It’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these so I’d like to resume where I left off.
Like James Bond fights and chases, there have been many cars and other land vehicles in the 007 film series and Never Say Never Again over the years. These can take many forms from automobiles and motorcycles to tanks and moon buggies. Bond has driven many of these and has been driven in others, and still others haven’t had him along at all for their rides. Every film has at least one good vehicle in it, but which ones are the best? For this exercise, we will just use those land vehicles driven and/or owned by Bond (i.e. his From Russia With Love Bentley 4 1/2 Litre that he never actually drove on-screen but was actually his personal car and one he used for an afternoon tryst with Sylvia Trench).
My opinion for Best Bond cars:
SEAN CONNERY: 1963 Aston Martin DB5 (Goldfinger)
GEORGE LAZENBY: 1968 Aston Martin DBS (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service)
ROGER MOORE: 1976 Lotus Esprit S1 (The Spy Who Loved Me)
TIMOTHY DALTON: 1985 Aston Martin V8 (The Living Daylights)
PIERCE BROSNAN: 2002 Aston Martin Vanquish (Die Another Day)
DANIEL CRAIG: 2015 Aston Martin DB10 (SPECTRE)
Granted this may be the easiest list to make, but picking the ultimate winner from these choices is a bit harder. These are six nice cars but to me four are REALLY great and it’s hard to choose from them, but I will go with Brosnan’s Aston Martin Vanquish. I know people don’t like the film or even the car, or at least one of its features, but to me, I ignore the not realistic yet aspect of the car and just go with it. As a result, I like the feature of an invisible car, its other gadgets are great from its guns and missiles to its defense systems. It can also back up (sloped) walls and it has the terrific ejector seat. Plus, I think it’s the best looking car of the bunch.
For added fun, we could even name the best Bond car that didn’t have any gadgets installed. For that, my choice would be Tiffany’s 1971 Ford Mustang Mach 1 (Diamonds Are Forever). Good looking muscle car that proved very agile on the Las Vegas Strip.
Here is the list of cars and other land vehicles James Bond has driven in the series:
SEAN CONNERY:
1. 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air (Jones car) – DN
2. 1961 Sunbeam Alpine Series II (Bond car) – DN
3. 1938 Bentley 4 1/4 Litre (Bond car) – FRWL
4. 1961 Chevrolet C-30 Apache (Rhoda pickup) – FRWL
5. 1963 Aston Martin DB5 (Bond car) – G
6. 1965 Lincoln Continental (Bond car) – T
(BOND DID NOT DRIVE A CAR IN YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE)
7. 1970 Triumph Stag Mk1 (Franks car) – DAF
8. 1971 Ford Galaxie 500 (Bond car) – DAF
9. Moon Buggy (Whyte Techtronics buggy) – DAF
10. Honda ATC 90 (Whyte Techtronics 3-wheeler) – DAF
11. 1971 Ford Mustang Mach 1 (Tiffany car) – DAF
12. Manitowoc 3900 (SPECTRE crane) – DAF
13. 1937 Bentley 4 1/4 Litre (Bond car) – NSNA
14. Yamaha XJ 650 Seca Turbo (Bond motorcycle) – NSNA
15. Bicycle (Bond bike) – NSNA
GEORGE LAZENBY:
1. 1968 Aston Martin DBS (Bond car) – OHMSS
2. Bobsled (Bond bobsled) – OHMSS
ROGER MOORE:
1. 1972 Leyland Mini Moke (Bond car) – LALD
2. 1963 Chevrolet Impala Convertible (Bond car) – LALD
3. 1947 AEC Regent III (San Monique bus) – LALD
4. 1974 AMC Hornet (Bond car) – TMWTGG
5. 1976 Lotus Esprit S1 (Bond car) – TSWLM
