So you're driving down the road minding your business when some moron, no doubt in the employ of S.P.E.C.T.R.E., cuts you off in traffic. Your hand immediately reaches for the center console lid which covers the controls of your arsenal. You flip up the lid, but... instead of finding your choice of machine guns, bumper-rams or a water canon, all you find is a packet of tissues, a few sticks of gum and that John Tesh tape your Significant Other gave you to listen to, oh, maybe five months ago.

"What happened?", you wonder. You remember watching all those wonderful Bond films and thinking how good you would look behind the wheel of one of those great driving machines.

But somehow in this practical world of 9-5, McDonalds dinners and "laundry night", you just never actually got around to purchasing one of the autos you'd admired being driven by (start Bond theme) BOND, James Bond. Agent Double-Oh Seven. That gentleman secret agent with a licence to kill.

Well the good news is that it's not too late. They are, after all, for sale to the general motoring public.

Oh sure, "Q Branch" won't be there to add all the lovely lethal extras that Bond enjoys. But remember, your only licence is "to drive", not "to kill"! Perhaps it's best that they're left off anyway. It can be hard to explain to your neighbors how you burned up their prized rose bushes when you hit the "Flame Thrower" knob while reaching for the stereo button!

Besides, all those gadgets just add lots of weight that impedes driving performance. Who needs that? Have you hefted a pair of forward firing machine guns complete with ammo lately? Whew! Take it from me, you're better off without them.

You can be James Bond with a mere blip of the throttle and a quick racing change (kept within the limits of the law of course) ! Heady stuff, that. Which Oh-Oh Seven car you opt for depends on your own Walter Mitty vision of yourself as Bond. Are you the Sean Connery version in a Sunbeam Alpine II driving into the Jamaican hills to visit the lovely Miss Taro? Or are you the Roger Moore incarnation in an improbable AMC Hornet leaping (complete with barrel roll!) a fallen span of bridge across a river. Or are you the Pierce Brosnan 007 cruising through the countryside with a beautiful Russian computer expert at your side in the stylish new BMW Z3 convertible on your way to a rendezvous with your CIA contact? You get to choose. That's part of the fun.

Oh I hear what you're saying. "That's all well and good, but I'm a bit short on pocket change this week to afford a 1965 Aston-Martin DB-5!" But even on a budget you can find a car that Bond has driven and which you could own. How much, for instance, do you suppose the afore mentioned AMC Hornet from 1974 would cost today? It's under $2,500 for one in entry level show car condition. Oh the Hornet might not be your first choice, but it's still a Bond car. On the other hand if you're one of the fortunate few who does have a fortune to spend, have no fear, there's a Bond car to spend it upon.

Here's a look at the real world versions of some of the cars that Bond has deigned to drive, most of which you can drive too!

I've chosen with the only fair criterion possible -- personal prejudice! So I'll be including two cars in which Bond was only a passenger, but which fit so well into Bond's world that, in justice, they could not be left off the list. One is from the movie You Only Live Twice. The other is from the novel Diamonds Are Forever. Can you guess what they are?

Prices quoted come mostly from "The Official Price Guide to Collector Cars", 8th edition, 1996. Some prices were drawn from the "1997 Standard Guide to Car Prices, 9th edition". A few others were gleaned elsewhere, such as personal adverts in enthusiast magazines. The price listed is for "an entry level show car", "mechanically sound and attractive in both body and interior".

The listings below follow the order of the EON films and include cars from the novels too.

"DR.NO":
Dr.No places the sporty SUNBEAM ALPINE into James Bond's world. Years before the Aston-Martin DB-5 and Lotus Esprit became synonymous with 007, James was evading the baddies and doing it in style in this convertible two seater (allegedly offering 2+2 seating but don't try it). Since Bond is always up to date with his cars, this was probably the Alpine Mk II. which was released in 1960. The Mk III version came along in 1963, too late for this movie. The unpromising underpinnings of this car were lifted from, of all things, the Hillman Husky. The engine was a twin-carb version of the 1592cc, four cyl. engine Hillman used in their Minx. Overdrive was optional. This combination yielded a modest 78 bhp at 5500 rpm and a top speed of 95 mph. Price today: $4,500.

