Aston Martin V12 Vanquish: Die Another Day
Pierce Brosnan in his last movie as James Bond, and the 20th in the series, was equipped with an Aston Martin V12 Vanquish, the first modern Aston Martin to be featured in a Bond flick. Agent Q’s most memorable car gadget was the invisibility-inducing adaptive-camouflage system. The V12 Vanquish also features in one of the most memorable Bond chase scenes: shot on a frozen lake in Iceland, it is here that James Bond famously uses the ejector seat to flip the car in the chase sequence.
Bumblebee: Transformers
Bumblebee is not only one of the main Autobot characters in the Transformers film series but also the most liked. In most of its incarnations, it takes the form of a Chevrolet Camaro in its vehicle mode. In the last released Transformers movie – The Last Knight – Bumblebee’s alternative vehicle mode is based upon the sixth-generation Chevy Camaro. In the original Transformers cartoons from the ‘80s the character took the form of a classic European Type 1 Volkswagen Beetle, which will make a return in the upcoming Bumblebee spin-off movie.
1965 Chrysler Imperial: The Green Hornet
The 1965 Chrysler Imperial from 2011’s film adaptation of The Green Hornet has two massive Brown .30-caliber machine guns mounted on the bonnet and reverse-opening doors. Built by Dennis McCarthy of Vehicle Effect in California, only 2 remain out of the 29 built for the movie; one of them was auctioned in 2014. The movie makers decided to stick with the Chrysler Imperial as the Black Beauty from the original TV series from the ‘60s.
Lotus Esprit S1: The Spy Who Loved Me
The white Lotus Esprit S1, fondly referred to as 'Wet Nellie', a tribute to Bond's autogyro, 'Little Nellie' from You Only Live Twice, along with being highly armed, could transform into an ocean-going submersible. In 2013, Tesla’s Elon Musk bought the Lotus Esprit submarine car at an auction for close to a million dollars.
Ford Falcon XB GT: Mad Max
The Falcon XB GT from the original Mad Max movie has a story. The movie’s makers, Byron Kennedy and George Miller, were on a very tight budget and bought the muscle car at an auction. The car was heavily modified with a sinister black paint scheme, roof and boot spoilers, wheel arch flares, front nose cone and the massive supercharger sticking out of the bonnet. Due to a lack of funds, after the movie was made, the car was given to the production team’s mechanic, as a payment.
DeLorean DMC-12: Back To The Future
The sports car with butterfly doors, immortalised in the movie as a time machine, was made by a small American car manufacturer. Sadly, the company that produced the DeLorean DMC-12 (named after the founder, John Z. DeLorean) was a disaster, leading to its closure. The original car was restored a couple of years ago by a group of fans and Bob Gale, co-producer and co-writer of the Back to the Future films. It is now on display at Petersen Automotive Museum in LA, USA.
