James Bond ditches the Aston Martin

Author Sebastian Faulks has agreeably announced that James Bond will get back behind the wheel of a Bentley for next year's literary celebration of the centenary of Ian Fleming's birth - entitled Devil May Care. According to the Telegraph, Faulks confirmed 007 will fire up a "battleship grey" example of the marque, the same …

[Frank Bough]

Astons and Fact Checking

Bond drove an Aston DBS in the latest movie, as any petrolhead will surely know.

[Anonymous Coward]

Easy change option

This could all change if Skoda (VW) can drum up $50m and pay Bond to drive one, saying that, even a C5 could have made it if they had the cash back then.

[The Cube]

Passion for a VolksWagen?

"It is wonderful that somebody has decided to go back to the roots of the original book, to Ian Fleming's own tastes and to James Bond's passion for the cars."

I don't recall James Bond having a passion for VolksWagens, perhaps Mr Rosenstein is thinking of Herbie...

[Steven Moore]

Not a T-Series!

The ' 67 T looks too much like a Rolls.

Bond would drive something a bit more sporting and stylish, with a nod to vintage craftsmanship.

A '54 or '55 R-Type Continental is more like it.

[Damien Jorgensen]

Title

Jaguar is owned by Ford lol

Aston Martin is British owned by ProDrive

[amanfromMars]

Softly softly......

Such a shame, Yousef, that Volkswagen did not require Veyron owners to be XXXXtra Special too........ and be prepared to drive a Teutonic Precision course in whatever Creative Business Enterprise they were fronting/leading. On any scale, it must be the most potent PR weapon never used, although I imagine the difficulty would be in them knowing who would be a Worthy Champion of ITs Deutsche Mark as there are just so many cowboys out there

[SoupDragon]

Realism

Having seen the complaints about Nigella walking into a house, then appearing in a kitchen elsewhere, I am appalled to learn that James Bond has never actually been into space.

Now where is that letter to Father Christmas that I must finish...

[daniel]

Car with driver?

I thought that James Bond worked for MI6 as a secret agent, not the bleeding foreign office as a visiting head of state!!!

Maybe the author mixed Century House and Buck House?

The next James Bond, with Prince Harry as Terminator in a Chauffeur driven Roller equipped with laser cannons shot from Spirit of Ecstasy's eyes, and getting calls from Q(e2) telling him to please pay attention...

[Edward Fingleton]

@Astons and Fact Checking

You might want to check your own a little further, yes while the car was listed as a DBS and all the standing still shots were in that car, all of the moving shots were done in facelifted DB9's

[Neil Porter]

Going back to his roots!?!

Of course this decision is entirely motivated by going back to Bond's roots in the books and nothing to do with Bentley offering them more money to feature one of their cars.

[Alan Gregson]

@Yousef Syed

More fact checking required, it was the new shape Ford Mondeo that Daniel Craig drove in Casino Royale

[Charlie]

That Bentley is not what it seems

The Bentley is actually a Rolls Royce.

VW outbid BMW for Rolls Royce, but in an amazing turnabout, BMW then managed to buy just the Rolls Royce name. (I like to think of it as BMW legally stealing the company)

So the new Rolls Royce has nothing to do with the Rollers of old and Bentleys are built in the same factory, by the same master craftsmen that have built Rolls Royce for over 100 years.

[My Opinion]

@ Yousef Syed

"(which is possibly why Daniel Craig is seen in a Ford Focus in Casino Royale)"

I believe you'll find it was the first sighting of the new Mondeo. Size does matter. Particularly if you have a reputation like Bond.

[Anonymous Coward]

Nationality..

Surely, "a 1967 T-series" is British and a Bentley?

[Bytus]

DB9 aaarrgghhh

A DBS goddamnit, not a DB9!

Anyways...you want him to drive something british? Then give him a Morgan, a Noble or even better: an Ariel Atom! THAT would let him outmanouver just about everything there is. Downside would be the lack of room for all his gadgets.

