With his true calling of loving cars, Ashiqur Rahman Omee shares his insights and nostalgia on five iconic supercars driven by none other than the man with the license to kill James Bonds, 007
Like most of the 90’s kids, I wanted to be a spy, the spy 007. To me, the man with the charm and the license to kill was none other than Pierce Brosnan. His performance in “Die another day” was captivating enough to get me hooked. Soon after my discovery of the broadband internet’s power, all the Bond films were available thus making glued to the screen binging all of them in one go. For most people, the Bond films were about his sex appeal, his British accent, cool gadgets and the mind-boggling action scenes but for me, it was the cars. Being a car nut, the hidden and special features incorporated in his cars were always special treats for me. Who wouldn’t want a car with machine guns, ejector seats, rocket launcher and turns invisible on command or going underwater? I know it doesn’t make sense and it is mostly fiction but nonetheless I would rewatch those movies just for those cars. Being a car enthusiast, I believe I let the world know my top 5 Bond cars. It is an injustice to rate them but for the sake of movie/car fans out there, I will still try to rate them to my understanding and knowledge.
Number 5 on my list is the Aston Martin used in the movie “Spectre”. It was the Aston Martin DB10 which was made solely for this movie. They made only 10 of these while working closely with the film’s director. This car didn’t have much screen time or many gadgets but we all can appreciate a super rare bond car. I also love the fact that Bond drives a manual on this day paying a tribute to a dying art of driving a car! However, with all being said, I couldn’t help but give a shout out to the villain’s car as well since it was also a rear Jaguar C-X75. Only five of those were produced and were way faster than the DB10. For the sake of the plot, Bond still found a way to escape the chase while destroying the beast of a car as always.
Number 4 would be the Toyota 2000GT. This is an absolutely amazing car both in bond film and in real life. It had a hardtop in real life but in the Bond film “You Only Die Twice” it was made to be a convertible because Sean Connery was simply too tall for the coupe. Only two convertibles were made, one was right-hand drive and the other was left-hand drive. In the movie, Q equipped this car with spy gadgets along with a front and rear camera, a feature that marvelled the audience back then. Now it is a feature that you see in all modern cars. If you ask me, Q was on to something. The Toyota 2000GT holds a special place in all of our hearts because it was a lightweight Toyota with rear-wheel drive and a long front hood like a supercar. Back in 1965, the 148 horsepower from 2 liter Toyota really seemed like a supercar chaser.
Number 3 spot is helmed by the Lotus Esprit S1, which we can say for sure that this car inspired Elon Musk’s Tesla cyber truck. The resemblance is uncanny if you put two of these cars side by side. When I watched the movie “The Spy Who Loves Me” I honestly believed that 007 was going to drown in his spy car but we all know what happens. The reason I and most people loved this car was because of its ability to save Bond by turning into a submarine and launching a missile to destroy the helicopter. Besides being able to go underwater this car also had a 2-litre engine like the Toyota 2000GT but had 20 more horsepower bringing the total of 160HP making it a proper supercar.
Number 2 on my list is the infamous 2002 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish. I love this car and will probably own it the first chance I get. This car was introduced in the movie “Die Another Day” the first Bond movie that got my attention. Besides being a British Luxury SUPER car in real life ‘Q’ equipped this car with everything there is – from being invisible to rocket launchers, machine guns, remote drive (which is available today in a lot of cars), ejector seats, spikes on the tire to drive in the snow. I can’t even list all feature. To me, this was the proper new bond car in the 2000s. Besides, all ionic Bond cars were from Aston Martin. This car had a 6-litre V12 engine with 460 horsepower needless to say it was FAST enough for our super-spy to catch his enemies or outrun them on a chase.
You have read far enough to know about the “Numero Uno” in my list. You have guessed it right, it’s the 1964 Aston Martin DB5 which was originally used in “Goldfinger” and later in “Skyfall” where the British Spy runs away with “M”. It even made a cameo in “Spectra”. For the fans out there, it is reportedly confirmed that they are going to bring it back in the upcoming film “No Time to Die”. Aston Martin made its debut in Bond movies with DB5. Five out of Nine James Bonds have driven the iconic DB5. This car had a 4.0L engine with 325 horsepower which an amazing number even today. It is a dream car for many fanboys/girls out there. I’m very excited to see this car in the new bond film “NO TIME TO DIE” which is set to release at the very end of this year.