Could James Bond Ever Drive a Citroen?
Jun 13, 2007 in
Humor
tony fox asked:
Aston Martin cars, just like their most famous driver James Bond are considered to be quintessentially English.They are Like Basil Fawlty and overcast Sunday afternoons: you just can’t separate them from the notion of Englishness.
When I found out that Aston Martin had been put up for sale by it’s owner, the Ford Premier Automitive Group, I couldn’t help but wonder if the day may come when we see James Bond driving, say, a French car.
Bond in a Citroen? I ask you!
Yes I know, it’s a shocking thought and I’m almost ashamed for having let it cross my mind, but anything is possible. Of course it would be wrong to assume that 007 only ever drove English (or British) cars. In 1995 the release of GoldenEye saw Bond using a BMW Z3 as his primary means of transport – the first non-British production car to feature in such a role.
We live in an age when borders are vanishing, cultures merging and notions of identity are changing day by day. Once upon a time it would have been unthinkable for a non-British man to become the manager of a Premiership football team. Now we have loads of them. The next taboo (having a foreign-born manager of the national football team) was broken many years ago.
Our sense of identity is what tells us who we are. Similarly it can give us a sense of pride. Britains love James Bond, not only because he is suave, cool and sophisticated, but because he is British. Most people have a favourite ‘Bond’. Similarly most hardcore Bond fans have a favourite ‘Bond Car’. For most people that favourite Bond Car has to be the Aston Martin DB5 which was first featured in the 1964 film Goldfinger. But why is the DB5 so revered? Is it because of the passenger ejector seat or the telescoping tire slashers? Or could it have something to do with the bulletproof front and rear panels, the oil slick, or the rotating licence plates?
Maybe we do love the idea of having a car with a smoke screen and machine guns built in, but do we love the DB5 so much because of those things, because it simply is a great car, or perhaps because we know it is British?
We see Bond driving an Aston Martin DB5 and we think: That’s quality. We built that. It gives us a sense of pride and a sense of positive identity.
For many Bond purists the decision to switch to BMW for GoldenEye was not well received – not because it didn’t have all the usual refinements (it did, and it was a damn fine car) – but because we didn’t make it.
Friday 31st October 2008 sees the release of the 22nd Bond film ‘Quantum of Solace’ the last 007 movie and the second with Daniel Craig, has given fresh impetus to supporters of Aston Martin to issue a rallying cry and try to ensure that this most famous of British sports cars continues to be made in Britain.
If production of Aston Martin cars such as the Vantage, the DB9 and the limited edition DBS does one day move abroad, we may well see some foreign influences in the design of future 007 vehicles. Or perhaps James Bond may have to switch cars – how about Bond in a Fiat Uno? No, I didn’t think so!
Or maybe by the time the next 007 movie is released, Bond will have had to bow to the pressures of climate change and go green. Perhaps one day we will see our most beloved spy on a bicycle, although admittedly there wouldn’t be quite so much room for the gadgets!
Aston Martin cars, just like their most famous driver James Bond are considered to be quintessentially English.They are Like Basil Fawlty and overcast Sunday afternoons: you just can’t separate them from the notion of Englishness.
When I found out that Aston Martin had been put up for sale by it’s owner, the Ford Premier Automitive Group, I couldn’t help but wonder if the day may come when we see James Bond driving, say, a French car.
Bond in a Citroen? I ask you!
Yes I know, it’s a shocking thought and I’m almost ashamed for having let it cross my mind, but anything is possible. Of course it would be wrong to assume that 007 only ever drove English (or British) cars. In 1995 the release of GoldenEye saw Bond using a BMW Z3 as his primary means of transport – the first non-British production car to feature in such a role.
We live in an age when borders are vanishing, cultures merging and notions of identity are changing day by day. Once upon a time it would have been unthinkable for a non-British man to become the manager of a Premiership football team. Now we have loads of them. The next taboo (having a foreign-born manager of the national football team) was broken many years ago.
Our sense of identity is what tells us who we are. Similarly it can give us a sense of pride. Britains love James Bond, not only because he is suave, cool and sophisticated, but because he is British. Most people have a favourite ‘Bond’. Similarly most hardcore Bond fans have a favourite ‘Bond Car’. For most people that favourite Bond Car has to be the Aston Martin DB5 which was first featured in the 1964 film Goldfinger. But why is the DB5 so revered? Is it because of the passenger ejector seat or the telescoping tire slashers? Or could it have something to do with the bulletproof front and rear panels, the oil slick, or the rotating licence plates?
Maybe we do love the idea of having a car with a smoke screen and machine guns built in, but do we love the DB5 so much because of those things, because it simply is a great car, or perhaps because we know it is British?
We see Bond driving an Aston Martin DB5 and we think: That’s quality. We built that. It gives us a sense of pride and a sense of positive identity.
For many Bond purists the decision to switch to BMW for GoldenEye was not well received – not because it didn’t have all the usual refinements (it did, and it was a damn fine car) – but because we didn’t make it.
Friday 31st October 2008 sees the release of the 22nd Bond film ‘Quantum of Solace’ the last 007 movie and the second with Daniel Craig, has given fresh impetus to supporters of Aston Martin to issue a rallying cry and try to ensure that this most famous of British sports cars continues to be made in Britain.
If production of Aston Martin cars such as the Vantage, the DB9 and the limited edition DBS does one day move abroad, we may well see some foreign influences in the design of future 007 vehicles. Or perhaps James Bond may have to switch cars – how about Bond in a Fiat Uno? No, I didn’t think so!
Or maybe by the time the next 007 movie is released, Bond will have had to bow to the pressures of climate change and go green. Perhaps one day we will see our most beloved spy on a bicycle, although admittedly there wouldn’t be quite so much room for the gadgets!
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