Top 40 James Bond Vehicles Of All Time

#5-2002 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish

Appeared in: Die Another Day

After BMW had dried up its contract with the James Bond Series, it was a triumphant return to form for Bond and Aston Martin,  and the 2002 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish (or Vanish) was just the car for MI6 to reintroduce Bond to.

After a thorough introduction from Q, we learn that this Vanquish is outfitted with all sorts of the “usual refinements” most notably the cloaking device which rendered the Vanquish invisible to the human eye. Unlike the BMW Z-cars, Bond actually thrashes this car to great effect with a one-on-one epic car chase with Zao on the ice fields of Iceland that hearkens back to Timothy Dalton in “The Living Daylights” who also uses his accouterment of weaponry.

This Vanquish was equipped with automatic guns that pop up from the hood, missiles behind his grill,  remote control, bullet proof body armor, thermal imaging,spikes on the tires for ice traction, and a passenger ejector seat.

In total, seven Vanquish’s were used in filming. Three for close-up and interior shots and four for stunt scenes. Those four for stunts scenes had their V12’s swapped for Ford 5.0 liter (aka 302’s) in order to fit all the weaponry and gadgets underneath the bonnet and were converted to 4WD. The automatics outfitted to the stunt Vanquishes could hit 120 MPH going forward and reverse. You can see this being used most notably in the chase sequence when Bond and Zao exchange missile fire.

Fun Fact: The Vanquishes used in stunt sequences were also outfitted with concealed flotation devices in the event the ice gave way.

Next: 1981 Lotus Turbo Espirit