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This Page contains the continuation of the theme "Bond Cars". We
publish here the article from British magazine "Vanity Fair", which was issued in 1987. This article
was kindly given to us by Debra Best and we thank her very much for it! Unfortunately we couldn't
neither get good photoes of Timothy from Xerox copy of the article, nor get the original! However
we tried to compensate this defect by addition of another pictures, suitable to the case.
00-Heaven
Timothy Dalton, the new James Bond, is stirred, but not shaken by
007's Aston Martin
(The article, written by Mark Gindsburg for the British magazine "Vanity Fairs", dated by August
1987)
The Aston Martin coupe (next to a backdrop of Afghanistan from the
newest Bond film) is fast and haute couture enough for any discerning secret agent.
Only 225 Aston Martins are built each year, and for thc price of ihe
cheapest one you could buy two other luxury sports cars-a Ferrari Mondial and a Porsche 944 Turbo,
for instance. The cars have been bult for "discerning owner-drivers with fast touring in mind"
since 1913, when Lionel Martin and his partner de-signed a British sports car to compete with a
Bugatti (it had a top speed of 70 m.p.h.). Prince Charles got caught speeding in an Aslon Martin;
Elizabeth Taylor drives, or is driven in, an Aslon Martin Lagonda four-door sedan. The most famous
Aslon Martin was the DB5 modified for James Bond In Goldfmger and Thuinderball. It had built-in
machine guns, and thwarted villains in homicidal pursuit by spitting out oil, nails, and even
passenger. This is the car that is evoked by the Aslon Manin V8 Vantages used in The Living
Daylights, the fifteenth James Bond movie. The film introduces a new James Bond and a new Miss
Money-penny, but the Aston Martins create a judicious and savoury link to the past.
"I drive a Toyota MR2," remarked Timothy Dalton during a break in
shooting on the set of the film at Pinewood Studios this spring. The most recent James Bond was
lounging in a black parachute outfit, and dragging on a cigarette. "It's absolutely a delight to
drive - the closest thing to a motorbike that you can get in a car." (The MR2 is a very small,
inexpensive, cute mid-engine sports car that is also extremely popular in the U.S.) "When I
mentioned it at a press conference, the Aslon Martin people immediately sent me a glossy brochure
saying that I wouldn't, you know. find their new cars ostentatious." As we spoke, an Aslon Martin
Vantage coupe was being hauled in on a forklift truck; it was badly wounded, and other Aslon Martin
corpses lay about the set. There were eleven cars in use for the film, each with a specific
special-effects purpose. Only four or five were drivable. The others were shells used for close-up
shots of a ski popping out or a wheel hub emitting a deadly laser beam.
"The first one I drove was the convertible, the Vantage Volanle. so
there was no problem with headroom," said Dalton, who stands just over six feet tall. That car
belonged to Aslon Martin's, chairman, who allowed it to be used in the film. Past experience showed
that when a car is used in a Bond movie the number of orders for similar cars increases
noticeably. "The one I've just been driving in Austria is a hardtop, and I fit into it perfectly.
But I also had to play a scene in a new Audi," he added, "and it was a disgrace, reaily; my chin
was half-way on my shoulder - no headroom at all. I think it's probably because everybody's gotten
into this coefficient of drag, haven't they? So they try to streamline." In its first incarnation,
twenty years ago, the V8 coupe was called a DBS: the Vantage engine was put in I972 and the car
was renamed. Though the mechanics have changed, thc basic shell remains the same. It was
aerodynamic at the time, less so by today's standards.
The day before, Dalton had been at the Austro-Italian border
shooting on a frozen lake. It was a chase sequence, where a car that can do l6O m.p.h. isn't
adequate; it has to ski and be rocket-propelled. "It was the first lime I'd come across a car like
this," he explained, "an object that's so expensive, that a lot of people set a great deal of store
by. And it's a nice feeling, you know? I'd never even seen a racing hand brake before. For the
chase, I was told to throw the car around, and It was just wonderful to be spinning on the ice in
that car. I learned a lot about driving technique. Bui I don't like the power steering; it's sloppy
and you don't know where the hell you're going once you're moving at a clip. Some people have said
the clutch is heavy, but it didn't bother me. The car is heavy, which dldn't bother me either,
although I do feel it could perhaps be better balanced."
"The cars felt very individual," Dalton remarked, "perhaps because
they were built by different people." Every Aslon Martin is virtually handmade. A small brass
plaque on each engine bears the name of the man who built it. The lacquer is hand-ruhbed, the color
of the finish made-to-order.
