DEBATE! The best Bond Cars Ever?

A simple tweet can send many into a state of conniption. US President Donald Trump is probably the captain, coach and selector when it comes to this art form. But when multi-talented English actor Idris Elba tweeted this:

 

The movie world when into a state of flux, Bond fans collapsed in the streets and for a while Twitter caught on fire. The current Bond, Daniel Craig has starred in four of the franchises so far, with one more purportedly up his sleeve. So, a replacement is no doubt pending soon. But here in the EFTM Man Cave it got our minds pondering a few other Bond related contentious issues. There was the usual best James Bond debate (clearly Roger Moore) even the most famous Bond Girl (again clearly Pussy Galore).

But it’s the cars that sparked the most debate, so I’ve narrowed it down to my own personal top five. Because I can.

5. Ford Mustang Mach 1.

In the 1971 film Diamonds Are Forever James Bond went on a rampage in Las Vegas. Evading what seemed like every police car in the US. The Mach 1 featured an enormous 7.0-litre Cobra Jet V8. The red beast had an optional ‘Sportsroof’ or what you’d call a ‘Fastback’ today. They used 8 examples of the Mustang Mach 1 to shoot the film with much of the action taking place on Fremont Street, the original main strip of Las Vegas. What a stunning looking vehicle to evade the cops with Bond girl Tiffany Chase holding on for dear life.

 

4. BMW 750iL

I’m throwing this in for one reason, the list can’t be full of Aston Martins. But the 1997 BMW 750iL does take me back to when the big limo really meant business. Used in Tomorrow Never Dies this was the stretched version, hence the L. Given to Pierce Bronsan by Q the car was full of typical Bond gadgets. Who could forget him driving this barge from the rear seat using an Ericsson cell phone. It had missiles that flew out of the sunroof, a carnage-causing metal shredder that would pop out behind the front BMW roundel, built in tear gas canisters and even a fingerprint enabled glovebox safe. The big V12 was basically an early version of The Secret Service’s ‘The Beast’.

3. Aston Martin DB5

There are few more beautiful cars in the world than the DB5. 1965 saw Sean Connery score the new gadget laden beauty. It first appeared in Goldfinger, arguably one of the most famous movies in Bond history. Remember the revolving number plate? Now that was a nice party trick. It had a radar screen, oil spraying ability to send the baddies into a spin and of course an ejector seat. It was crashed in Goldfinger but restored and made plenty of future appearances. Pierce Brosnan has a go in Goldeneye, Daniel Craig scored a drive in Casino Royale. It again shows up in SkyFall and Spectre. Q it seems had plenty of sleepless nights rectifying the havoc regularly heaped on the DB5.

2. Aston Martin DB10

Aston Martin actually designed this car for the film Spectre in 2015. Once again Daniel Craig took it upon himself to prang it into a river in Rome. Luckily the car came equipped again with an ejector seat and parachute. Oh, and a flame thrower to toast the Jaguar C-X75 being driven by Mr. Hinx, the henchman who could crush you like a grape and possessed granite fingernails. The DB10 had a 4.7-litre V8 engine and for some real fun a 6-speed manual transmission. 10 were made, only one was ever sold. But essentially, it’s just a show car.

1. BMW Z8

This may be a big call but hear me out. This beautiful two-door roadster was produced at the turn of the century by BMW and remained in production for four years until 2003. It featured in The World Is Not Enough starring Pierce Brosnan. Although a full production model wasn’t available for the film BMW did go on to sell just over 5700 worldwide. It was a car ahead of its time with a chassis made entirely of aluminium and a 4.9-litre 300kW V8 up front, impressive power for that era. At last check there was just one example in Australia, BMW never made a RHD version. In June 2012 a local collector wanted $359,990 for the Alpina version of it. It also had neon lighting for indicators and brakes. When I spoke to Hildegard Wortmann, Senior Vice President of Brand at BMW last year she described the Z8 as her all time favourite car.