Autos in cinema

Cars, and car chases, have been an intrinsic part of the glamour of James Bond since the famous film series began in 1962 with Dr No. However, it was the Aston Martin DB5 in Goldfinger (1964) that really set the Bond car agenda with an arsenal of gadgets that captured the imagination of boys large and small all over the world. Nearly 40 years on you can still buy a James Bond Aston Martin Corgi model, which proves the impact of that car has proved difficult to beat. However, most subsequent attempts to do a Bond car have descended, like the films themselves, into parody and product placement has run rampant.

Not all of the cars Bond has used have been upmarket – 2CVs, Renault 11s and three-wheeled Indian taxis have all featured – but recently, BMW has had the franchise. Would Ian Fleming have approved of his British agent driving a German car? I doubt it. Thankfully for traditionalists, Bond will be back in an Aston Martin, the forthcoming Vanquish, in the next film, due in 2002. Thank you, Mr. Ford.

1 Sunbeam Alpine: Dr No

In his first outing, Bond (Sean Connery) starts off modestly with a hired Sunbeam Alpine that features in a dramatic car chase along rough Jamaican mountain roads, pursued by unsavoury assassins in a pre-war Packard hearse, which doesnt look as if its enjoying being thrown around corners too much. Inevitably, the Packard gets trashed when it careers off the road down the side of the mountain. Look out also for a 57 Chevrolet convertible and a Mk II Ford Consul taxi.

2 Derby Bentley: From Russia With Love

For Bond purists, this is the best of the series, and features only low-key gadgets like an exploding brief case. Bond (Connery again) doesnt even drive, but gets chauffeured around in a Rolls Royce Silver Wraith and a Ford Fairlane station wagon. What we do see briefly, as our hero dallies with would-be girlfriend Sylvia Trench, is the Derby Bentley (which is what he drove in the books), fitted with a radio telephone to bring it up to date.

3 Aston Martin DB5: Goldfinger and Thunderball

This car needs little introduction. Fitted with machine guns, radar, a rear bullet shield and that famous ejector seat, it is still the most famous piece of hardware in the Bond armoury. In Goldfinger, the DB5 expires against a brick wall after an exciting tear-up with a brace of black Mercedes 220 saloons, but it is revived for a brief appearance in Thunderball, where it blasts baddies with a powerful jet of water in the pre-title sequence. Four Bond DB5s were built, two for filming and two for promotional work.

4 Toyota 2000GT convertible: You Only Live Twice

Toyota obligingly sliced the roof off its rare, expensive and exotic 2000GT especially for this film, because Connery couldnt fit in the coupe, and, in any case, an open top made filming rather easier. In the film the only gadget in this car is a TV monitor, from which Connery watches a Toyota Crown full of baddies being dropped from a helicopter. However, the Corgi version had rocket launchers. Two 2000GT convertibles were made for the film; Toyota has one in its museum, but the other has disappeared.

5 Aston Martin DBS: On Her Majestys Secret Service

For the new Bond – George Lazenby – a new Aston, the DBS. The dark green car features mainly in the pre-title sequence and at the end of the film, after Bond marries Teresa de Vicenzo (Diana Rigg). Teresa is shot through the cars windscreen by Blofleds female sidekick, who leans from the side window of a speeding Mercedes 600. From an action point of view, this is actually one of the best Bond films, and Lazenby (who had only ever done chocolate commercials before getting the job) looked the part in a way Roger Moore somehow never could. Look out also for Miss Riggs Mercury Cougar, piloted by the lady herself for some shots in the ice racing sequence.