But if you want more performance with virtually the same look, you can buy the slightly more modern, and certainly much more powerful, SUNBEAM TIGER. The Tiger debuted in 1964 and the only exterior difference from the Alpine was a full length body stripe. Internally it's a different story. Carol Shelby, famous for stuffing a big American V8 engine into an AC convertible and giving birth to the legendary AC COBRA, had similar things on his mind here. He shoe-horned a Ford 260 V8 engine into the Alpine, stiffened the body and springs, gave it precise rack & pinion steering and an optional limited slip differential and created an Alpine of a different stripe, the Tiger. Available only for the U.S. market, a 289 V8 from the Mustang was offered with wider gearing. It also received an external change, a crosshatched grill. This was the Tiger II. Though it was prone to overheat, the 200 bph at 4400 rpm would get you to 125 mph. Price today: $10,000.

"GOLDFINGER":
In the novel Bond draws a Aston-Martin DB III, painted battleship grey, from the firm's motor pool. He chooses it over a Jaguar 3.4 because of its "extras", though he felt that either car would have suited his cover. It may be that Fleming had read Dornford Yates' character "Jonah Mansel" (no relation to race car drive Nigel Mansel) who drove a DB III with even more gadgets than the one Fleming gave Bond in the novel. Bond's DB III in the novel had:

-A compartment for a long-barreled Colt .45 (though at that time the Armourer had the gun to be re-rifled).
-A space for the radio receiver to pick up signals from a homing device.
-Reinforced steel bumpers for ramming.
-Options for night driving that allow different lights to be illuminated so that the car can be made to appear different in the mirrors of any car being tailed.

These features are quite distinct from those of the DB-5 used in the film version of Goldfinger.

The DB III predates the styling make-over by Touring of Milan for the beautiful DB-4. The DB III was launched at the Geneva Show in 1957. Frank Feeley restyled the front end of the car, later known unofficially as the "Droop Snoot", using an enlarged version of his elegant DB3S grille. As with future DB Aston-Martins the shape of the grille was repeated in the shape of the dashboard surrounding the instrumentation. The DB III had the highly revised final version of the Lagonda based engine, originally designed by W.O. Bentley. It produced 162 bhp at 5500 rpm, good for 125 mph. It had a hydraulic clutch and front discs. Options included overdrive and an automatic transmission. Price today: $53,000.

In the film Bond's car was updated to what, courtesy of 007 and the folk at EON, has become perhaps the most famous car in the world. The classic Aston-Martin DB-5. Generally considered to be the most beautiful of the DB-4/5/6 series this car was an updating of the DB-4's gorgeous body work designed by Touring of Milan along the "Superleggera" (superlight) theme of hanging lightweight aluminium panels over a steel tubular frame. The car had a decidedly "English" character to it. It was more muscular looking than its Italian brothers, achieving a perfect balance between elegance and strength. The major exterior change from the DB-4 are the cowled and faired headlamps (though some of the last DB-4s received that treatment too).

The engine was increased from 3.7 to 4.0 liters. In the Vantage version it featured triple, double choke Weber carbs producing 314 bph at 5750 rpm with a top speed of 155 mph. This was a car that was made to cruise all day at 115 mph with 40 mph in reserve! The biggest difference in the engine however was that it produced much more torque, especially in the low-to-mid ranges. Unfortunately this extra torque meant the DB produced 4-spd + overdrive gearbox had to be scrapped in favour of a 5-spd German ZF gearbox. The irony is that the DB empire was founded on the manufacturing of gearboxes. Now their own flagship car didn't use one. The German gearbox is neither as quiet, nor as smooth as the DB product, merely stronger. Initially when the DB-5 was released the old 4-spd + overdrive DB gearbox was an still an option. Offered for the first time was a 3-spd Borg-Warner automatic transmission which proved quite popular.

