Spy Octane, The Vehicles Of James Bond: new book lifts the bonnet on 007’s cars

For some it’s the tense shoot-outs, or the almost palpable air of glamour and sophistication. Others love the intrigue, the lavish locations, or the breathtaking chase scenes. For millions, however, there’s one key ingredient that really makes a 007 movie: the vehicles. Many authors have nibbled away at the subject, scrutinising the cars, bikes, ‘planes, submersibles and so on. But none I’ve encountered have come close to the grandeur of the latest, ‘Spy Octane, The Vehicles of James Bond, Volume 1’.

A book just as covetable as those scale-model Aston Martin DB5s many of us pushed around the floor in imaginary car chases as kids, and weighing over 3.4 kilos, each of the 400 or so pages is painstakingly produced. Bursting with relevant and hard-researched detail, crammed with compelling, contemporary photographs, original marketing material, comment, portraits, drawings, action shots, showbiz ephemera, pages from autograph books, index cards (remember those?) and much more, this hardback is almost as good as streaming one of the repeats. Perhaps, in some cases, even better.

Each page is further evidence of the lengths gone to by authors and Bond historians Matthew Field and Ajay, who must have lived and breathed this book for years, sifting through millions of pieces of information, before joining them all up in one, long, rather spectacular and highly enjoyable read. Resplendent in a thick, glossy jacket (featuring, of course the ‘JB 007’ DB5, axle-mounted tyre-shredders well and truly deployed), the book is split into eight different sections, focusing on Bond creator Ian Fleming, the first film, Dr No from 1962, then From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, then, finally, Diamonds Are Forever. It’s rounded off with a detailed index and bibliography.

Hard lines. It’s hard to pick a best bit as each chapter, almost every line, is compulsive reading. Most fans will probably race straight to page 64 (coincidentally, or not, chiming with the year ‘64), and the debut of that achingly cool DB5, complete with charismatic Sean Connery. It’s not all vehicles, however; there’s something for everyone here. On the following page, for example, is the famous image of Bond, spreadeagled and strapped to a table, with Auric Goldfinger grinning as the laser closes in. Bond: “Do you expect me to talk?” Goldfinger: “No Mr Bond, I expect you to die.” Great lines, great shot.

There follows a discussion of all the built-in gadgets on the DB5 including a trick compartment under the driver’s seat for Bond’s long-barrelled Colt .45, a switch to alter the type and colour of the front and rear lights in case he was following or being followed at night, reinforced steel bumpers... and of course that ejector seat. Spy Octane lifts the lid, for the first time, on the complete story of all four DB5s used in the making and promotion of Goldfinger (1964) and Thunderball (1965). Each of the cars’ owners through the years fossicked in family archives to support the book with photographs and documents, most never published before.

The story behind the two Toyota 2000GT Convertibles built specially for You Only Live Twice (1967) – one of which was, until now, thought to be lost forever - is also revealed, while the book explains what happened to the two Aston Martin DBS Vantages and three Mercury Cougar XR-7 Convertibles used in the making of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969). As Spy Octane reveals, all of these cars survive to this day.

Other fascinating details include the story of the Little Nellie autogyro which starred in You Only Live Twice backed by exclusive unpublished papers and logbook entries from the craft’s creator and pilot, Wing Commander Ken Wallis. Private access. Bond fans will love the archive images never previously published. “Some of these pictures have sat in attics for more than half a century,” says Matthew. “We have been granted access to private and corporate archives all over the world, including those of Ford and Toyota, who shared a wealth of incredible never-before-published photography.”.

It’s not all high-end motors. Photographs from the Ford archive show the stunt team at work on the stock car chase in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. There are also photographs, drawings and production memos from the collections of custom car builders Dean Jeffries and George Barris, who built futuristic vehicles for Diamonds Are Forever. Also backing the narrative, throughout, are contemporary newspaper clippings and photos and detail from the scrapbook of Aston Martin executive Mike Ashley, who took the gadget-laden DB5 on a promotional world tour in 1964.