6. Moonraker Launch Base Shuttle Car (Drax shuttle car) – M
7. 1980 Lotus Esprit Turbo (Bond white car) – FYEO
8. 1980 Citroen 2CV 6 (Melina car) – FYEO
9. 1981 Lotus Esprit Turbo (Bond red car) – FYEO
10. Zamboni (Cortina Zamboni) – FYEO
11. 1980 Land-Rover Range Rover Convertible Series I (Bond car) – O
12. 1968 Mercedes-Benz 280 S (Orlov car) – O
13. 1981 Alfa Romeo GTV 6 (German Woman car) – O
14. Polaris Indy 600 (Soviet Soldier snowmobile) – AVTAK
15. 1983 Renault 11 (Paris Taxi Driver car) – AVTAK
16. 1983 Ford LTD (Bond car) – AVTAK
17. 1964 American LaFrance 900 (San Francisco fire engine) – AVTAK
18. 1968 Chevrolet C-Series (Zorin Worker pickup) – AVTAK
TIMOTHY DALTON:
1. 1986 Audi 200 Quattro C3 (Saunders car) – TLD
2. 1985 Aston Martin V8 MkIV (Bond car) – TLD
3. 1986 Audi 200 Avant C3 (Bond car) – TLD
4. Tracma 1500 (Soviet airport ground conveyor) – TLD
5. 1984 Land-Rover 90 (Feyador car) – TLD
6. 1988 Lincoln Mark VII (Bond car) – LTK
7. 1989 Kenworth W-00 B (Sanchez tanker truck) – LTK
PIERCE BROSNAN:
1. Caviga 350 T 4 (Soviet Soldier motorcycle) – G/E
2. 1964 Aston Martin DB5 (Bond car) – G/E
3. KhPZ T-54 (Russian tank) – G/E
4. 1995 BMW Z3 (Bond car) – G/E
5. 1997 BMW 750iL (Bond car) – TND
6. 1997 BMW R 1200 C (Bond motorcycle) – TND
7. 1999 BMW Z8 (Bond car) – TWINE
8. 1986 Lada Niva (Arkov car) – TWINE
9. 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner (Raoul car) – DAD
10. 2002 Aston Martin Vanquish (Bond car) – DAD
11. Ice Dragster (Moon/Graves ice dragster) – DAD
12. Ski-Doo (Moon/Graves Thug snowmobile) – DAD
DANIEL CRAIG:
1. 2005 New Holland W 190 B (Madagascar front loader) – CR
2. 2006 Ford Mondeo Mk IV (Bond car) – CR
3. 2006 Land-Rover Range Rover Sport (Schultz car) – CR
4. 2007 Aston Martin DBS (Bond car) – CR
5. 2008 Aston Martin DBS (Bond car) – QOS
6. Montesa Cota 4RT (Haitian Gang Member motorcycle) – QOS
7. 1989 Ford Bronco II (Bond car) – QOS
8. 2008 Volvo S40 (Bond car) – QOS
9. 2008 Land-Rover Range Rover Sport (Bond car) – QOS
10. 2008 Ford Edge (Greene car) – QOS
11. Honda CRF 250 R (Bond motorcycle) – Sk
12. Caterpillar 320 DL (Bond construction vehicle) – Sk
13. 2010 Mercedes-Benz S 300 (Bond car) – Sk
14. 2011 Jaguar XJ L (M car) – Sk
15. 2015 Aston Martin DB10 (Bond car) – Sp
As a side note, if the same make and model appeared in different films, I just counted the initial vehicle such as the 1963 Aston Martin DB5 in Goldfinger and not Thunderball nor any of the 1964 Aston Martins in the Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig films following its original appearance in GoldenEye. Similarly, the 2008 Aston Martin DBS in Quantum Of Solace is included since its year is different from the 2007 Aston Martin DBS in Casino Royale.
Note all the makes and models I got from using the Internet Movie Cars Database.
The one exception I’d make to that is the fact that the DB5 in Casino Royale is actually a different car as its left hand drive (blasphemous I know lol).
My favorite Bond car hands down is the Aston Martin V8 from TLD (and NTTD). Curiously enough, my absolute favorite car is not listed here (because Bond didn’t drive it). It’s the Toyota GT 2000 from YOLT driven by Aki.
In my eyes, the scene of Bond arriving at shrublands in the Bentley in NSNA was a little indication that this was a big screen version of the Bond from the novels, not the movies.