[Scott]

Bond loyalists

Alot of lol here...

I have the *perfect* idea that will satisfy everyone here - Bond: Licence to kill (carbon). He walks, runs, rides a bike to get to places. Plants trees to try and be carbon neutral, all the while still being sexed up, etc.. :)

</sarcasm>

(Can't wait for the next Bond, really! :)

[Scott Mckenzie]

@Damien

Aston Martin is owned by a Saudi backed British consortium headed up by Dave Richards, who also incidentally owns ProDrive.

ProDrive do not own Aston Martin.

[alan]

Not stealing

IIRC Vickers sold Rolls Royce cars to VW, but the name was never theirs to sell. The real owners (That'd be Rolls Royce aero engines) are very pally with BMW so VW got the company and BMW got the name.

[Mr Larrington]

Bah!

T-series? Feh! Just a Roller with a different grill. Long long ago (mid-1970s) there was a minor fad for throwing away the rusted-out bodies of Mark VI Bentleys and replacing them with something of vaguely Vintage appearance. Even /that/ would be preferable to putting Bond James Bond into a T-series...

[Chris Collins]

This reminds me of a film

I can't fail to be reminded by these comments of the scene from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls with all the orgasming over "ah Be-ently" or "ah Ro-olls". Perhaps this may be obscure.

[Alex]

Like it, 007 licence to Recycle

Enter James in cotton suit (environmentally friendly & fairtrade) orders an Appletini shaken & not stirred (Drink responsibly) then goes outside for a new low tar Menthol Senior Service (OK he shouldn't smoke but he forgot his patches).

To avoid Global devestation he gives Jaws a fixed penalty notice for littering bits of dead CIA agent everywhere, overcomes Blofeld with a friendly hug, converts the solar death ray to a new electricity station using just a hair grip whilst hanging almost an inch off the ground without a safety harness and then he drives off in his Toyota Prius with his new life partner Mr Kid dramatically jumping a small speed bump as he goes.

[Alan Jenney]

Nationality @JonB

Absolutely. Many of the comments here seem to be about what's happened to the car industry after a 1967 T would have been built at the Pym's Lane plant in Crewe.

[Paul]

Urrm..

"Enter James in cotton suit (environmentally friendly & fairtrade)" How exactly is that more environmentaly friendly than wool?

[Anonymous Coward]

... enter James Bond in a hula skirt woven from willow withies...

... that he disposes of in a local Combined Heat & Power plant

[andy gibson]

@SoupDragon

Bond never been into space? What about "Moonraker"?

[Anonymous Coward]

Can you buy good product placement in a 007 film?

I was considering a BMW until bond end up in one and it was so out of character, they lost points on my comparison and I ended up with their competition with no regrets. I wonder how many other sales were lost due to trying to fit a round peg in a square hole?

[Nick Palmer]

@ Mr. Larrington

"Long long ago (mid-1970s) there was a minor fad for throwing away the rusted-out bodies of Mark VI Bentleys and replacing them with something of vaguely Vintage appearance."

That would actually be very much in keeping (kind of) with Bond. As I recall at least one of his Bentleys was one that had been married to a tree, scraped off it, straightened out, the bodywork junked and custom coachwork in battleship grey fitted.

[miika]

Ummm

@Alex:

"converts the solar death ray to a new electricity station using just a hair grip whilst hanging almost an inch off the ground without a safety harness"

Excuse me, but as a card carrying member of the "swoons and get all mushy at the idea of Richard Dean Anderson club", please stop trying to swipe MacGyver stuff for Bond.

*picks herself up after thinking of RDA and continues*

@Andy Gibson:

"Bond never been into space? What about "Moonraker"?"

That was Roger Moore, he doesn't count on account of the fact he's a total prat with all the acting ability of your average 3 week old ham sandwich.

No-one gives Bond a decent car, they know he's only going to wreck it. I think they're all Ford Escorts with creative bodywork attached.