The world’s most famous and sexiest spy, James Bond, first appears in Casino Royale, and with it, his first set of wheels. If your mind has already thrown up a billion visuals of Daniel Craig’s version of a rough-cut 007 at the wheels of a magnificent Aston Martin DBS and, for a very brief moment, the iconic DB5, you’re not wrong, but we aren’t exactly on the same page. You’re hovering somewhere in 2006, while we’re about half a century earlier in 1953 when Ian Fleming’s James Bond first started infiltrating the world’s bookshelves.
Although 007 is primarily associated with the brand Aston Martin, and particularly the DB5, his first set of wheels was a Bentley. Not just any Bentley, but a loud as hell and no less iconic, 1930 4.5-litre supercharged Bentley that is known to enthusiasts around the world as the Blower Bentley. The beautiful pre-war coupé was finished in gun metal grey, perhaps the only concession to a spy’s need to blend in.
The much-romanticised silver Aston Martin DB5 doesn’t even appear in the first film, Dr. No (1962). But when it does, in Goldfinger (1964), it fires the imagination of the world. With its svelte silhouette, 282bhp 4-litre engine, a nought to 60mph (100kmph) time of 8.1 seconds, a top speed of 142.6mph (228kmph) and a throaty exhaust note, it was the stuff of dreams. The Bentley, which is briefly mentioned in Goldfinger when Q is about to show Bond his Aston, but is never shown in the films, is no less special.
By the time Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale hit the shelves in 1953, the Bentley that Bond would drive in the book was already nearly a quarter of a century old. Yet, it was somehow a perfect accoutrement for a spy who is not exactly known to remain under cover. Quite apart from the fact that its open-top, top flamboyant pre-war styling was as subtle as a dinner jacket at a rap concert, the 4.5-litre supercharged 4-cylinder engine put out 240bhp in race trim. Even without Q’s trickery that you see in the DB5, this was plenty and more for chasing down a SPECTRE agent, or escaping from one. Blindingly fast, it was one of the cars that Mr. Fleming himself was a fan of.
Yet, both the Bentley of the book and the Aston of the film, are able to perfectly describe the character of 007. Quintessentially British with all the quirks but also with deadly speed, precision and decisiveness. And forever, on Her Majesty’s secret service.