The car rode on 15" wheels with disc brakes. Although the car was originally fitted with 6.70 crossply tires, today the substitution of radials will significantly improve straight line stability.

Inside the cabin the arrangement of gauges has been improved. Lowering the driver's seat decreased visibility but increased much needed headroom so lacking in the DB-4. The seat is also more supportive in the DB-5. The heating system was much better and air conditioning was offered as an option for the first time, in deference to the U.S. market. And the windows were now electric powered.

Bond drove the Aston-Martin DB-5 in the films Goldfinger, Thunderball, and Goldeneye.

1,021 DB-5s were built, 120 of which were convertibles. Price today for the coupe: $56,000.

"THUNDERBALL":
In the novel Bond sported his 1954 Bentley Continental R. This is the same car he has in the novel "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". This Bentley comes in many versions, courtesy of many coach builders that created many different bodies for it. It is, in fact, the body work that makes this car so famous and valuable. The most famous featured an extremely aerodynamic body which was credited, more than the engine, with the car's top speed of almost 120 mph. The car was vastly expensive then, and now. Price today: $80,000. Though lesser versions can be had for correspondingly less money.

It's difficult to say what Bond's car might fetch, since his Bentley featured unique body work commissioned by him from Mulliners coach builders. By coincidence Mulliners had built the original lightweight body work for Bentley in 1951 which made the original car absolutely the classic post-war Bentley. The body work Bond commissioned was quite quite different. By all accounts it sounds (how to say this politely) "unique". The body work cost Bond 3000 Pounds at the time. At his direction they had "sawn off the old" body, and replaced it with a "rather square convertible two-seater affair". It is further described as having a trunk with a "blunt end" that was "all knife-edged" and "rather ugly". Bond chooses to paint the car a flat matte, non-gloss, battleship grey. Bond calls this car "the locomotive". It receives no pampering other than routine monthly servicing. Bond won't even keep the car in a garage, citing the rather peculiar reason that one might break one's nails on a garage door! Instead the car sits out on the street in front of his flat through all kinds of weather and is required to start immediately. Further, Bond didn't care for the "soft flutter" of the engine and has put two inch pipes on the car for a solid growling sound. The crowning touch of Bond's transformation was to remove the famous trademark Bentley "B" hood ornament and replace it with a big octagonal silver bolt. I can only guess that the folk at Bentley gave a collective sigh of relief upon having their emblem removed from atop this rather ungainly sounding beast. I'd infer they would want no part of this "butterfly into caterpillar" transmogrification.

"YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE":
The Toyota 2000 is one of my personal favorites from the Bond series. A shame Bond never actually had a chance to drive the car. It is the stylish white convertible driven by Tiger Tanaka's agent, Aki. It features pop-up headlamps as well as large aggressive driving lights behind glass panels. It has a long elegantly sculpted hood. In fact, in order to keep that hood as low as possible there were special access panels located on either side of the car which allowed the battery and air cleaner to be relocated low inside the engine bay.

The car in the film is unique. It was a custom job just for this film and is the only convertible version ever made. Well, that's not quite true. Corgi Toys manufactured thousands of miniature replicas. In fact their production easily surpassed the production run of the real car! A scant 337 of the real car were produced between 1965-68.

The Toyota 2000GT coupe is "more than a 'might have been'. This is a 'should have been'" It is based on a prototype by the famous Count Albrecht Goertz who had also produced classic designs for BMW and would later design the world famous 240Z for Nissan (at that time Datsun). In fact the design for this Toyota was at first offered to Nissan which rejected it. It was then picked up by Toyota who had the car and the engine built for them by Yamaha.

The car featured a 1988cc 6 cyl. DOHC engine producing 150 bph at 6600 rpm. Optional competition tuning could raise power to 200 bhp. The car used an all synchro 5-spd, and had disc brakes at all four corners.

