Cars have featured as part of Hollywood culture and are often remembered as much as the main stars. From children’s movies to all-action blockbusters, the names of some of the cars resonate with the audience and leave an indelible imprint on the audience’s mind.
The movie “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” is seeing a renaissance as a musical with a whole new generation being exposed to this unique and colourful flying car. It’s hard to imagine the original musical film was released in 1968 starring Dick Van Dyke. Many wouldn’t realise the musical was based on a novel by Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond book series.
There’s also a Bond connection with the producer Albert R. Broccoli, who co-produced the original James Bond movies.
The Bond movies conjure up many all action car chases that are an expected part of any Bond movie. Along with the associated gadgets devised by Q Branch, which range from an array of weaponry to anti-pursuit systems, there’s the transformation of the vehicle into a submarine with the Lotus Esprit S1 in ‘The Spy Who Loved Me.’
Most major car manufacturers have benefited from the global exposure that a Bond movie provides. Bond has used the whole gamut of vehicle makes from Alfa Romeo in ‘Octopussy’ and ‘Quantum of Solace’ to a Bentley in ‘From Russia with Love’ and ‘Never Say Never Again’.
A car loan may be needed to purchase any of the Bond movie cars, although it’s preferable that the car doesn’t get blown up or submerged as seems to be the case in most Bond movies!
No car is more synonymous with James Bond than the ubiquitous Aston Martin. The DB5 Aston Martin made its first appearance in Goldfinger in 1964 and in six other movies including Thunderball, GoldenEye and the most recent Bond movie, Skyfall. An Aston Martin Vanquish model appeared in ‘Die Another Day’ with the usual array of gadgets including rockets, guns and the passenger ejector seat made famous in the original DB5 model.
The Batmobile
The Batmobile is as famous as Batman himself and has had many incarnations since its comic book inception in the late 1930’s when it was originally a red sedan (see our previous blog on interesting cars for auction).
Over time it has developed from a ‘high camp’ looking vehicle fit for the 1960 TV series and movies, to the more menacing dark black appearance with its sleek wing shape. The Batmobile has, like the Bond vehicles, an array of gadgets including cannons and machine guns, unlike Bond though, these shot rubber bullets.
The Batmobile includes other gadgets including Cable Cutter Blade, Bat Ray Projector, Anti-Theft Device, Detect-a-Scope, Batscope, Bat Eye Switch, Antenna Activator, Police Band Cut-In Switch, Automatic Tire Inflation Device, and a remote Batcomputer connecting back to the Bat Cave mainframe.
Sounds like Batman and Bond have a lot in common… but are far removed from the sedate pleasures of the flying car in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.