Yesterday I was driving through Kirkstall, Leeds City Centre with the wife, suddenly, from nowhere this guy zooms past, revving his engine like he was in a sequel of Fast and Furious. I was going to yell, until I saw his car. It was an Aston Martin DBS, quite like the one Daniel Craig drove in Casino Royale. No one should drive that car slowly. Well, as long as they’ve got their auto insurance sorted.
It made me want to see all my Bond movies again (I have a whole Blu-ray collection), but my wife wasn’t having it. Especially, since I saw it just 2 weeks ago. So, I’ve settled for a blog post of my favourite Bond cars instead.
1. Aston Martin DBS
Of course, this tops the list for me. Although the DBS had been used in George Lazenby’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, it made a bold come back in Craig’s Casino Royale. The luxury automaker used the opportunity to launch their near 200 mph supercar. The film will be remembered for the daring car flip- which producers achieved by installing an air-powered canon behind the driver’s seat.
2. Aston Martin DB5
Arguably the most famous of all Bond cars, Sean Connery drove this coupe beauty in 1964’s Goldfinger, and in Thunderball the following year. The car has made notable appearances in other Bond movies including GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies. In Casino Royale, Craig wins the car back from Alex Dimitros in a poker game
During the course of the movie shoot in 1964, the DB5 went through a series of upgrades, transformed by special effects person John Stears. The car has received many accolades ever since.
3. Lotus Espirit S1
Who can forget this Lotus Espirit from The Spy Who Loved Me (one of my favourite Bond movies by the way). The submersible supercar from has its own Bond story. There’s a myth that goes, when the Lotus Marketing team heard Cubby Broccoli was making a new Bond movie, they parked the car outside his office, just so he could see Giugario’s radically-designed mid-engine sports car. And it worked! The underwater transformation scene still gets me to this day.
4. Rolls Royce Silver Cloud II
The Rolls used in 1985 A View to Kill was actually Cubby’s own personal car. Director John Glen admitted it took some persuasion to convince Cubby to loan him the car. Patrick Macnee, who played Sir Godfrey Tibbet later confessed to how nervous he was, negotiating the big car through the narrow equestrian gates in the French chateau scene.
These are my top Bond cars, and the list is actually longer. What are your favourites?
