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The Nineteen Sixties had been the last decade when spy films found {that a} hero is simply pretty much as good as his journey. Positive, you possibly can save the world on foot, however why would you when you possibly can do it in a hand-built British grand tourer or a gleaming Japanese sports activities automobile that prices greater than most individuals’s homes?
These had been virtually co-stars. Whereas different motion heroes had been caught with horses or their very own two ft, secret brokers received the keys to automotive royalty. The autos grew to become so integral to the style that audiences began displaying up as a lot for the automobiles because the explosions. And actually, who might blame them? While you’re dealing with down megalomaniacal villains with nuclear ambitions, you would possibly as nicely do it in type.
The automobiles of Nineteen Sixties spy cinema represented the whole lot the last decade stood for: optimism, technological progress, and the unshakeable perception that the best automobile might clear up any downside. Trying again, a few of these selections appear apparent, others delightfully weird. However all of them helped outline what it meant to be cool behind the wheel.
The Automobiles and the Spies Who Liked Them
When creating this listing, we centered on automobiles that helped outline the spy style. The Nineteen Sixties had been a decade the place actuality usually combined with fantasy, and automobiles mirrored that mix completely. Some had been actual autos, chosen for his or her magnificence and standing. Others had been enhanced with devices or pure innovations of the filmmakers, serving as wish-fulfillment machines for audiences who dreamed of a life stuffed with journey.
We’ve included automobiles that stood out for his or her glamour, their function in chase scenes, or their cultural significance. If a automobile was fictional or closely modified, we paired it with real-world equivalents that carried an analogous type. What issues most isn’t horsepower or engineering, it’s the way in which these automobiles made audiences really feel. They represented pleasure, chance, and the larger-than-life spirit of spy movies.
Aston Martin DB5: Goldfinger (1964)
When the Aston Martin DB5 appeared in Goldfinger, it rewrote the foundations of what a film automobile might be. When Q handed Bond these keys, he was handing over the last word grown-up toy.
Let’s discuss numbers that matter: the DB5 packed a 4.0-liter inline-six producing 282 horsepower, sufficient to hit 60 mph in 8.1 seconds. Not Tesla-quick by immediately’s requirements, however in 1964, this was critical efficiency wrapped in Savile Row tailoring. The true magic, although, was within the particulars that Q Division added: rotating quantity plates (as a result of apparently the DMV is a world conspiracy), bulletproof glass, and that well-known ejector seat that solved passenger disputes completely.
The automobile value round $5,626 new — about $140,000 in immediately’s cash. For perspective, you possibly can purchase seven Ford Mustangs for a similar value, however just one would make you appear like you belonged at a Monte Carlo on line casino. The DB5 established Aston Martin as Bond’s model of alternative, a relationship that’s survived six a long time and a number of actor adjustments. Not unhealthy for a automobile that began as a comparatively modest grand tourer.
Right here’s what’s really outstanding: the DB5 made each different luxurious automobile appear like a rental. Ferrari had the velocity, Jaguar had the wonder, however solely Aston Martin had the proper mixture of refinement and menace. It’s nonetheless the automobile that each spy film automobile will get in comparison with, which is spectacular contemplating it’s older than most of its followers’ dad and mom.
Sunbeam Alpine: Dr. No (1962)
Earlier than Bond was driving automobiles price greater than small nations’ GDP, he made do with the Sunbeam Alpine in Dr. No. This was 007 earlier than he found expense accounts, driving a automobile that precise human beings would possibly afford. The Alpine Collection II featured a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine producing all of 78 hp: sufficient to outrun a taxi, most likely not sufficient to outrun a lot else.
Right here’s the factor concerning the Alpine: it proved that spy automobiles didn’t want to interrupt the legal guidelines of physics to be efficient. Typically all you wanted was a reasonably convertible, some Jamaican surroundings, and the boldness to drive like visitors legal guidelines had been merely ideas. At $1,386 new, the Alpine value about what a well-optioned Honda Civic runs immediately, making it probably the most attainable automobile on this listing.
The Alpine’s actual contribution was establishing that Bond’s automobiles ought to replicate his missions. In Jamaica, surrounded by palm timber and seaside roads, a understated British roadster made excellent sense. It was the final time we’d see Bond in one thing so smart, which makes it traditionally important in the identical method that cave work are traditionally important.
Rootes Group, the Alpine’s producer, most likely thought they’d hit the advertising jackpot when their automobile appeared within the first Bond movie. Little did they know they had been about to be upstaged by each subsequent Bond automobile for the subsequent 60 years. The Alpine stays charming exactly as a result of it had no pretensions: it was only a good little sports activities automobile that occurred to save lots of the world.
Toyota 2000GT: You Solely Stay Twice (1967)
The Toyota 2000GT represented the whole lot formidable about Nineteen Sixties automotive design: attractive, technically subtle, and nearly utterly impractical for anybody taller than a jockey. When the Bond manufacturing staff selected it for You Solely Stay Twice, they confronted a direct downside: Sean Connery was 6’2″ and the 2000GT had a roofline designed for extra compact people.
