James Bond movies are iconic, and both adults and kids will enjoy watching. During the course of 53 years, 24 James Bond movies have been made, and an important asset to the secret agent 007 is definitely his car. Here are five best and five worst vehicles and some stunts that appeared in popular films.
The Best
BMW Z8
The BMW Z8 was driven by James Bond in “The World Is Not Enough” from 1999. The BMW’s Chris Bangle was in charge of the team that produced the Z8 from the late 1990s to 2003, while Henrik Fisker designed the exterior. The Z8 was a really good-looking retro vehicle that was powered by the E39 M5’s V8 engine which produced 400 bhp and 370 lb-ft of torque. It could go from 0 to 62 mph in under five seconds, making it a perfect James Bond car.
In the movie, the Z8 was slightly modified, and it sported a titanium armor, a head-up display and “six beverage holders” while the Q, played by John Cleese, said nothing else. A thing that is easy to forget about this car is the surface-to-air missile which helped Bond to shoot the chopper. However, later in the movie, a second chopper cut the Z8 in half.
Aston Martin DB5
Aston Martin DB5 is the classic car that belongs to the 007 and the man who drove it was Sean Connery in “Goldfinger” from 1964. The gadgets that the DB5 included were machine guns behind the front indicators, a bulletproof shield at the back, ejector seat, tire-slashing spikes, three-way revolving number plates and a smokescreen maker.
Furthermore, Pierce Brosnan had a chance to drive the DB5 in the 1995’s GoldenEye, when it turned out that it was faster than the contemporary Ferrari F355 as they race on the mountain road. The official launch of Aston Martin’s famous vehicle was only three months before the “Goldfinger” came out.
Lotus Esprit S1
The Lotus Esprit S1 debuted in “The Spy Who Loved Me” from 1977 when James Bond was played by Roger Moore. The stainless steel is used for the Esprit S1, and it is definitely an unusual car or a fully capable submarine which featured anti-aircraft missiles. The name of the Lotus Esprit S1 was “Wet Nellie” which was a reference to “Little Nellie” and scuba divers had a difficult task to pilot this thing through the water. We’ll tell you a little secret – they actually used an S1 shell and not a real car (like it is not obvious). The owner of this car today is Elon Musk. Does that name ring any bells?
Little Nellie
In the Bond movie “You Only Live Twice” from 1967, “Little Nellie” was the secret weapon of the secret agent. It is fascinating that this tiny one-man helicopter was actually produced and it was named Wallis WA-116 Agile autogiro developed by Wing Commander Ken Wallis. Nellie used a 4.3-liter two-stroke engine, and its features are worthy of some big steel birds – it had two machine guns, two smoke bomb things, a small swarm of parachute mines, a pair of rocket launchers with seven rockets each, two flamethrowers and a sprinkling of air-to-air missiles. Wow!
Mercury Cougar XR7
Even though it doesn’t look like it, the Mercury Cougar XR7 Convertible from the 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was hardcore indeed. It was a redesigned Ford Mustang that came with a ram air hood scoop, high-backed bucket seats, a full gauge kit and rally wheels, all as a part of a performance package. However, James Bond himself never sat behind the wheels of this car, but his future wife Tracy di Vicenzo, who did all the work and managed to enter a stock car race during the chase with this vehicle.
Honorable Mentions: Honda ATC 90 (Diamonds Are Forever), Aston Martin V8 Vantage (The Living Daylights), Renault 11 TXE (A View To a Kill), Citroen 2CV (For Your Eyes Only).
The Worst
Ford Mondeo
There has been a controversy about having a blonde James Bond, and many are still trying to get used to the fact that the role belongs to Daniel Craig. Speaking of the car, everyone expected to see him in something more exotic than the Ford Mondeo, which was new at the time.
BMW Z3 Footnote
The BMW Z3 Footnote appeared in “GoldenEye” and we can say the Z3 Footnote is a terrible car. To be honest, it is not something we expect to see Bond in. It does feature a self-destruct system and stinger missiles, and BMW still managed to gain a surge in Z3 deposits after the premiere of the movie, but still.
Aston Martin Vanquish
“Die Another Day” is another James Bond movie which is not that popular. There is a lot going on in the film such as Brosnan kite-surfing a tsunami, but what is even more interesting if you think about it is when the Aston Martin Vanquish just disappears.
Stunt Fail with Mustang
In order to shoot the most difficult and probably the most ambitious scene/stunt in “Diamonds Are Forever” the directors used two locations and two crews. However, when they put everything together, it is clearly seen that the driver goes into the alley on its right wheels, and comes out of it on the left. To make things worse, the in-car shot was added which shows that the Mustang switched to the left wheels in the alley.
Stunt Fail 2 – Barrel Roll
In the movie “The Man with the Golden Gun” they attempted to do the tricky barrel roll with a car, but the one thing happened that completely ruin the scene. What we are talking about is when Roger Moore says in a terrible Southerner accent: “Ah sure am, boy.”
