A James Bond Aston Martin DB5 replica on display at the Miami Auto Museum. Photos by Myles Kornblatt.
James Bond lives in a secret (and admittedly fictitious) world so alluring that Spectre, the latest Bond franchise film, easily captured the #1 box office spot on its opening weekend, and it is poised to do it again. Though 007 takes us along for the ride in every film, that doesn’t mean he shares all his classified secrets; here’s a momentary peek into the “Eyes Only” file for a glimpse at three little-known facts about James Bond cars.
Fake Bimmers are real Bond cars
A BMW Z8 replica, used in the filming of The World is Not Enough.
BMW was an enthusiastic Bond partner. They had used the film Goldeneye to launch the Z3 roadster, and were eager to follow up on that success in The World Is Not Enough. In fact, BMW was a little too eager for the 1999 film.
The retro car movement was beginning to really catch fire in the late 1990s, and from an enthusiast’s standpoint, the BMW Z8 might have been one of the most exciting prospects. Resurrecting the somewhat obscure but breathtaking 507 model had well-heeled roadster fans lining up before pricing or production was announced. BMW also wanted to capitalize on this hubbub by having 007 behind the wheel. Unfortunately, the movie production schedule coincided with prototype testing, and a pre-production Z8 was not available to producers.
Instead, the final design was made available and fiberglass panels were fitted to a kit car chassis for use in filming. These replicas needed to be exceptionally accurate because the movie’s release was a few months before the Z8’s official launch, and so the movie became part of the production car’s public debut.
Note the absence of a break between fender and hood.
Today there is an easy way to identify the movie cars besides knocking on the hood and listening for the sound of plastic. To save time and effort, the film cars have no cut lines in the hood, trunk, and most of the fenders. The only part that actually opens are the doors because Pierce Brosnan was not going to look dignified entering his Z8 Dukes of Hazzard style.
So, the rule of thumb if you’re looking at Z8 roadsters in places like London’s Bond in Motion exhibit or the Miami Auto Museum is this: if it’s a fake Z8, it’s likely a real 007 car.
The disappearance of the DB5
The Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger made James Bond a movie icon. An exotic car with hidden guns and an ejector seat was everything our kid-at-heart imaginations believed a secret agent should have.
Keen Hemmings readers already know the original working gadget car disappeared in 1997, but the tales surrounding it are a Bond-worthy mystery.
Aston Martin chassis DP/216/1 was a development/prototype for the DB5, and so its workhorse duty made it ideal for tampering and turning into an “Effects Car.” The red coupe was resprayed a more stealthy silver and was given the real working gadgets like the oil sprayer, bullet shield, and revolving license plates.
The prototype was joined by a production DB5 (the car that appeared at The Elegance at Hershey earlier this year). Once all filming was concluded, the car was returned to Aston Martin where the gadgets were removed and DP/216/1 was sold into private hands in 1968.
Movie buffs understood the significance of this coupe. It was returned to gadget car status, and sold multiple time over a standard DB5’s market value. In 1986 it was bought for $275,000 by Anthony Pugliese, a Florida real estate developer known for his collection of pop culture items ranging from Christopher Reeve’s Superman costume to the Colt .38 used by Jack Ruby on Lee Harvey Oswald.
He had the car as a showpiece for over a decade, and when it was not on display, it was stored in south Florida. On the night of June 18, 1997, thieves came to the small Boca Raton Airport in dead of night, cut the alarm, nabbed DP/216/1 out of the hangar, and then disappeared into the darkness. There were no reported flights that evening, and the pre 9-11 security levels meant that the automatic access gate did not record visitors.
The complete lack of clues lets the imagination run with everything from practical ideas like insurance fraud to a wild Spectre-worthy plot hatched by daring thieves. Regardless, the case has been inactive for over 17 years and Chubb Insurance paid out their $4.2 million policy on the famous movie Aston.
The car is gone but an interesting legacy remains. First, not all of the DB5 is missing. Some original items were not on the car when it disappeared. This included the full set of badges, which sold a decade after the car disappeared for over $5,500 in today’s money.
Also, the disappearance of the legendary car has not left a lasting effect. The Boca Raton Concours d’Elegance starts off its show with the annual hangar party that is held at the same airport where DP/216/1 was stolen. In 2012 the concours saluted Aston Martin and the cars of James Bond. The Miami Auto Museum brought other Bond Aston Martins to this gathering. You could identify the few car people at this event by their chuckling at the irony of parking arguably the most significant cache of Bond vehicles within eyesight of where the most important one was stolen fifteen years before.
It is amazing that definitive proof on Bond’s original Aston has not surfaced yet. Today this would be an auction house’s biggest dream. The soaring vintage market means DB5s are already passing the $1 million threshold before words like “prototype” and “movie legend” are added into the description.
There is a person or two out there who knows the fate of this car. If it’s not sunk in the Atlantic off the coast of Florida, money may eventually overshadow the crime. Could this mystery be solved in our lifetime?
The oldest surviving Bond-driven vehicle isn’t a car
Bond’s Fairey Huntress, used in From Russia With Love.
We were first introduced to James Bond on the big screen in Dr. No. While some of his spy tools are as rudimentary as a single strand of hair, agent 007 had great cars right from the start. We see him driving a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air after his chauffeur/henchman is dead, and later Bond’s first major car chase is in a Sunbeam Alpine Series II.
Either one of these would make a terrific museum piece as the oldest surviving Bond-driven vehicle. Unfortunately, neither original movie car has been located from the Jamaica shoot.
The next film, From Russia With Love, does a nice tribute to the books by showing Sean Connery relaxing with what we presume is Bond’s personal car, a 3 ½ Liter model from his beloved Bentley brand. He utilizes the Sports Tourer for “recreational” activities but is never seen driving. For the rest of the film he’s catching rides in everything from a Rolls Royce Silver Wraith to a gondola through the Basilica Cistern. Bond’s driving time in this flick isn’t until towards the end when he ambushes a Chevrolet C30 Apache flower truck. Just like the vehicles from Dr. No, the pickup is still missing in action.
There’s only one more vehicle that Bond grabs the wheel of in this movie, and it’s not a car. The 1963 Fairey Huntress speedboat used to set the water on fire and evade Spectre is currently the oldest surviving Bond-driven vehicle. It can be seen on display at the Miami Auto Museum.
Maybe Bond’s solid connection to a boat is fitting considering the character is a Royal Navy Commander. On the other hand, perhaps someone has the power to rewrite history: The first three cars Bond drove on screen are still missing, which means just like the 007 character, there’s always potential for a new chapter to this story.
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