The five coolest Aston Martins James Bond has ever driven
Monday, 27 November 2017
Aston Martin has long been 'James Bond's car' and responsible for a frankly silly number of 007-themed personalised number plates on all sorts of models.
But here's the thing - most of those personalised plates belong to cars that Bond has never actually driven in the films! Despite the long and iconic association between the legendary manufacturer and fictional super-spy, Bond has driven surprisingly few Astons. Today we take a look at five of the coolest.
DB5
Gotta start with the most famous and iconic, as well as absolutely the coolest: the DB5, the car that started Bond's long association with Aston Martin.
Since its first appearance in 1964's Goldfinger the DB5 has gone on to be Bond's car in seven further films (Thunderball, GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, Casino Royale, Skyfall and Spectre). Appearances have ranged between the DB5 being gadget-laden hero to the tiniest of cameos, and it has been either Q-issued ('Bring it back this time, 007'), won by Bond or his personal car, depending on the writer's preference.
DBS
Nope, not the DBS in the Daniel Craig movies. This one is far cooler and from quite possibly the best Bond movie of all time: George Lazenby's sole outing as 007 in On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969. The DBS played a small but vital role in the story (SPOILER ALERT - Bond's new wife was killed in it!), plus it is one seriously cool car in its own right.
Intended as a replacement for the DB6 (they ended up being produced together for three years), the DBS took on a much tougher look with some overtly American muscle car cues added into the styling. The DBS also appears very briefly in the next Bond film, Diamonds Are Forever, seen being fitted with missiles at Q-Branch.
V8 Vantage
Although the V8 Vantage was a 10-year old model when it appeared in Timothy Dalton's first Bond film - 1987's The Living Daylights - it was still a pretty serious piece of performance kit. Hailed as 'Britain's first supercar' when it was launched in 1977, its 0-60mph time was 5.3 seconds - faster than a Ferrari Daytona.
The Vantage plays an extended role in The Living Daylights, first appearing as a convertible Volante, before being 'winterised' by Q and transforming into the coupe. Interesting fact: the Volante at the start of the film was actually Aston Martin chairman Victor Gauntlet's personal car.
DB10
Technically this was a one-off specially built for Daniel Craig's latest Bond film - 2015's Spectre - but seeing as it has now been revealed to be the new Vantage, it counts.
Of course, in Spectre, the DB10 wasn't even supposed to be Bond's car. Initially was, but then it was taken off him and issued to another 00-agent, so Bond nicked it anyway. Crude and unfinished on the inside, the striking DB10 was possibly the most ridiculously unlikely car for a secret agent to be driving (a highly distinctive one-of-a-kind). But was it cool!
DB Mark III
While wannabe Bond nerds like to say 'Of course, James Bond drove a Bentley in the original novels', this isn't quite true.
Yes, Bond did drive a series of Bentleys in the early novels, but for 1959's Goldfinger, Ian Fleming put Bond in an Aston, several years before the first film was even made.
Fleming referred to the Aston in the novel as a 'DB III', but the widely held consensus is that he was actually referring to the DB Mark III of the era, as the 'DB3' was a racing car.
The Aston was also unique in the novels because it was the only Bond car to actually have gadgets, including reinforced bumpers, a hidden gun compartment and a homing device.