James Bond?

[davepink53]

My wife and I were out enjoying a Sunday drive in our Avanti when a guy comes along side and yells to me "is that the same car as James Bond drove in the Man with the Golden Gun?' LOL. I think that may have been an AMC Matador.

[dnevin]

Ian Fleming, the author of the original James Bond series, owned a '63 Avanti, and Studebakers were mentioned in the books but I've never seen one of the major characters drive one (although I could be wrong on that last part.)

[JBOYLE]

The Man with a Golden Gun does feature an AMC Matador.

http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_6438-AMC-Matador-Coupe-1974.html

I'm not aware of any Avantis in any of the Bond films (unless in the background).

Fleming's Avanti was black (perhaps the first one) and is not known to survive. Its registration was 8 EYR.
It was an R-2 automatic and had black seats, I don't know what "salt and pepper" colors the carpet was.
In the Sporting Motorist magazine of April 1963, Fleming notes he had two Ford Thunderbirds "over the last six years" and traded the second (generation of T-Bird is unspecified so we don't know whether it was a 58-60 "Square Bird" or a 61-63 "Jet Bird") for the Avanti which he called "an infinitely hiigher class of machine."

[comatus]

Felix Leiter, after losing his hand, drove a Studillac. To Saratoga.

[Bob Bryant]

There are several links related to the Bond series. This is one of them.

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/showthread.php?42847-The-Man-with-the-Golden-Gun&highlight=James+Bond

[SN-60]

So, as far as anyone knows, Fleming's Avanti does not still exist?

[JBOYLE]

So, as far as anyone knows, Fleming's Avanti does not still exist?

I haven't heard or read anywhere that it does. With a history like that, someone would mention it.
If it was still in the UK, it might very well still have the same license number (it stays with the car unless the car is de-registered or registered for a personal plate).
An Avanti story in the UK magazine Classic and Sports Car a couple of years back did not mention it.

But then again, it didn't say that it didn't exist.

Warning Trivia Ahead:
Today (Jan. 16) marks the 50th anniversary of the start of filming of the first James Bond film, Dr. No.
There is a special display of Bond film cars at the UK National Motor Musem.

http://www.classicandsportscar.com/news/general-classic-car-news/beaulieu-celebrates-007-with-bond-in-motion

Many of the cars used to be at the Cars of the Stars Museum. I got to know the owner and he showed us around the non-public storage area where I got to see a lot of the Bond items...like the Mustang that drove on two wheels and the Lotus body shell submarine. Great stuff.

[SN-60]

To: JBOYLE----thanks for the info. And I like Your picture!