However James Bond isn't the only one who has been using modified vehicles. Since Dr. No's basic Dragon Tank to Zao's gadget-laden Jaguar XKR, the villains have proven they can compete with the best of Q's inventions. It can be guaranteed that whether Bond is driven, drives, or encounters these vehicles, the audience will be continually amazed, wowed and inspired by future vehicles to come.
Dr No
Whilst in Jamaica, James Bond travels around in style in this Sunbeam Alpine. This blue convertible Sunbeam provides Bond a leisurely drive but also provides speed when he needs it. Whilst driving to Miss Taro's mountain apartment, Bond is chased by 'The Three Blind Mice'.
Easily out maneuvering them with the speedy Sunbeam, Bond drives under a construction crane blocking the road sending 'The Three Blind Mice' careering off the road to their explosive death.
As a way to stop locals from entering his island, Dr. No uses his 'Dragon' to keep superstitious locals at bay. As James Bond, Honey Ryder and Quarrel explore Crab Key they run into Dr. No's fire breathing Dragon.
Armed with an armor plated body shell with searchlights and flamethrower cannon, Bond and Quarrel try to disable the tank. Unfortunately, Quarrel is killed when he gets to close to the tank flame cannon. Bond and Honey are then escorted to Dr. No's main complex.
From Russia With Love
For the first and last time in an official James Bond film we see Bond's Bentley Mark IV convertible. While Bond's Bentley did not feature any gadgets that would become synonymous with his future cars, the Bentley did feature an in-car telephone, a gadget in itself for 1963.
Bond doesn't actually drive the vehicle; it is only seen briefly in one scene where Bond and Sylvia are on a picnic - Bond style.
Goldfinger
This is the classic James Bond car. Bond's Aston Martin DB5 marks the first of many times Q-Branch modifies high-performance cars to add deadly gadgetry. Bond becomes impatient whilst receiving his briefing from Q regarding all the gadgetry the car has to offer.
Bond starts to the use the Aston Martin DB5's gadgetry when he tracks Auric Goldfinger to his Austrian factory. After planting the Large Homing Device in the back of Goldfinger's 1937 Rolls Royce III, he follows his target through Switzerland by following the display hidden behind a vent in the dashboard. Bond disables Tilly Masterson's car by using the Aston Martins tyre slasher hidden in the nearside rear wheel hub.
Bond uses the majority of the Aston Martins gadgetry during the car chase from Goldfinger's factory. Armed with front and rear bulletproof windows, Bond and Tilly avoid getting shot by Goldfinger's pursuing henchmen. Bond proceeds to use his 'armchair' control panel to activate an oil slick from the rear light cluster. After still being pursued by Goldfinger's henchmen Bond uses a smoke screen emitted from the rear to confuse the pursuers. When he runs out of road his presses a button for the rear bulletproof shield to lift into place. Bond also uses the DB5's hidden .30 calibre machine guns hidden behind the indicator lights. Most famously, Bond uses the Aston Martins ejector seat by pressing a red button hidden underneath the gear stick lever - this engages and fires the passenger-side ejector seat!
Although not used by Bond, the Aston Martin featured revolving number plates valid for England, France and Switzerland, hydraulic overriders, front and back and a hidden weapons tray underneath the driver. James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 is also fitted out with rear water cannons in Thunderball. Bond uses these effectively to severely douse pursuers emerging from Jacques Boitier's mansion in the pre-credit sequence of Thunderball.
Goldfinger owns this excellently preserved black and yellow 1937 Rolls Royce III, where Oddjob proceeds to chauffeur him around. Weighing in at over 7,000 pounds with twelve cylinders and capable off over 100mph, this immaculate vehicle had a hidden secret.
A number of times a year Goldfinger would take his car from his metallurgical works in Kent, England, to his factory in Austria. However this trip enables him to smuggle large amounts of gold recast as parts of the car to be transported around Europe.
You Only Live Twice
Unusually James Bond doesn't drive any cars in You Only Live Twice, the only film to date in which he doesn't. Aki drives Bond to meet Mr Henderson after meeting him at the wrestling contest. After breaking into the safe of Osato Chemicals, Bond is rescued by Aki providing a getaway in her Toyota 2000 GT.