Since the cars used for the film were battered, Aston Martin arranged
tî have a new coupe brought to the studio for us. It was on loan from an unidenified business
executive, because Aston Martin can't afford to set aside "demonstrator" cars. Every car is bullt
to or-der. à last vestige of auto-. motive haute couture. This one was a magnificent deep metallic
blue, with pearl-colored leather upholstery. Most Aston Martins are either blue or black, although
during the Saudi oil heyday cars were ordered in colors to match the flags of the various Gulf
states. They were given out like little mechanical baubles with a note tacked to the windshield
saying something like "Thanks for drill-ing the well. .."
The coupe is one of four V8 models, all two-doors, that are sold in
ihe U.S. What most potential buyers here don't know, because Aston Martin doesn't volunteer it, is
that the car called "Vantage" in the U.S., isn't the same as the European "Vantage." It's really the
basic V8 model with Vantage markings, including some extremely kitschy Holly-wood "kustom" body
molding below the doors that would make an English aristocrat blush. This little deception costs
an additional $10,000. The European Vantage doesn't belong here, since at our maximum legal speed
the car is just beginning to yawn and wake up. In-deed, the Vantage cars that I drove in England
were quieter at 90 m.p.h. than at 60 m.p.h. The cars' extraordinary power can be exploited only
where higher speeds are condoned. But the U.S.-specification cars with the regular V8 engine are,
in fact, nicer to drive. The ride is softer, the engine quieter, and they have impact-resistant
bumpers which, though ugly, protect one's investment during parking maneuvers. And don't be fooled:
all of the Aston Martins sold here have tremendous reserves of power.
"The car's top speed is very high, but I think it takes a while to
get it going." said Dalion, "though you might not find this is true." At first 1 agreed with him,
because this elegant touring car defies treatment as a hot rod. But if one stomps on the
accelerator, the car flies. Massive surges of power are available in any gear one happens to be in,
which eliminates the need for constant shifting - and the engine produces a delightful throaty
gur-gling sound that changes pitch when you change gears.
The interior of the car has the ambience of a cozy English den. The
seats are comfortable and the controls are generally well placed. The leather is from Connolly,
purveyor to most luxury-sports-car companies. Seams are hand-sewn, and I noticed several instances
where the stitching was pulled so tight that the leather was beginning to break up, particularly on
the console area. The feet of nervous passengers rubbing along the floor brought up fuzzballs from
the Wilton wool carpet. This is a delightful anachronism in an age when Jaguar uses "simulated
goat-hair throw rugs" in its Vanden Plas sedans. Obviously, the Aston Manin. which can accurately
be compared only to a Rolls, will show wear and tear much more than ordinary, mass-produced
vehicles. Owners can decide for themselves whether to pamper the car or enjoy it fully and have it
refurbished by the factory now and then.
"I have to say that I prefer the Vantage bonnet [hood] over the
other V8 model. The whole center section is raised up - it's bolder, more fulsome in design, so
rounded and masculine. More attractive, frankly," Dalton remarked from behind the wheel. "There's
a shot in the film, a point-of-view from the driver's seat, and you see this lovely, rounded
bonnet shape. The back win-dow's a bit narrow for rear vision. And the trunk isn't huge, but it's
not the family tourer, is it? I just wonder if it would hold my fishing rods. And, of course,
you can use the backseat for luggage." Rear quarters in the cars look sumptuous but are severely
cramped. The whole area would be much more usable if the rear seat back folded down to allow long
objects, such as picture frames, to be stored in the deep but narrow trunk. Presumably, this is
the type of thing that could be specially ordered.
"Frankly, I find some of the Porsches and Ferrari'1 really ugly,
though I presume they are superb driving machines," Dalton observed. "They just seem terribly
ostentatious and showy - and, to my point of view, vulgar. This Aston Martin is a good shape, it's
got strength, character, and it's not ostentatious. And its driving qualities are impressive. In
a world where you hardly know who makes what car, it has personality. Il's a good-looking car, and
I was delighted to have a go at it." Then Dalton walked to the next soundstage. Moments later he
was strapped to a plank with jets of smoke pouring into his face. A camera hovered overhead as his
arms flailed wildly. In the film, it will look as if he is falling from the sky in an unopened
parachute, perhaps into the seat of a waiting Vantage Volante convertible.
MANUFACTURER'S SPECIFICATIONS
Aston Martin V8 Series
Vehicle type: two-door, rear-wheel-drive.
Price: coupe, $114,000;
Vantage coupe, $129,000;
Volante convertible, $139,000;
Vantage Volante convertible, $149,800.
Options: special order to customer's specifications.
Engine type: 5.4-liter, four-cam V8,
with fuel injection.
Transmission: five-speed manual or
three-speed automatic.
Acceleration 0-60 m.p.h.: - 6.6 seconds;
European Vantage only 5.2 seconds.
Top speed: 140 m.p.h.
(Vantage, European version, - 168 m.p.h).
Projected E.P.A fuel economy:
8 m.p.g. – city, 14 m.p.g. – highway.
COPYRIGHT - Mark Ginsburg, Vanity Fair, August 1987
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