James Bond, 007….he’s had many cars over the years.
Mostly sourced from Q Branch of MI6 and equipped with the latest gadgets, from ejector seats to remote control via a mobile, James has been lucky enough to have the keys handed to him on a plate, and then, in most cases, smashed or blown them up…which is a shame. Young Car Driver looks at our favourites models and gives a little insight into each one. Read our James Bond Top 10 Cars review!
Land Rover Defender 110 Current Used Price: £50,000
Love it or loath it, the all new Land Rover Defender was supposed to arrive on our screens in style in No Time To Die early 2020. COVID put pay to that with the release date now in 2021 – Land Rover launched the successor to the original Defender without the hype of James Bond mania. From the film trailers, it looks like the Defender’s are proving they can fly as well as their usual climb every mountain routine.
Aston Martin DB5 Current Used Price: £795,000
Probably the most famous of all James Bond’s cars and featured in the most James Bond films. The Aston Martin DB5 first featured in Goldfinger and was blown up in the latest film Skyfall (long live the DB5). Its many gadgets featured the ejector seat, revolving number plates, bullet shield behind the rear window and guns behind the front indicators. The original Goldfinger DB5 was sold in October 2012 for £2.9m to car collector Harry Yeaggy.
Aston Martin DBS V12 Current Used Price: £85,000
Remember the car chase in Siena, Italy? It was the opening scene from Quantum of Solace and ended up minus its drivers door and overall, heavily damaged. The DBS also featured in the previous film Casio Royale. No special gadgets were show in the film other than secret compartments for his Walther PPK and emergency medical kit which had a direct link throughout to MI6.
BMW Z8 Current Used Price: £200,000
Maybe only a cameo role – James Bond drove it about 50 yards only a harbour pier before a helicopter turned up and cut it in half with an industrial saw. It did manage to fire a solitary missile via the control pad on the steering wheel and blow up another helicopter. Shame, that was a nice car! The World Is Not Enough however wasn’t as good!
MG BGT V8 Current Used Price: £20,000
OK, not strictly one of James Bond’s cars, but the brown MG BGT was driven by Mary Goodnight in The Man With The Golden Gun. She was the MI6 agent in Hong Kong. A bit bias, but the BGT is a cool car!
Lotus Esprit S1 Current Used Price: £23,950
Hot on the famous car list just behind the DB5 is the Lotus Esprit S1 in The Spy Who Loved Me. It didn’t matter if this car got dirty – cause it changed into a submarine! This car had anti-aircraft missiles and despatched a helicopter hovering above the water whilst it was submerged. James famously drove it out of the water onto a beach in Sardinia, wound the window and gave a local a fish. Quite how it got in there is another matter! The car is currently on display in the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu.
Jaguar XKR Convertible Current Used Price: £35,000
Again, not one of James’ cars. This one belonged to the baddie Zao in Die Another Day. It had front grille machine guns, missiles in the door panels as well as mortar rounds coming out of the boot! Plus it purred like a cat! Again it is currently on display in the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu.
BMW 750i L Current Used Price: £18,495
Nice bit of advertising for Avis coming up. Delivered to James by Q in Germany under the guise of an Avis rental. This car had everything, self-inflating tyres, body work that wouldn’t crack with sledge hammers, missile launchers and the amazing remote control feature. Featured in Tomorrow Never Dies, James is cornered on top of a multi story car park. He fires the missiles to destroy the wall and remotely drives the car off the top, only for it to land in the front window of an Avis dealership. Brilliant.
Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante Current Used Price: £250,000 (Super-Vantage 6.3L RSW Zagato Engine)
Featured in The Living Daylights and originally a convertible, this car later had a hardtop as it did battle on a frozen lake. Out popped the outriggers with ski’s, out popped the spikes from the tyres, whoosh went the jet engine. Blimey…the missiles and lasers were outclassed completely. Shame it had to self destruct.
Citroen 2CV Current Used Price: £10,000
What?? A Citroen 2CV? Are you mad? Lets give this car merit where it due. Owned by Melina Havelock in For Your Eyes Only, this car with its 2-cylinder engine (rumour has it it was actually fitted with a 4-cylinder boxer engine) went down a hill with style dodging all sorts along the way. A bit quirky, did its job and drove off into the sunset with James and Melina smiling! Happy days!
Hope you liked our rundown – lets see what pops up in the next James Bond film… Current Used Prices as at October 2020
