As promised we have more action from last month’s Shanghai Auto Show. What an incredible variety of Chinese made product along with the world’s finest and most exotic automobiles. Here’s another glimpse of what there was to see in Shanghai for the car enthusiast taken on our whirlwind tour.
The world’s most popular Italian “sisters”….
La Ferrari
Bugatti Vitesse
Lamborghini models
The Norse Goddess….
Sweden’s Koenigsegg
China’s own supercar concept…..
Icona Vucano
Germany’s proudest son….
The 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans winner – Audi R18 e-tron quattro
American pride…
Detroit Electric – fully electric sportscar built in Detroit, Michigan
In the continuation of our favourite James Bond cars, Part 2 looks at a couple of Aston Martins and provides an overview of all the cars Bond has used throughout the film franchise.
Aston Martin V8 – The Living Daylights (1987)
Timothy Dalton drove the Aston Martin V8 Volante as James Bond in the 1987 film The Living Daylights. There are actually two different versions of the V8 used in this film. In the beginning of the film Bond is driving the V8 Volante, a convertible, while later in the movie during the main car chase (see below) it has a hard top. The car used to film these scenes was actually a non-Volante V8 saloon.
Nonetheless, who can forget the cool features of this car. This included laser beams built into the front hub caps that can cut a car in half and front missile launchers that locked on to a target by using the old school temperature sliders. Of course, the most memorable feature of this car is the outrigger skis and studded tires that appear at the touch of a button. These allowed Bond to jump over his enemy’s with the help of the on board jet booster!
The 5.3L Aston Martin V8 from this era produced 305 hp and had a top speed of 146 mph (234 kph). It could do 0-60 in 6.6 seconds.
Aston Martin DBS – Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008)
The Aston Martin DBS was featured in not one, but two Bond Films – Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008). While the DBS didn’t have as many of the gadgets that the Q branch outfitted previous Bond vehicles in the past, it made our list for shear style and performance as can be seen the opening sequence of Quantum of Solace (skip to 52 seconds for the start of the car chase).
The DBS has a 5.9 Litre 48-valve V12 producing 510 hp and can do 0-60 in 4.3 seconds. It’s top speed is an amazing 191 mph (307 kph).
Aston Martin cars are featured a number of times in our list, and with good reason, James Bond has driven an Aston Martin in the series more times than any other car. The DB5 is also rumored to making an appearance in the upcoming Bond movie Skyfall, due to be released this fall.
Check out this great infographic from the folks at http://www.carinsurance.org that outlines the cars James Bond has used over the years. The list of vehicles by brand at the bottom isn’t exhaustive, however, it does a great job showing how the Bond vehicles have evolved over the years.
A History of Bond Cars (Source: CarInsurance)
As mentioned, the next installment of the James Bond film franchise is Skyfall due to be released this fall. If you want to get a sneak peak at the action (and the cars) check out the official trailer below.
The following is a great little montage showing some of the cool vehicles that James Bond has driven over the 24 films in the series.
This got the RedlineNorth Team thinking about some of their favourite vehicles from the series and we’ve decided to profile a few.
Lotus Esprit S1 – The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
Lotus Esprit – The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
First up the Lotus Esprit. Who can forget the underwater scene from the Spy Who Loved Me where James Bond’s white Lotus Esprit converts into submarine mode after driving off a dock into the water. There is also the classic scene with the car ‘driving’ in from the ocean onto a crowded beach – much to the amazement of beach goers.
The Esprit in the film was fully equipped with anti-aircraft missiles, depth chargers and could deploy black ink under water to foil enemy pursuers.
Two Lotus Esprits were loaned to the production company for filming. One was actually turned into a functional submarine. Once the movie was released they became so popular that there was supposedly a three year waiting list to purchase one.
The Esprit S1 (1976) had a 4 cylinder, 2.0L engine that produce 160 hp. Lotus claimed the Esprit could do 0-60 mph in 6.8 seconds and had a top speed of 138 mph (222 km/h).
The car was equipped with machine guns behind the front indicators, a bullet shield behind the rear window and a revolving licence plate that switched between a number of different plates. It was also capable of deploying a smoke screen and an oil slick to foil unwitting enemies, and of course a little red button that deployed the passenger ejector seat!
The original Goldfinger DB5 with gadgets was sold on October 27, 2010 for $4.1m (£2.6m). For a more reasonable price a scaled down electric model of the Goldfinger DB5 can be had for £48.
AMC Hornet
AMC Hornet – The Man with the Gold Gun (1974)
The American Motors Corporation (AMC) Hornet had its Bond debut in the 1974 film The Man With The Golden Gun. The V8, 175 hp Hornet is best remembered for the corkscrew jump over a river during during a car chase scene. A specially modified version of the car which had a lower stance and larger wheel wells was used by an uncredited British stuntman Loren “Bumps” Willert for the stunt. The jump distance was approximately 16 meters (52 ft) and the jump off speed was 65 kph (40 mph).
The original Hornet is still on display at the National Motor Museum Beaulieu, England.
RedlineNorth 