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TouchUpDirect’s Top 5 James Bond Cars
Commander James Bond of her Majesty’s Secret Service has gotten to drive some of the coolest cars in cinema history. From a list that includes Bond’s trademark Aston Martins to Ford muscle cars and even a tank, we’ve managed to whittle it down and pick out a list of our 5 favorites.
Honorable Mentions
Some of the coolest vehicles in the Bond series don’t belong to James Bond. And thanks to the arbitrary rules that we set for ourselves, that means that they can’t be on the official list. We still wanted to show some love to these incredible cars so here is our honorable mentions list, featuring some of our favorite Bond Girl and Bond Villain rides.
Aki’s 1967 Toyota 2000GT (You Only Live Twice)
This is one of the best cars in the franchise and Sean Connery’s Bond never gets close to driving it. This gorgeous white soft-top convertible belongs to Japanese spy, Aki. Bond’s ally in Japan, Aki and her 2000 GT squire the superspy around and eventually save him from SPECTRE agents. She leads the bad guys (including Peter Maivia, the grandfather of The Rock) on a merry chase that ends with the villains being scooped up by a giant magnet dangling from a helicopter. The Toyota, already one of Japan’s first supercars, was customized just for the film. While usually a hard top, the filmmakers and Toyota modified it after they realized that the 6’2 Connery wouldn’t fit inside.
Count Lippe’s 1957 Ford Fairlane (Thunderball)
Count Lippe, agent of SPECTRE, may have had his life cut short by his own organization but at least he went out with a truly great car. Lippe’s Ford Fairlane is a gorgeous hardtop convertible in black. The hardtop folds and stores in the trunk but we never get to see it in action as both the Fairlane and Count Lippe are taken out by an assassin on a motorcycle that fires rockets. The series paid homage to the West Indies set film when Bond went to Cuba in Die Another Day. There, he asks for a fast car and is given a brown and cream 1957 Ford Fairlane. This time we get to see it in action with the hardtop folded down as Pierce Brosnan’s Bond cruises down a Cuban highway.
Melina Havelock’s Citroën 2CV (For Your Eyes Only)
Melina Havelock had a crossbow, a thirst for revenge, and an absolutely adorable yellow Citroën 2CV. This sweet curvy little car is the opposite of your typical James Bond vehicle, and that’s probably why people love it so much. Low power and low cost, the director wanted something more down to earth after the out of this world flamboyance of Moonraker. Chased by bad guys in Peugeot 504s, Bond drives the Citroën through town and paths lined with olive trees, weaving off and on the roads of Corfu. This tiny, scrappy car is in an absolute state after the chase but comes out of it in one piece. There are sports cars in this franchise that can’t say that.
The Top 5
5. 1961 Sunbeam Alpine Series II (Dr. No)
We start our list with James Bond’s very first film car. What can we say? We’re sentimental. Bond rents this marine blue Sunbeam while he’s in Jamaica. While driving in the Blue Mountains, the spy and his spiffy rental are chased down the dusty road by a LaSalle Funeral Coach filled with Dr. No’s goons. Bond eventually forces them off a mountainside and into a fiery death thanks to a conveniently placed excavator in the road. In reality, that excavator was not part of the original plan. It was just on the road when they got there, ruining the chase they had mapped out. They improvised its inclusion, driving Sunbeam Alpine right through the narrow gap under the digger’s arm. The same stunt driver then got in the LaSalle Coach and drove it off the ravine.
4. BMW 750iL (Tomorrow Never Dies)
Ok. Just forget about the weird Avis Rental Car and Ericsson phone product placement, we love Bond’s rented Beamer. While perhaps not as sleek and silky as the other Bond cars, this luxury sedan had everything a spy could ever need: Caltrops. Tear Gas. Cable Cutters. Re-inflatable Tires. Exactly 12 rockets. Q, in his spiffy Avis disguise, also provided Bond with an Ericsson flip phone. It was a taser and a fingerprint scanner but mostly it was there to help Bond remote drive his car. In its big scene, the BMW flummoxes Eliot Carver’s henchmen by driving by itself and being impenetrable. If we’re being honest, this is on the list because of the visual of a dozen burly henchmen trying to break in with sledgehammers and not making a single dent.
