Petersen Automotive Museum Celebrates The Cars Of Bond

Anticipation is pretty high for the new James Bond movie. The British spy flick has already garnered the highest opening weekend in the UK of all time for any movie, and its success doesn’t seem to be slowing for opening weekend in the US.  So, to celebrate Bond and everything automotive about 007, The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles is premiering its Bond exhibit. 

Set amid the Hollywood glamour that ensconces all things in Los Angeles, even the gas station taco trucks, the Petersen Automotive Museum has been displaying some of the best cars for almost 30 years. And the new Bond in Motion exhibit, celebrating Bond’s diamond anniversary (that’s right. It’s the diamond one) is nothing less than a really big peacock feather in their collective caps.  

On display are some of the most iconic cars Bond has every had the pleasure of wrecking in one of his famous/infamous car chases. He might have a license to kill, but we’re pretty sure Q Branch would much rather he used his license to drive… safely.  

First up is the greatest boat you’ll never get to have an idyllic afternoon at the lake in, the Wet Nellie. This car has quite the Bond history and trivia behind, read all about it here. Featured in the 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me this Lotus Esprit turns into a submarine in the movie. There are actually a few versions of the car that appear in the movie. The one on display at the exhibit is the one that is the actual functioning submarine. This puppy was made during a time when they couldn’t just make a CGI car submarine they can now. It’s definitely cool, and definitely worth seeing. 

Then there’s thee Aston Martin V12 Vanquish from Die Another Day. The last movie in Pierce Brosnan’s tenure as the MI6 agent. This car had all normal Bond goodies. It had machine guns. It had rockets. It was bulletproof. The coolest thing however was actually what it didn’t have. Namely something to see… it was an invisibility cloak. According to Q himself there are cameras all around the car and also tiny projectors that projected what the cameras on the other side of the car were seeing. So yeah, invisibility cloak.  

We’re not sure if the display car has the invisibility system activated, but there’s only one way to find out.