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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Bond Bombshells

The cars are among the stars in the long-running series of James Bond movies

Jim Gorzelany CTW Features
One of the many highlights in “Spectre” - the latest James Bond cinematic adventure - is a pulse-pounding chase between an Aston Martin DB10 and a Jaguar C-X75, both built exclusively for the movie. “I love the idea of this fantastic car being in a one-on-one battle with another incredible car,” says the film’s director Sam Mendes. “It’s a cat-and-mouse game through the night time streets of Rome, at great speed, between two of the fastest cars in the world. It’s one of those things you only see in a James Bond film.” While Ian Fleming’s famed secret agent has piloted just about every manner of vehicle ever conceived in the long-running series of James Bond films - from a helicopter, fire engine and jet pack to a snowmobile, Russian tank and even a NASA lunar rover - it’s 007’s seemingly endless fleet of exotic cars that wind up being the movies’ un-credited co-stars. In many of the films “Q,” the fictional head of the British Secret Service’s research and development division, craftily customizes Bond’s rides with an amazing array of vehicular armaments and gadgetry. Here’s a quick look at some of 007’s most iconic rides: • Aston Martin DB5. First seen in the 1964 film “Goldfinger,” the venerable DB5 is the car that’s most associated with James Bond. A luxury grand touring car produced between 1963 and 1965, Bond’s version featured such essential secret-agent accessories as a front-firing machine gun, passenger-ejection seat, smoke screen, oil slick dispensers, a bulletproof barrier, revolving multinational license plates and front and rear retractable ramming arms. It also came with extendable wheel hubs that could slash an adjacent vehicle’s tires. • Aston Martin DBS. Another old-school British sports car, the original DBS was featured in 1969’s “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” - the only film in which George Lazenby portrays 007. A later iteration was Daniel Craig’s ride of choice as Bond in the 2006 version of “Casino Royale” and the subsequent 2008 installment, “Quantum of Solace.” Unlike the gadget-laden DB5 above, the Aston Martin DBS featured in either film stands on its own merits without being retrofitted with assorted armaments. • Ford Mustang Mach 1. In 1971’s “Diamonds are Forever,” the vehicular star was a Mustang Mach 1 owned by diamond smuggler Tiffany Case (Jill St. John). In the process of preventing the villainous Blofeld from controlling the world, Sean Connery’s Bond pilots the Mach 1 in a chase with police cars down the Las Vegas Strip that leaves assorted collisions in its wake. The sequence’s signature maneuver is an extended escape down an otherwise too-narrow alleyway with the Mustang somehow squeezing through on only two wheels. • Lotus Esprit. As seen in 1977’s “The Spy Who Loved Me,” the sleek Esprit was able to perform double-duty as a compact submarine. Roger Moore’s 007 takes the Esprit deep below the surface to engage in a reconnaissance of the villain’s underwater facilities and uses the vehicle’s handy anti-aircraft missiles to blow a helicopter out of the sky. • BMW 750iL. BMW’s flagship sedan was featured in 1997’s “Tomorrow Never Dies” with Pierce Brosnan’s Bond driving the car during the film’s signature chase scene - while hunched in the back seat - all the while engaging all manner of weaponry including flash grenades, tear gas, rockets and a metal spike dispenser, using a specially modified cell phone as a remote controller. • BMW Z8. In 1999’s “The World is Not Enough,” Brosnan drives this low-slung sports car equipped with radar-guided stinger missiles. In the film it winds up being sliced in half in Azerbaijan by a helicopter that was fitted with tree-cutting saws. Guess “Q” couldn’t prepare 007 for everything.