3. Aston Martin DB10 (Spectre)
Aston Martin is the James Bond car. Even though Bond has driven every car brand under the sun, Aston Martin is the one that will be tied to the franchise forever. So what makes this particular model so special? This is the very first car that Aston Martin made specifically for a James Bond film. Clad in a color that Christie’s would later call “Spectre Silver”, this car was designed with input from director Sam Mendes. He wanted something classic and timeless with clean, clear lines. In universe, the car is a prototype that Bond steals from Q Branch. It has the usual accoutrements, like a bulletproof exterior and ejector seat. The film contrasts its sleek and futuristic look with the scrappiness of a prototype. Bond discovers that sometimes when you steal a car, it means that the built in machine guns don’t have any ammo. All turns out well. We love a car that has flamethrowers.
2. Lotus Esprit S1 – “Wet Nellie” (The Spy Who Loved Me)
Ah Wet Nellie…we simply couldn’t put a non-Aston Martin at #1 but you came so close. Why is this white Lotus Esprit called Wet Nellie? Because it is also a submarine. And as The Spy Who Loved Me was made in the era of practical effects, they actually built the thing. The Lotus’ big moment comes during a car chase when Bond and Soviet agent Anya Amasova escape from their enemy. “Can you swim?” quips Bond before the Lotus plunges into the Mediterranean and turns into a submersible. Production actually built several Wet Nellies. For the chase scene, they used regular Lotus Esprit S1s provided by Lotus. Dummy shells were used for the scenes where the car exited and entered the water, with the shell being shot off the jetty using an air cannon for the scene mentioned above. For the underwater sequences, they used a wet sub wrapped in a Lotus shell. When submerged, water flooded in and 2 crew members in scuba gear piloted the craft. While it was difficult to maneuver, the effort was well worth it as Wet Nellie is a beloved icon.
1. 1964 Aston Martin DB5 (Goldfinger, Thunderball, GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, Casino Royale, Skyfall, Spectre, No Time To Die)
As tied to the super spy as a martini that’s shaken not stirred, the 1964 Aston Martin DB is the most iconic of the Bond cars. Introduced in Goldfinger, this model was the very first Aston Martin driven by James Bond. The Goldfinger book had Bond driving a DB Mark III, but production wanted their hero in the most cutting edge car. Aston Martin were reluctant to hand over their newest model to the franchise but relented. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Engineer John Stears and production designer Ken Adam did an overhaul on the Silver Birch DB5 in 6 weeks, even adding practical working versions of the gadgets in the movie. In universe, this first model was kitted out by Q branch and assigned to Bond. Its features included oil spray, smoke screen, ejector seat, tire shredders and revolving license plates. Thunderball added water cannons.
While iconic, the car took a long break after Thunderball. It did not return until the Pierce Brosnan era, where it was established that Bond drove the DB5 as his personal vehicle. It even got to partake in a fun, sexy car skirmish with the dastardly assassin, Xenia Onatopp. This conceit continued in the Craig years, with Casino Royale showing the spy winning the car in a poker game. In Skyfall, it’s revealed that the DB5 still has the ejector seat when Bond considers ejecting M after she insults his beloved car. These icons have found their way into private collections and museums all over the world. You can find one of these gorgeous cars at the International Spy Museum in Washington D.C., bearing license plate that reads: JB007
There are so many cars that we wanted to include on this list. The Bond series has a legacy of absolutely incredible cars, trucks, & motorcycles. Who knows what the future holds for the series’ cars? We hope that there are still ejector seats. And flamethrowers. Always flamethrowers.
