12-05.
^Barbara Broccoli, Pierce Brosnan, Martin Campbell, Chris Corbould, Famke Janssen, Peter Lamont, Izabella Scorupco, Michael G. Wilson (1994). GoldenEye: Building a Better Bond (Theatrical Teaser). MGM Home Entertainment. {{cite AV media}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
^Boeing 747 in Casino Royale,The original idea was to have used the forthcoming Airbus A380 however production delays held back its appearance in the film. [1] (2007).
^Reviewed by Nick Hilditch Updated 27 July 2001 (2001-07-27). "Films - review - Moonraker". BBC. Retrieved 2010-09-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