Later in the film, Aki once again saves Bonds life and as they speed away, they are followed by some of Mr Osato's henchmen. Aki then radios Tiger Tanaka to ask for assistance from Tigers Helicopter using the onboard video camera, TV and transmitter, the first of its kind in the world.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Bond gets a new Aston Martin DBS in On Her Majesty's Service. Bond is seen driving his Aston Martin in the pre-title sequence where he rescues Teresa Di Vicenzo from committing suicide.
The Aston Martin DBS does not feature any gadgetry like its predecessor, the Aston Martin DB5, apart from a telescopic rifle contained within the glove compartment. Tragically, it is in the Aston Martin DBS without bulletproof windows, that Tracey is killed in when Blofeld and Irma Bunt drive by showering Bonds car with bullets
Teresa Di Vicenzo is seen driving her Ford Cougar in a number of scenes through On Her Majesty's Secret Service, including the main car chase scene, although it did not feature any gadgets.
After Bond escapes from Piz Gloria and makes his way down to the local town, he encounters Tracey who has come looking for him. Tracey takes Bond to her car, but Irma Bunt and her henchmen promptly follow them. After driving through treacherous icy mountain roads, Tracey veers off into the middle of a stock car race. After a large amount of damage to Tracey's, the other contestants and the villains car, Tracey leaves the race behind loosing the pursuing henchmen.
Diamonds Are Forever
James Bond drives Tiffany Cases Ford Mustang Mach 1 after leaving Willard Whyte's tectronics facility in the desert. Bond drives into Las Vegas where the car is spotted and pursued by the local police.
An exciting chase pursues with Bond performing a number of manoeuvres fooling the authorities and causing a large amount of damage. The climax to the chase comes when Bond drives up a ramp leaning the car to one side; this allows him to drive through a very narrow alleyway emerging the other side leaving the authorities behind.
After gaining entry and learning of Blofelds plans for the Diamond Laser Satellite, Bond is discovered. He makes his escape from the facility by stealing a moon buggy vehicle that is being used in a space film being made.
Not knowing anything about how it works, Bond presses a few buttons and off it goes!
Bond is followed in his Moon Buggy in these fast dirt bikes. It's not long before the bikes catch up with the sluggish Moon Buggy, but with some good driving Bond manages to shake off his pursuers for a while.
Undetected, Bond leaves the Moon Buggy running off in one direction whilst he hijacks a dirt buggy for himself. He then drives to the perimeter entrance of Willard Whyte Tectronics where he ditches the dirt bike and gets into Tiffany Cases Ford Mustang Mach 1 and speeds away.
The Man With The Golden Gun
This rather normal vehicle is quite mundane for a Bond car chase, but Bond steals this car from a Bangkok showroom in the chase of Francisco Scaramanga. Bond also kidnaps the cars passenger, Sheriff J.W Pepper, awaiting a test drive.
Bond drives through various streets following Scaramanga who gets the better of Bond when he takes the wrong road. Reluctant to give up, Bond performs a 360-degree jump in the AMC Hornet over a half-sunk bridge, creating the films most impressive stunt.
When Bond and Sheriff J.W Pepper arrive at Francisco Scaramanga's hideout, they discover he has converted his AMC Matador into an aeroplane. Scaramanga's car is converted into a plane at the flick of a switch with some adjustments and amendments.
The regular car instruments inside Scaramanga's car also change to reflect the cars new ability, displaying direction, altitude, knots and other similar aeronautic instruments
The Spy Who Loved Me
Pretending to be a telephone repairman, Jaws enters the Kalba Club where after Max Kalba is called to the telephone, he eliminates him. Bond then Anya, follow Jaws and get into the back of his van to follow him.
The telephone van becomes a getaway vehicle after a fight between Bond, Jaws and Anya at an Egyptian monument. Jaws attempts to stop them leaving by pulling off panels, kicking, denting and punching the van leaving it looking rather worse for wear. Bond and Anya eventually escape Jaws' clutches but the van breaks down in the desert shortly afterwards.
