007 cars given licence to thrill

Screen hero secret agent James Bond mostly drove a Bentley in Ian Fleming's books and an Aston Martin in early films, but he has flirted with brands such as Lotus, Toyota, Ford, Renault, and Citroen.

He even had an affair with BMW in three films. Now he's back where he started, in an Aston Martin.

It's a patriotic set of wheels, the Aston. British-made, the car agent 007 of Her Majesty's Secret Service should be seen in.

But few of the cars he has used in 20-odd films have lived to tell their top-secret tales.

Aston Martin DB5, Goldfinger (1964):

Fleming in the book offered Bond the choice of an Aston Martin DB3 or a 3.4-litre Jaguar. Bond went for the Jaguar. But the film's production designer Ken Adam and special-effects supervisor John Steers preferred the Aston. They went to the carmaker and chose the fastest in the fleet, a DB5. It was the car that started it all. It packed a host of gadgets, including an injector seat. Also on board were machine guns behind the parking lights, a bullet-proof plate in the rearand tyre cutters. The original was crashed into a wall but a DB5 has appeared in other Bond films.

Toyota 2000 GT You Only Live Twice 1967):

Two 2000 GT models were turned into convertibles for the film. Each was capable of 235km/h and equipped with closed-circuit television. But the two-seaters were not driven by Bond. Japanese agent Aki (Akiko Wakabayashi) was at the wheel.

Aston Martin DBS On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969):

No gadgets, no armour-plating. The only weapon in the car was a rifle concealed in the glovebox. This cost Bond dearly - his new wife was shot through the windscreen.

Ford Mustang Mach 1 Diamonds Are Forever (1970):

Bond used the American muscle car in a race through the Las Vegas strip, which ended in a sideways wheel-stand down a narrow alley.

AMC Hornet The Man with the Goloden Gun (1974):

The fastback helped pull off one of Bond's best stunts. Bond and Sherriff Pepper are following baddie Scaramanga and his assistant Nick Nack. The bad guys are about to get away but Bond accelerates the car over a broken bridge and lands safely in a barrel-roll on the other side. The driver was stuntman Loren "Bumps" Willert and it was done with the aid of a computer at Cornell University's aeronautical laboratory. The computer figured out the jump, bump and roll angles.

Lotus Esprit The Spy Who Loved Me (1977):

The mid-engined Lotus was the most modified of any Bond car and became known as the submarine car. It was chosen for the film after a Lotus PR man heard the makers were looking for a car. He parked two outside Pinewood Studios in London where they were seen by producer Albert Broccoli. Lotus delivered two cars for the film, each fitted with an extra piece of metal sheeting beheath the radiator for protection on the streets of Costa Smeralda, Sardinia. The Esprit's armoury included a self-exploding alarm, missiles, periscope and radar. Broccoli had three models of the Esprit built for transformation from road car to submersible.

Lotus Esprit Turbo For Your Eyes Only (1981):

The script called for two vehicles for Roger Moore's fifth role as Bond. On the island of Corfu Bond used a white Esprit. The car destroyed itself when a baddie tried to break in. Bond switched to a metallic copper Esprit for winter scenes in Italy. Bond also used a Citroen 2CV in the film, after the Esprit blew up. Four 2CV versions were used, each with slight longer chassis.

Aston Martin DBS Vantage and Volante The Living Daylights (1987):

The Volante was perhaps the most destructive Bond car, boasting a wheel-mounted laser, a heads-up display to show targets on the windscreen, a rocket-drive, steel spikes and an ice cutter. Three vehicles were used in the film, a soft-top Volante and two hardtops.

BMW Z3 GoldenEye (1995):

The Z3 was billed as the most dangerous car, after the Volante. But it appeared only briefly in the film and few gadgets were used. There was a GPS tracking system and Stinger missiles behind the headlights. The appearance of the Z3 was hyped because Her Majesty's Secret Service Bond had turned to German engineering.

BMW 750iL Tomorrow Never Dies (1997):

The think-tank of the Bond fleet. It had an armoury of missiles and tricks. Bond even drove it with his cellphone. Scenes were filmed in London and Hamburg. A BMW motorbike was used a getaway vehicle for Bond when he was being chased by baddies in a Range Rover. BMW owned Range Rover then.

BMW Z8 The World Is Not Enough (1999):

The silver Z8 boasted a remote control, a navigation system and a rocket-launcher hidden in the side air vents. Three prototypes were used for filming in Baku, on the Caspian Sea, and in London.

* Other cars Bond drove included a 1961 Sunbeam Alpine Series 5 convertible in the first film, Dr No, starring Sean Connery. A year later, in From Russia With Love, Connery drove a 4.5-litre Bentley Sports Tourer. The Bentley was said to be a favourite of author Fleming. Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Volkswagen models appeared in Octopussy in 1983. Bond went back to a Bentley in Never Say Never Again in 1983 and for A View to a Kill in 1985 he resorted to a Renault 11 taxi.,