Live and let drive

1962, Dr. No: Sunbeam Alpine Series II

On arriving in Jamaica for his first assignment, Sean Connery’s Bond hires a powder-blue Sunbeam, in which he is pursued in a hearse by Dr No’s henchmen. The British-built Alpine had a meagre 1.6-litre engine and was based on a Hillman estate model not well-known for its handling. A two-seat soft-top, it had no gadgets or gizmos. The car used was borrowed from a Jamaican resident.

Buy one: Second-hand from around £10,000.

1964, Goldfinger: Aston Martin DB5

The most famous Bond car, the DB5 first appeared with 007 as he was battling Auric Goldfinger and has since featured, again with Sean Connery, in Thunderball, before being in two films from the Pierce Brosnan era and four with Daniel Craig. In Goldfinger, the car features machine guns, an ejector seat, tyre slashers and a revolving number plate.

Buy one: Aston Martin recently built 25 DB5 Goldfinger cars, priced at £2.75 million.

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1971, Diamonds Are Forever: Triumph Stag

Bond, played again by Connery, commandeers a criminal’s Triumph to drive to Amsterdam. The yellow car is a source of debate among fans. The notoriously unreliable Stag was powered by a V8 engine, yet the exhaust sound changes during later scenes. Many believe the engine blew up and was replaced with a four-cylinder unit from a lowly Triumph Herald instead.

Buy one: Second-hand from around £10,000.

1977, The Spy Who Loved Me: Lotus Esprit

This white Lotus could transform into a submarine, allowing Roger Moore’s 007 to fight the villainous Stromberg with limpet mines and an underwater ‘smokescreen’.

Buy one: Tesla owner Elon Musk bought ‘Wet Nellie’ – the sub with the Lotus exterior used for underwater filming – for £600,000 in 2013. He also put a ‘secret’ file in every Tesla Model S saloon, which shows an image of a submersible Esprit on the screen. A road-only Esprit is from £30,000, second-hand.

1981, For Your Eyes Only: Citroen 2CV

Probably the most surprising Bond car. 007, played by Moore, borrows the snail-paced yellow Citroen to escape assassins down a Spanish hillside. Stunt driver Rémy Julienne insisted the car’s feeble 602cc engine was replaced with a more powerful unit. The film spawned a 007 special edition of 500 cars with ‘bullet hole’ markings.

Buy one: Standard 2CVs are around £8,000, second-hand.

1995, GoldenEye: BMW Z3 Roadster

When BMW signed a three-film deal with the Bond franchise, a Z3 became the ‘auto-weapon’ of choice for Pierce Brosnan’s Bond. Q turned the retro-styled roadster into a fighting machine for the MI6 agent’s trip to Cuba. Under the bonnet was a set of Stinger missiles, as well as a self-destruct system if the car fell into enemy hands.

Buy one: Second-hand from around £4,000.

2006, Casino Royale: Aston Martin DBS

Daniel Craig’s first outing sees him use the DBS to try to rescue Vesper Lynd. Uncluttered by Q weaponry, its glovebox does contain a high-tech first aid kit, which Bond uses to revive himself when poisoned. The DBS set a world record for most car rolls on film – spinning seven times.

Buy one: Second-hand from around £80,000.

2015, Spectre: Aston Martin DB10

Craig’s Bond ‘borrows’ the DB10 for a secret trip to Rome, resulting in a memorable car chase through the Italian capital. Just ten DB10s were built, eight were used in the film. Like Goldfinger’s DB5, the DB10 had an ejector seat.

Buy one: The DB10 was a tease for the V8 Vantage, available second-hand from around £75,000.

Pictures: Alamy, Picturelux/eyevine, tcd/vp/lmkmedia, Danjaq/Eon/Ua/Kobal/Shutterstock

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