Autoblog

Even "normal" Aston Martin DB5's are priced in the stratosphere, but Mr. Bond's up-armored version would likely command a premium, were the provenance verifiable. Just like foam, clay, and dynoc make very convincing styling bucks for automakers, cardboard in the right hands can take a pile of Two Buck Chuck shipping vessels and create '60s Aston gold. Creating rather than destroying, perhaps someone should tip off the dude who's smashing musclecars together in pursuit of some kind of artistic expression?

Replicating something of great value and pop culture weightiness out of essentially worthless material without the help of any wooden or metal frame is a skillful trick. Even more skillful is the bang-on accuracy of artist Chris Gilmour's renderings. Toss a coat of paint on that thing, and you's swear that Q Branch built it. There's even a full complement of machine guns, Ben-Hur knockoffs, and a big ejector seat button in the shifter. Looking at the pictures, we expect you to talk.


[Source: Chris Gilmour via Jalopnik]

The typical 007 Aston looks phenomenal, goes incredibly fast, and has enough gadgets to single-handedly depose a hostile government. Unfortunately, not all of those attributes apply when it's raining, as Mr. Bond's Euro KITT ended up at the bottom of lake Garda in Italy after a chase scene on the set of Quantum of Solace went awry. We reported last week that the stunt driver involved in the crash was relatively unharmed, and after watching the Youtube footage of the destroyed DBS, we'd say it was a miracle worthy of the real James Bond. Hit the jump to view the post-mortem of a DBS that can't swim. And if you come across an unbelievable deal for an Aston on Ebay, you may want to run that vehicle history report. Thanks for the tip, Joe!

[Source: YouTube]

Some were better than others, but the Bond flicks get us going back to the theater every time. There's just something irreplicably stylish and enchanting about the entire series, and 007's rides make up a big part of that allure... at least for hopeless car nuts like us. But just like the acting and storyline vary with each production, so does the coolness of Bond's cars. So where does each one rank? Just prior to the launch of the latest installment with Daniel Craig in Casino Royale, the pundits at Cars.com convened two specialists to rank the top 7 of 007's cars.

Earning top honors was the classic '64 Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger (which we also got to see in its cameo encore appearance in Casino Royale), ahead of the '75 Lotus Esprit featured in The Spy Who Loved Me. Surprisingly, the '97 BMW 750iL from Tomorrow Never Dies started from the second row, out-qualifying the '85 Aston Martin Volante from The Living Daylights, the 1930's Bentley Mark IV (From Russia With Love), the 2002 Aston Martin Vanquish (Die Another Day), and the '99 BMW Z8 (The World is Not Enough). The experts also gave honorable mention to the markedly more affordable '61 Sunbeam Alpine from Dr. No.

For our part, we'd certainly have placed the Vanquish ahead of the 7-Series, and ahead of the '85 Volante, but the real question is where the specially-made Aston Martin DBS would slot into the list. (And for that matter, what will Bond drive in the next episode?)

[Source: Cars.com]