The prices I've seen quoted for this car are at such fantastic odds with each other that I am at a loss to know what the value actually is. The low price I've seen is $6,000 which I find hard to credit. The high price I've found quoted is $50,000. See what I mean?

The lack of greater success for this car can be attributed to several factors. The Yamaha plant had very low capacity for turning out this car. And at this time in Japan's history they were not geared up for export.

If you wish to see this car "in the flesh" Toyota has one on display at their corporate museum in Tokyo. It just happens that I'll actually be there in September to pay homage to a star that should have been!

"ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE":
In the film Bond and his new bride are whisked from the reception in an Aston-Martin DBS V8. No that's not a type-o. It's an "S", not a five. William Town's American influence on this car really shows, I'm sorry to say. The DBS was a heavy car. So heavy that the engine with which it was originally equipped, the same engine from the DB-6, couldn't haul it around well enough. Voila! The 5340cc Quad overhead cammed, fuel injected V8 was installed. It produced 375 bhp at 5000 rpm to produce a top speed of 159 mph. That power went through your choice of a manual tranny or Chrysler's "Torquflite" automatic.

All that weight required power steering which was standard.

Unfortunately the motto for this car has become, "Cheap to buy, but expensive to own"! Price today: $15,000. But expect to pay 25% more for one with a manual transmission.

In the novel Bond drove the afore mentioned Bentley. See above at: THUNDERBALL.

"DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER":
In the film Bond turns the Las Vegas' police topsy-turvy, mostly literally, with his driving skills behind the wheel of a 1971, Ford Mustang Mach 1. How good is he? So good that he can not only drive the car balanced on only two wheels, but can also switch to the OTHER set of wheels while driving down an alleyway narrower than the width of the car itself! I allude, of course, to one of the classic Bond bloopers of all time.

The 1971 Mustang Mach 1 is not a particularly prized or valued Mustang. It gets only two and a half stars out of five among Mustangs as a collectible and is not expected to appreciate. The car was produced in great numbers and should be easy to find at $5,000 today, but I've seen it priced as low as $1,200.

This version of the famous Mustang name was among the last versions made. In 1971 it featured a 250 bhp, 351 cubic inch, V8 engine. The car came with sports suspension, a special grille, a hood scoop and the fastback "SportsRoof".

In the novel Fleming introduced us to one of my favourite, and certainly one of the least known, cars of the 1950's. On a drive to Saratoga Bond gets his first look at the new car of his best friend, Felix Leiter. The car appears to be a black Studebaker convertible. When Felix talks up the car's performance Bond thinks he's spouting nonsense, until Felix stomps the fuel pedal and reveals to Bond the car's hidden abilities. Leiter's car is a special custom job, a Studebaker with a powerful Cadillac engine under the hood. Cadillacs in the 1950s were real performance cars. When the horsepower of the Caddy engine was put into the aerodynamic, lightweight, Loewy designed Studabaker body it yielded a potent, high velocity, weapon! Special rear axle, brakes and transmission had to be added to handle the extra power.

This car is not the product of Fleming's fertile imagination. Such a car was actually produced by a specialty shop in New York. It was dubbed with the singularly un-mellifluous sobriquet, "Studillac". But that aside this car is a real honey!

I know of no source today for the Studillac, but the Raymond Loewy designed Studebaker sports coupes of the mid 1950's are beautiful and special enough on their own to warrant admiration.

Studebaker got their start way back in 1853 making Conestoga wagons. To celebrate their 100 year anniversary in 1953 the firm hired the famous French designer, Raymond Loewy to design their new line of cars. The result was what has been called "America's prettiest car of the 50s". They had a decidedly European look to them. I expect this is why Fleming chose the car for Felix, and why Fleming allowed Bond to admire it. It was that same European styling that was to put Loewy at odds with Studebaker just two years later. They came to consider his styling "Un-American". Chrome and tail fins were starting to really catch on and Loewy wanted no part of either. He kept them as minimal as possible on later designs, but at the time of Diamonds Are Forever his designs were still pure, and today one of these beautiful cars can be had for the low price of $5,500.

"THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN":
O.K. I admit it. In 1974 Bond drove an AMC Hornet. The less said the better. You want one? They still want $2400 for one today. Amazing.

"THE SPY WHO LOVED M"E:
Enter Roger Moore's elegant, amazing signature car. What? You think I mean the AMC Hornet or the Citroen 2CV?! Shame on you. The famous automobile designer Giugiaro produced the stunning LOTUS ESPRIT as a concept car in 1972, but it wasn't until 1977 that it became "the stuff that dreams are made of" when it appeared on the screen in the hands of James Bond.

Unfortunately the dream was more of a nightmare for real life owners. You cannot see to backup in it. Even hand luggage doesn't fit. The interior featured amateurishly poor trim work. The heater often failed. The power windows jammed. Early models didn't have galvanized frames so rust was rampant. It suffered from cooling problems which weren't fixed until 1979.

On the plus side the car has excellent road holding, independent suspension, four disc brakes, and, interestingly featured the transaxle from the French/Italian car the Citroen SM. The car has a plastic body on a backbone chassis with a centrally mounted engine. The S1 has a 1973cc engine. The S2 is 2174cc. Both are 4 cyl., DOHC, and produce 160 bhp with a top speed of 135 mph.

The car has been dubbed "a brilliant supercar", but "flawed in so many ways". It can be had quite cheaply. The price back in 1977 was $17,440, but the price I found quoted today is a paltry $5,000.

In the novel Bond shows up in a car he claims is a rental. It seems unlikely considering that what he is driving is a 1962, relatively rare, two seater, convertible, Ford Thunderbird. It's quite the special agency that would have offered such a car. Bond's is dark grey with a cream coloured soft top.

In 1958 Ford scraped the two seat Thunderbird for the "Squarebird", as the second generation of T-birds came to be called. It had four separate bucket seats. Just as people were moaning that the T-bird had lost some of its fun Ford came out with the Thunderbird Roadster. All it was was the four seat convertible with a fiberglass panel that mounted to cover up the two rear seats. You could still raise and lower the top with the fiberglass panel in place. If you needed to use the two extra rear seats the panel could be removed and stored in the trunk. This panel was offered for only two more years. The convertible was offered for four. After 1966 there were no more convertible Thunderbirds.

The top was automatic and when activated the rear deck would rise up hinged at the back, as the soft top folded back, and down out of sight. Then the rear deck would return into place. Quite a show!

The engine was a 390 cubic inch V8, and although few people chose them, there were two other engine options. A 406 cubic inch producing 385 bhp at 4800 rpm, and, with the optional tri-power, 405 bph at 4800 rpm.

Today the 1962 four seat T-bird convertible will fetch $14,000, but for the rare two-seater Bond drove you'll pay a premium $20,000!

"MOONRAKER":
In this novel we are introduced to the first car that Bond ever owned. One of the last 4.5 liter convertible Bentleys that were discontinued in 1930. Bond's was augmented with an Amherst-Villiers supercharger, we are told that it is capable of cruising at 90 mph with 30 mph more in reserve. This car is also mentioned in the first novel, "Casino Royale". We're told that Bond bought the car almost new in 1933. He must have been about 12 years old! But I will not get into the controversy here about Bond's ever shifting age. Unlike his later 1954 Bentley Bond took loving car of this one which was also battleship grey. The price I found listed for this Bentley today was $20,000, which seems optimistic to me but I admit to not being up on the vagaries of Bentley values.

"FOR YOUR EYES ONLY":
In this film Bond experiences one of the true "world cars", but he didn't have time analyze the experience since he was being chased by baddies in high powered black sedans at the time. The car in question is the Citroen 2CV (Deux Chevaux) which had a pre-war development program, but didn't debut until 1948. It went on to be produced for 40 years! It was designed to be an absolutely basic car. It was front drive and had an air cooled, flat twin, engine that was "gutless but unburstable"! The story goes that farmers used this car to plow their fields!

