The James Bond universe is known for certain things: martinis, zippy one-liners, villainous villains. And, of course, cars.
On the heels of the global release of the latest Bond film, No Time To Die, cars are the central focus of an exhibition at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles which is expected to run until the end of October.
“Bond in Motion” features more than 30 vehicles from the Bond franchise, spanning the 24 films released before No Time to Die. The exhibition includes cars as well as motorcycles, watercraft, aeroplanes and helicopters – any vehicle the unflappable secret agent used to escape certain death or track down evildoers.
The show is the largest of its kind to be seen in the US, and it was also timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the 007 films. The first, Dr No, came out in 1962.
The exhibition feels as cool and modern as every Bond film. Previously presented at the London Film Museum, it is a partnership between EON Productions and the Ian Fleming Foundation (Fleming wrote a series of novels based on the British spy James Bond).
Each vehicle in the exhibition is presented with details about the films in which it appeared and the context of the appearance. Some were used in more than one. A 1964 Aston Martin DB5 was used in Goldeneye, Tomorrow never Dies, Skyfall, Spectre, and the long-awaited and finally released No Time To Die.
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In Goldeneye, Bond was played by Pierce Brosnan and the iconic DB5 returned to the big screen after a 30-year absence. It has now featured in more Bond films than any other car.
Walls in the exhibition space are covered with stills from the films, and footage on screens shows the vehicles at work, serving to remind just how integral they were to each film.
“The vehicles that James Bond drives are a prominent part of the franchise’s legacy,” says Petersen Automotive Museum director Terry Karges, adding that the event would appeal as much to movie fans as car fans.
The Tow Sled, for instance, which appeared in the 1965 film Thunderball, featured in what is still considered one of the best Bond fight scenes ever. Fourteen of these sledges were made for the film; only two remain.
The sledges were made by an underwater engineer named Jordan Klein, based on designs by production designer Ken Adam. Each is powered by three electric motors and come with the helpful additions of harpoons. In the film, Bond (played by Sean Connery) and villain Largo both manage to adroitly handle the sledge.
Some of the vehicles were only seen once on the big screen. The Kawasaki-Bell 47G-3 helicopter was in 1967’s You Only Live Twice. Connery’s Bond travels to a remote Japanese island to find out what happened to American and Soviet spacecraft. While airborne he is attacked by a quartet of patrol helicopters.
There is a detailed scale model of the helicopter in the exhibition, one of the two surviving from the six built to film the aerial fight sequence.
A mini-submarine, the Bath-O-Sub, from 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever, was used by the criminal mastermind Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Charles Gray) to try and abscond from an elevated oil platform. A second Bath-O-Sub was made for Connery’s Bond to use as a wrecking ball to demolish the structure.
There are sleek speedboats and racy motorcycles in the exhibition, accompanied by imagery that provides an insight into the magic of movie-making.
Six Citroen 2CV cars were used in For Your Eyes Only, released in 1981. The one on display is the last remaining. It was also the only one rigged for a camera. It was towed behind a set car, providing camera operators with the option for close-ups as the yellow half-car was tugged through scenic olive groves and a sleepy village.
The exhibition serves as a reminder to pay attention to the getaway car in Bond films. Or the getaway helicopter. Or the mini-submarine.