Where Sean Connery has been famously linked to his Aston Martin DB5, so Roger Moore is linked to the Lotus Esprit. This famous car was unique in the Bond series as it could be used both on land and underwater.
Featuring a wide multitude of land and underwater-based gadgetry the Lotus Esprit was an instant hit with audiences, adding a much-needed boost after the relative unpopularity of The Man With The Golden Gun.
After Q delivers the Lotus Esprit to Bond and Major Anya Amasova on Sardinia, Bond decides to take it for a spin. However, he has not got far before Stromberg's Motorbike is following him. Bond manages to closely avoid the motorbikes explosive sidecar before being confronted by a car full of Stromberg's henchmen including Jaws. After getting rid of the pursuers using the Lotus' cement sprayer, Bond is confronted with Naomi in Stromberg's Helicopter firing her machine guns. Avoiding been made Swiss cheese by Naomi, Bond continues driving along and off a pier straight into the sea.
When underwater the Lotus Esprit converts into a submarine; the wheels fold in, fins emerge on either side, propellers extend from the back of the car and a periscope rises from the roof. Bond then fires a surface-to-air missile to lock-onto and destroy Naomi. Bond proceeds to travel to Atlantis to further investigate where Bond fires a front mounted torpedo, underwater smoke screen and limpet mine dispenser to eliminate some of Stromberg's henchmen sent after Bond
For Your Eyes Only
Bond is clearly worried when he sees Melina Havelock's getaway car after escaping from Gonzales. However, after a few bullets narrowly miss him, he changes his mind and joins Melina in her Citren 2 CV.
Melina's car puts up a good fight, but as Bond comments "we're being out horse powered". Melina's humble 2 CV is bashed, dented, pushed off the road, flipped and turned over but after taking to the driving seat Bond manages to thwart the following pursuers.
Since audience reaction was positive to the Lotus Esprit in The Spy Who Loved Me, it returns in For your Eyes Only, twice in a Turbo version. To start with we see Bond driving the Lotus to investigate Gonzales' hideout.
However, when one of his henchmen tries to break into the Lotus, the 'burglar protection' activates and the car explodes! Later in the film Bond remarks to Q that he has put the Lotus back together again, this time in a red model. Sadly the new Lotus is only seen in a couple of scenes, and while Bond tells Luigi Ferrara not to touch any of the cars buttons, none of the gadgets are seen or discussed in the film.
A View To A Kill
After May Day's jump from the Eiffel Tower, Bond commandeers a local Renault Taxi and makes pursuit. In this action packed comical sequence, Bond drives the Renault atop buses, down stairs, under barriers and through the streets of Paris, to the dismay of its owner.
As the chase progresses, the Renault taxi becomes a convertible and Bond continues to drive the car after the rear is chopped off - driving only half a car! Ironically, Bond actually causes more damage in this sequence than Zorin or May Day has up to this point, and learns little about his target.
Sir Godfrey Tibbett drives this Rolls Royce in his guise as a servant to Bonds alias when they travel to Max Zorin's estate in France. This vintage Rolls Royce is later seen when Tibbett drives the vehicle into town to send a message to M, under the pretence that he is going to wash the car.
However as Tibbett drives the car into the car wash, a shadowy figure of May Day appears strangling Tibbett.
Later after Bond manages to escape from the rigged steeplechase with Zorin, he gallops towards the Rolls Royce seen driving in the distance. However, when he enters the car, he sees May Day is driving the vehicle with Sir Godfrey dead in the backseat. After Bond is knocked unconscious, the vehicle is pushed into a lake where it sinks to the bottom. Bond manages to escape the Rolls Royce, breathing air from the vehicles tyres, leading Zorin to the assumption Bond has drown.
The Living Daylights
Like Sean Connery's Aston Martin DB5, and Roger Moore's Lotus Esprit, Timothy Dalton is associated with the Aston Martin V8. As tradition dictates, the Aston Martin V8 is armed with the latest in modern technology and gadgetry.