Toyota’s answer was brilliantly easy: they chopped the roof off, creating the world’s most costly one-off convertible. Solely 337 2000GTs had been ever constructed, making it rarer than most Ferraris, and the 2 convertible variations created for the movie are basically automotive unicorns. The automobile packed a 2.0-liter straight-six producing 150 hp: not overwhelming by immediately’s requirements, however wrapped in bodywork so beautiful it might cease visitors with none devices in any respect.
The 2000GT value round $7,000 new, which interprets to about $60,000 immediately; critical cash for a Toyota, however a cut price in comparison with European exotics. Extra importantly, it introduced that Japan was able to play within the luxurious sports activities automobile sport. The automobile’s affect on later Toyota sports activities automobiles, from the Supra to the latest GR86, is simple.
What made the 2000GT particular wasn’t simply its rarity or its film look: it was proof that lovely automobiles might come from surprising locations. In 1967, most Western audiences considered Toyota as the corporate that made dependable, smart transportation. The 2000GT advised they could additionally make one thing to stir the soul, which turned out to be remarkably prescient.
Mercury Cougar XR-7: In On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
Diana Rigg’s Tracy drove a crimson Mercury Cougar XR-7 in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and it was a superb little bit of character improvement disguised as product placement. Whereas Bond caught with European refinement, Tracy selected American muscle, and the distinction mentioned the whole lot about their relationship dynamic.
The Cougar XR-7 was Mercury’s try so as to add sophistication to the horse automobile method, that includes a 390 cubic-inch V8 producing 320 hp: considerably extra grunt than most of Bond’s rides. The XR-7 package deal added leather-based seats, wooden trim, and sufficient chrome to blind low-flying plane. At round $3,200, it value lower than half of what you’d pay for a comparable European sports activities automobile, however delivered extra straight-line efficiency than most of them.
The Cougar represented the American strategy to efficiency: why finesse your method round issues when you possibly can merely overpower them? Within the context of the movie, it completely matched Tracy’s character — direct, highly effective, and unapologetically daring. The truth that she might sustain with Bond’s Aston Martin DBS within the well-known chase scene proved that Detroit iron belonged within the spy automobile dialog.
Mercury marketed the Cougar as “The Man’s Automotive,” which appears quaint now however made Tracy’s alternative much more subversive. She wasn’t simply driving American muscle; she was claiming it as her personal in a style dominated by European sophistication. The Cougar grew to become an emblem of the altering instances, when even Bond women had been selecting their very own rides.
Ford Mustang: Thunderball (1965)
The Ford Mustang’s look in numerous Bond movies of the mid-Nineteen Sixties represented one thing revolutionary: a spy automobile that common individuals might truly purchase. Whereas Bond drove Aston Martins that value greater than suburban homes, his adversaries usually selected Mustangs, creating an attention-grabbing dynamic between British exclusivity and American accessibility.
The 1965 Mustang featured in Thunderball might be optioned with the whole lot from a smart 200 cubic-inch six-cylinder to a thunderous 289 V8 producing as much as 271 horsepower. Beginning at simply $2,372, the Mustang democratized efficiency in a method that European sports activities automobiles by no means might. You didn’t want a belief fund or a authorities expense account: simply first rate credit score and a willingness to make automobile funds.
What made the Mustang excellent for spy films wasn’t its specs; it was its cultural significance. This was the automobile that launched the horse automobile revolution, proving that type and efficiency didn’t require European pedigree or six-figure value tags. In chase scenes in opposition to Bond’s extra unique rides, the Mustang represented the scrappy underdog, preventing European sophistication with American dedication.
The Mustang’s spy film appearances had been temporary however memorable, often ending with the Ford in numerous states of destruction whereas Bond’s Aston Martin survived unscathed. However that wasn’t actually the purpose — the Mustang proved that even mass-market automobiles might belong within the spy style when paired with expert stunt driving and artistic cinematography.
Legends of the Highway and Display
The spy automobiles of the Nineteen Sixties created a template that Hollywood nonetheless follows immediately. They established that the hero’s automobile ought to replicate their character, that devices might improve however by no means exchange good driving, and that the best automobile might elevate any chase scene from mundane to memorable.
These autos represented the optimism of their period, when expertise appeared able to fixing any downside and magnificence mattered as a lot as substance. They had been aspirational in the very best method: they made audiences dream not simply of journey, however of the delicate life-style that got here with it.
Greater than 60 years later, these automobiles stay benchmarks for automotive cinema. They remind us of a time when films might promote fantasies as a lot as tales, and when the best automobile might make anybody imagine they had been able to saving the world. The truth that most of them at the moment are price greater than small nations’ annual budgets solely provides to their mystique.
For automobile fans, these autos characterize the proper intersection of automotive excellence and in style tradition. They’re reminders that the most effective automobiles don’t simply transport our bodies — they transport imaginations. And within the Nineteen Sixties, that was precisely what the world wanted.
