Site MapJames Bond’s V8 Saloon Deserves Its Day In the Sun
A brief cameo in “No Time To Die” is not enough
In the latest movie, Bond takes a tarp off of a 1986 Aston Martin V8 saloon, drives it for a bit, and then simply abandons it in a driveway before a really cool car chase, leaving all its cool gadgets behind! It is a “blink and you might miss it” event of a vehicular masterpiece. (Those were the spoilers. See, it wasn’t so bad.)
The Aston Martin V8 saloon in question has been around since 1969 as a production model, and it is clearly reminiscent of a certain Ford Mustang design, but it didn’t appear in a James Bond movie until 1987 when Timothy Dalton took the reins from the venerable Roger Moore in The Living Daylights.
The V8, which replaced the straight-six Vanquish in Aston Martin’s lineup, was actually the first Aston Martin featured as Bond’s main whip since the Lotus Esprit replaced 007’s favorite brand of car in The Spy Who Loved Me. But it was quite a big deal when Aston made its way back into Q’s garage.
We wanted to make sure that this beast didn’t go too deep into the archives.
Or perhaps you find yourself atop a big and snowy alpine hill trying to escape angry KGB agents. Surely your Aston Martin is built more for the long sanguine curves of the English countryside, and not the steep icy gradient before you now! Wrong. With the flip of a conveniently placed switch, you can have specially designed skis pop out the sides. A snowboard would just be gauche. Off you go, slaloming between giant ancient pines for Her Majesty!
Of course, we have saved the best for last – laser wheels. This is exactly what you think. It’s lasers that shoot out of the wheels. Say goodbye to the outmoded shredder that slowly sputters out of the axel to shred your enemies’ tires. Now you can indiscriminately slice through any material at a distance. Unfortunately, you can only slice at about a foot high, but you can indiscriminately slice anything twelve inches off the ground. Don’t get too drunk with this power.
Honorable mentions to the self-destruct button and jet engine booster of course, but we’ve seen these before. Our point here is threefold: 1. This version of V8 is way better than juice. 2. If you haven’t seen The Living Daylights, we highly recommend for this automotive triumph alone. 3. Make sure to be on watch for this glorious machine in No Time To Die, if even only for a little bit.