Bond helps Kara escape Bratislava using the Aston Martin V8. Whilst driving Bond tunes into the police band on his radio, to hear the authorities are looking for a foreign car - the Aston Martin.
In the resulting chase that follows Bond uses the majority of the Aston Martin's hidden weaponry. Hidden inside the port and starboard hubcaps are lasers that Bond uses to cut a police car in half lengthways when it pulls up alongside him. When confronted with a roadblock, Bond uses the Astons onscreen display to synchronise the launching of two stinger missiles removing the obstruction. When one of the Astons tyres gets blown off Bond activates an outrigger system, and engages spikes in the tyres to give it more traction whilst driving on snow and ice. A rocket motor is fired giving the Aston Martin an extra boost enabling it to fly over awaiting men and buildings, and naturally it's armed with bulletproof windows. While nearly clearing the border in the Aston Martin, it gets stuck in a large snow ditch causing Bond to abandon it setting the self-destruct.
Goldeneye
Although only seen at the start of Goldeneye, James Bonds Aston Martin DB5 makes a welcome return. Bond drives the Aston Martin through some of the mountainous roads in Southern France during the sequence with Xenia Onatopp in her sporty red Ferrari Spider 355, and then later to a casino in Monte Carlo.
Bonds Aston Martin appears to only contain a few gadgets in Goldeneye. After the chase with Xenia, Caroline orders Bond to stop the car immediately. Bond complies, and opens a refrigerated compartment containing a bottle of Bollinger complete with a single red rose.
Bond is later seen using his Zoom Camera With Communications uplink, to identity Xenia Onatopp. Once back in his Aston Martin DB5, Bond prints out the photos he took along with descriptions and information about the photos after accessing a hidden panel in the dashboard. Bond also listens to frequency 87.50 to listen to a commentary from M and Moneypenny regarding the information in the photos, where Moneypenny advises Bond to stay "Onatopp of things".
Whilst taking a pleasant drive through the mountainous roads in the South of France, Bond encounters Xenia Onatopp in her sporty red Ferrari Spider 355. With shades of Goldfinger, Bond and Xenia play a game of cat and mouse, with Bonds passenger, Caroline, becoming increasingly worried.
However as Bonds Aston Martin DB5 and Xenia's Ferrari Spider 355 drive side-by-side, a tractor appears out of nowhere sending Xenia's Ferrari in a spin across grass, where as Bond maintains perfect control.
Disappointingly this BMW Z3 Roadster in only seen in two very brief scenes. Firstly Q points out to Bond its various gadgetry, to include a parachute breaking system, stinger missiles, ejector seat and all-points radar.
The BMW is seen much later when Bond is driving in the Caribbean with Natalya Simonova. After meeting Jack Wade, Bond tells him to be careful driving in it, and not go pushing any of the buttons. Sadly, none of the gadgets are actually seen in the film.
Tomorrow Never Dies
Bond new BMW 750il features an extraordinary amount of gadgets. Q presents Bond with his new BMW when he flies into Hamburg Airport. Q unsuccessfully demonstrates the cars new remote control via Bonds Ericsson Mobile Phone, with Bond having much more success.
The majority of the BMW's gadgets are used in the chase sequence through Bond's hotel car park after he has killed Dr. Kaufman. With bullet-proof windows and body, Mr Stamper's men are unable to gain entry to the BMW that contains the GPS Encoder locked within a mini safe - only accessible by Bond's fingerprint. After using sledgehammers, and semi-automatic weapons to gain access, the BMW still holds strong delivering electric shocks to anyone touching the door handles.
After dealing with Dr. Kaufman, Bond activates the BMW's tear gas feature from the sides of the car. Bond is then able to gain entry into the BMW through a window into the back seat where he controls the car around the car park. A number of gadgets emerge from the car; mini-missiles coming out the sunroof, metal spike dispensers in the rear, re-inflatable tyres, grenades and a cutter that emerges from the BMW badge.