The hood of early models was corrugated metal. The earliest versions had canvas doors. The top of the car was canvas that could be rolled back to form quite a large sun roof. The seats were metal tubing like lawn furniture. At first the seats were hammock style, but later removable cushions were added. The windows didn't roll down, they were hinged in the middle and folded over. The narrow tires offered surprisingly good road holding, and that, along with lots of body lean, made for good handling. Initially the car didn't offer a speedometer. One wasn't needed. You could tell the car was moving be the fact that the scenery changed, although very slowly. The most powerful engine offered generated just 31 bhp at a surprisingly high 7000 rpm. Later when a speedometer was added the cable served double duty and drove the windshield wipers too. The highest reading you could ever read on that speedometer was a surprising 75 mph with the V-6 engine and a 0-60 time of 30 seconds.

The car as many loyal followers and there are 2CV clubs all round the world. Price can vary from $3,000 down to $1,200, depending on the year of manufacture. Some special editions command much higher prices.

Fleming's short story, "From a View to a Kill", featured Bond, for the first and last time, riding a motorcycle. It was the BSA M20. The BSA brand was fitting for Bond. Not only was it British, but it originated at a small arms manufacturer in 1861. BSA stands for Birmingham Small Arms. They evolved into making parts for motorcycles, and in 1909 manufactured their first complete motorcycle. The "M" series engines were nearly indestructible. They began production in 1939 and continued for 25 years. The bike had a big duplex cradle frame. These bikes were equally at home for on or off road use. It was the legendary Goldstar M24 (1938) with an all alloy engine that was the most famous of the series.

"THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS":
Bond returns to the Aston-Martin marque in this film piloting 1987 Volante. Despite the fact that this car is already ten years old it will still set you back a whopping $70,000 today.

"GOLDENEYE":
We end with the most recent of Bond's cars, the BMW Z3. In Goldeneye Bond became the Euro-007. No longer would Q issue proud British marques to him. This Bond sets off to do battle with the ungodly in a clean newly designed BMW Z3 convertible sports car. He never finds any adversaries upon whom he could test Q's ingenious devices, but at least he gets to do some good, fun in the sun, top down, driving, and, presumably, returns a car to Q intact and unharmed for once.

The Z3 was issued a rather underpowered 1.9 liter engine. Now there is the option of a much more spirited 2.8. The shifting action of the tansmission is first rate. The car is based on components from BMW's 3-series sedans. Prices range from $29,425 to $35,900. There was a special Goldeneye edition of the car, but if you're just finding out about that here, then you're way to late to snag one.

What lies down the road for Bond from a vehicular transport standpoint? Well in the soon-to-be-released EON Bond film, TOMORROW NEVER DIES, Bond will continue his love affair with Deutsche products. This time though he'll get a roof over his head, sprout two more doors, and put on a considerable amount of tonnage as a BMW "7" series sedan becomes his latest mode of conveyance.

Raymond Benson's literary Bond has yet to adopt a car. Perhaps "THE FACTS OF DEATH" will change that.

Mr. Benson probably knows, as do the folk at EON, but, they ain't saying.

Personally I'd like to see Bond's driving habits steered back to British soil. Among the worthy candidates for his patronage are the fabulous Aston-Martin DB-7 and the equally gorgeous Jaguar XK-8. The Aston would continue the long 007 association with that particular marque. But there would be a certain sense of justice in Bond's choice of a Jaguar. It would even the scales for that time so many years ago back in 1959 when Bond, in the novel Goldfinger, selected an Aston over the Jag. Well, Bond has that rare opportunity so few of us get. A chance to go back and try the road not taken. There would be a certain symmetry in his finally seeing what the Jag can do.

And with Q stirring the ingredients, you can bet it would do plenty!