Uncover the vehicles of James Bond

Pictured above: Little Nellie, pictured by Matt Howell

A long association with Aston Martin, Bentley Motors, various ships in the Royal Navy, the Commando Helicopter Force, the RAF, The Royal Dragoon Guards, connections to QinetiQ, Lockheed Martin, Babcock, BAE Systems; the Coachmakers contact book reads a little bit like the one Commander Bond would own.

Our links to Bond cars, boats and aircraft is something that many Livery Companies would envy, and I know that many of you are Bond fans even if you don’t always admit it.

Now one of the best Bond books ever has been published, and it’s right up our street because it deals with his modes of transport, not only the cars, but the boats and aircraft as well. The book was published by Porter Press and written by Authors Matthew Field and Ajay Chowdbury. It is the first of three massive editions and this one runs to an impressive 416 pages and features the first seven Bond films; Dr No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Diamonds Are Forever.

It includes two of my favourite films, Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice. Some of you may remember that a few years ago I re-shot Goldfinger from a documentary perspective on the Furka Pass, in Switzerland and as far as Little Nellie is concerned, I was captivated by the aircraft and by Wing Commander Ken Wallis who developed it.

I always remembered the line from the film when the head of the Japanese secret service said: “I have much curiosity, Bond san – what is Little Nellie?”

What indeed – Little Nellie turned out to be the small well-armed gyrocopter piloted by James Bond, Sean Connery, that destroys numerous spectre helicopters using a variety of weapons from aerial mines to rockets.

Currently, Wing Commander Wallis’s daughter and great nephew are dedicated to preserving the two Little Nellies used in the film along with the rest of the gyrocopters that he produced. They recently set up a trust, Wallis Heritage to safeguard their existence – perhaps one for the future.

Anyhow back to the book. It is one of the most expensive Bond books ever published with a cover price of £99, but you get what you pay for. The amount of detail about each car, boat and aircraft, their roles in the particular film, how they were conceived, built, used and what happened to them afterwards is something I have never seen before in such detail. Fairey Huntsmen used by Sean Connery in “From Russia with Love” are featured in all their glory.

It draws upon hundreds of exclusive interviews with the filmmakers, actors, stunt-drivers, motor industry executives, museum curators and private vehicle owners, as well as countless motoring and entertainment periodicals, books, magazines and unpublished ephemera.

Some of these cars and crafts embarked on glamorous promotional tours around the world, others ended up on the race track, in museums, in the hands of collectors – or abandoned to rot, only to be rediscovered decades later.

Hundreds of never-before-seen period photographs take the reader on a journey through the golden age of James Bond in the 1960s, exploring Bond creator Ian Fleming’s passion for exotic travel and individualistic motor cars before detailing the array of vehicles which propelled 007 through the first seven Bond films on land, sea and in the air.

It has taken authors Matthew Field and Ajay Chowdbury years of research to pull all the information and images together. Many of them have never been seen. They are now starting to work on volume 2.

Matthew said: “We have been so fortunate to have been granted access to a great number of private archives from around the world as well as those of Ford and Toyota which have shared a wealth of incredible, never-before-published photographs and documents.”

Ajay said: “We have been blessed with the co-operation of so many who have entrusted us with their stories for the first time. We have also unearthed 007 vehicles which were thought to have been lost forever.”

Former Aston Martin executive Mike Ashley, who took James Bond’s DB5 on a world tour to promote the release of Goldfinger in 1964, said: “It has been an absolute honour to share my story in Spy Octane, and the book is a wonderful 60th anniversary celebration of Aston Martin’s collaboration with James Bond. Flicking through this incredible volume and seeing all the other 007 vehicles beyond just Aston Martin – it is a great reminder of what an extraordinary cultural phenomenon the world of James Bond has become and the role it has played in automotive history and beyond.”

If you are a Bond fan, and you haven’t purchased a Christmas present for yourself yet, have a big birthday, or anniversary of a special occasion coming up, this is the one to ask for.

Aston Martin DB5 boards plane to Los Angeles – picture copyright Mike Ashley