The World Is Not Enough
Bond is seen once again driving a BMW in The World Is Not Enough, this time it is the Z8 variant. Although R mentions to Bond that it is fitted with a number of gadgets only a couple are seen in the film.
Whilst at Valentin Zukovsky's caviar factory, Bond activates the BMW remote, automatically depressing the handbrake and driving closer to Bonds position. Once inside, Bond targets and activates a surface-to-air missile destroying one of the King Helicopters. Meanwhile the second of the helicopters is busy cutting the wooden pier behind Bonds BMW in half. The helicopter then proceeds to cut through the BMW Z8 with ease leaving Bond to exclaim, "Q's not going to like this!"
Die Another Day
Bond is given use of this car when he asks Raoul for a 'fast car'. Only seen briefly, Bond uses the Ford Fairlane to drive around Cuba.
He drives to a bar across the way from the island Los Oreganos, where he spots Giacinta 'Jinx' Johnson emerging from the sea in one of the films most famous scenes. Although the car doesn't feature any gadgets, it looks charismatic especially with Bond in the drivers seat.
For the 20th James Bond film James Bond once again drives an Aston Martin. Not since The Living Daylights has the main Bond car been an Aston Martin. In Die Another Day Bond uses an Aston Martin V12 Vanquish.
He is introduced to the Aston during the scene with R in the underground station. Bond is impressed when R demonstrates the cars Adaptive Camouflage - tiny cameras on all sides project the image they see onto a light emitting polymer skin on the opposite side - making the car almost invisible to the naked eye.
In an exiting chase across the frozen wastes of Iceland, Bond and Zao battle it out in perhaps one of the best car chases seen in a Bond film. Armed with an array of other gadgets; missiles behind the front-grille, machine guns, spiked tyres and target-seeking shotguns, like Zao's Jaguar XKR, the Aston Martin V12 is a mammoth machine. Bond uses the customary ejector seat in a way perhaps not thought of by Q. The Aston Martin is flipped over when it is hit by one of the Jaguar's mini-missiles. Just as Zao fires the decisive missile, Bond uses the ejector seat to right the Aston with the missile missing its target.
The chase continues into Gustav Graves' flooding ice palace, where it appears Bond is beaten when he is trapped high above in the palace. Using another feature of the Jaguar, Zao activates a metal ramming device, in a hope to send Bond's Aston Martin flying into the lake below. However, Bond manages to activate the now restored Adaptive Camouflage, engage spikes in the Aston's tyres for more traction and drives up the wall, sending Zao driving straight into the lake below.
For one of the very few times in a Bond film, Zao's Jaguar XKR is on par with James Bonds Aston Martin V12 Vanquish. While Bonds Aston Martin contains a variety of gadgetry, Zao takes the lead in his Jaguar that is fitted with a host of different weaponry.
In an exiting chase across the frozen wastes of Iceland, Bond and Zao battle it out in perhaps one of the best car chases seen in a Bond film.
Zao does battle with Bond using a thermal imaging system allowing him to track the Aston Martin when its using its Adaptive Camouflage; this quickly malfunctions after Zao pumps rounds into the Aston using the Gattling Gun that pops up in the back of the car underneath a Jaguar seal. Armed with mini-missiles hidden under the front grille, rockets hidden in the doors and high explosive mortar bombs launched from the boot, Bond meets his match with the Jaguar XKR. The chase continues into Gustav Graves' flooding ice palace, where it appears Bond is beaten when he is trapped high above in the palace. Using another feature of the Jaguar, Zao activates a metal ramming device, in a hope to send Bond's Aston Martin flying into the lake below. However, Bond manages to activate the now restored Adaptive Camouflage, engage spikes in the Aston's tyres for more traction and drives up the wall, sending Zao driving straight into the lake below.
Giacinta 'Jinx' Johnson makes an impressive entrance at Gustav Graves' ice palace in this Ford Thunderbird. Like the Ford Fairlane Bond is seen driving in Cuba, its on-screen time is very limited.
Only featuring in one short scene, Jinx pulls up outside the ice palace, after Bond has arrived, where she seductively emerges from the car in her sexy outfit.
No comments:
Post a Comment