Throughout the James Bond series of films and novels, Q Branch has given Bond a variety of vehicles with which to battle his enemies. Among the most noteworthy gadgets, Bond has been equipped with various vehicles that have numerous modifications to include elaborate weapons and anti-pursuit systems, alternative transportation modes, and various other functions. One car in particular that has been linked to Mr. Bond's collection is the Aston Martin DB5.
This is a list of the most noteworthy vehicles seen in James Bond, used by either Bond himself, his allies or his enemies.
The Goldfinger DB5 with gadgets was sold on October 27, 2010 for $4.6m (£2.9m) to the car collector Harry Yeaggy. It features the pop out gun barrels behind the front indicators, the bullet shield behind the rear window and a 3-way revolving front number plate showing "GOLD FINGER" or "JB007" or "BMT216A".
The Bamford & Martin 1.5 litre Side Valve Short Chassis Tourer was James Bond's first car. He inherited it around Easter 1933 in the first Young Bond novel SilverFin from his uncle Max at the age of thirteen. Bond regularly drove the car, although he was underage, and stored it in a nearby garage while he attended Eton. The car was destroyed in the third Young Bond novel, Double or Die, in December 1933 leading Bond to replace it by purchasing the Bentley Mark IV shortly thereafter in the same novel.
Bond drives an Aston Martin DB Mark III, which is referred to as a "DB III" in the novel Goldfinger. The "DB3" was a car designed specifically for racing and is unlikely that Bond would drive one. The DB Mark III is often called the DB III and is more comparable to its description in Fleming's novel. This car was the only gadget-laden vehicle to be mentioned in the original Bond novels, though Fleming generally avoided gadgetry in his books. It included switches to alter the type of color of the front and rear lights, reinforced steel bumpers, a Colt .45 pistol in a trick compartment under the driver's seat, and a homing device similar to the DB5 in the film.
There has never been a Bentley model known as the "Mark IV": neither from the "old" W.O. Bentley firm, nor from Rolls-Royce after the takeover of Bentley Motors in 1931. The "Mark IV" appellation seems to have been created by Ian Fleming, and erroneously perpetuated since. In contradistinction to the films, James Bond's official car in the Ian Fleming novels was a grey 1933 Bentley convertible. The car featured a 4.5 L engine with the Amherst Villiers supercharger. In the novels, no gadgets were installed; this was Bond's personal vehicle that is mentioned in Casino Royale as being a hobby that Bond enjoys working on. Its only armament, in the novels, is a .45 Colt Army Special revolver Bond keeps in the glove compartment. The novel version of the Bentley Mark IV was destroyed during a chase sequence in Moonraker. The Bentley is also the very first Bond vehicle seen in the film series, although it was shown very briefly during Bond's first scene in From Russia with Love and mentioned only in passing in Goldfinger. In From Russia with Love, the only gadget known to be included was a car phone, which in 1963 was very uncommon. The film version of Goldfinger strongly implies that the Bentley was issued to Bond by Q-Branch, since he asks Q about the vehicle, only to be told that it had "had its day". He is given the Aston Martin instead.