Hot Car Girl: James Bond Cars - Aston Martin and 007

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

James Bond Cars - Aston Martin and 007

Press Release:
"Now pay attention Bond…this is your Aston Martin!"
October 22nd 2002 – The world’s most famous spy, James Bond 007 is back behind the wheel of an Aston Martin in the latest blockbuster Die Another Day released in November 2002.

After a brief flirtation with another manufacturer, the film industry’s most enduring partnership – James Bond and Aston Martin are reunited in the 20th 007 film. For Bond - the suave immaculate British gentlemen, the consummate connoisseur - Aston Martin was and is the only choice.

It was nearly 40 years ago, that James Bond, then played by Sean Connery was introduced to his silver birch Aston Martin DB5 in the 1964 film Goldfinger. And despite Aston Martin models being present in Thunderball, The Living Day Lights and Goldeneye none of them created quite the stir of Goldfinger . The DB5 caused a tremendous amount of talk, not only because of its timeless beauty but also because of those tempting gadgets that were fitted to it.

It was in 1963, that Aston Martin loaned Eon Productions a prototype DB5 and one supporting car for additional filming. All of the famous gadgets (smoke-screen, machine guns and ejector seat) were dreamt up by John Stears of Eon Productions at Pinewood Studios.

This year, Die Another Day will see Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in a V12 Vanquish, and - as with Goldfinger - the Aston Martin plays a significant role in the film. At the start of the film James Bond is introduced to the Aston Martin just as he was in Goldfinger.

Aston Martin provided Eon Production’s Andy Smith – the man responsible for a team of engineers who created all the gadgets for the Vanquish in Die Another Day – with three standard production Vanquishes.

Alongside this, Aston Martin helped Andy Smith create four special effects Vanquish that were equipped with the gadgets - a pair of machine guns that come up through the bonnet vents, five heat- seeking missiles and a brace of shot guns that operate from the front radiator grille. These cars were also four-wheel drive and used eight cylinder engines.

The three standard production Vanquish were specifically for close-up camera work whilst the special effects cars were built solely for the spectacular stunts and chase scenes. One of the opening sequences in Die Another Day takes place on the frozen face of the Vatnajökull glacier, in southeast Iceland. The script called for Bond, driving a Vanquish, to be pursued across the ice lake by an assailant driving a machine-gun-equipped Jaguar XKR. This was where the four-wheel drive system came into good effect on the ice.

Since filming began in September 2001, Ian Minards, General Sales Manager for Aston Martin and former Chief Programme Engineer for the Vanquish, along with a dedicated team of Aston Martin Engineers have provided assistance to Eon Productions.

Ian said: "It has been a lot of hard work, but Andy Smith has his team have done a fantastic job in creating the four special effects cars. We think that Bond’s return to Aston Martin will be met with the same enthusiasm and interest as it did back in the early 1964 when Goldfinger was first released."

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