James Bond is once more to drive an Aston Martin. Informed sources deep inside the dim corridors of M16 revealed this exclusively this week.
Bond will be at the wheel of a derivative of the DB7 – the Aston Martin DB7 Zagato, which is to be built in association with Italian coachbuilder Andrea Zagato.
This will make Bond an even more elite figure as the car is to be purely a collector’s item. The British sport cars maker wants the DB7 Zagato to be built in limited numbers next year. The number of 99 is being mentioned.
Each will cost some 255 000 euros ”plus or minus five per cent”.
This price tag might cause questions about the use of British taxpayers’ money to be raised in the House of Commons. What if Bond has an accident? What if the car is stolen? What if …? Bond himself was unavailable for comment. He was said to be sunning himself somewhere in the Caribbean.
The idea of the elite car originated a year ago when Dr Ulrich Bez, chief executive of Aston Martin, and Zagato met at an event in Pebble Beach, California.
The new exclusive car is being designed by Nori Harada, who designed the DB4GT Zagato in the early sixties. The design has been supervised and orientated by Henrik Fisker, director of design at Aston Martin, who wanted to make sure that Zagato’s design would keep its strong identity and yet fit with the design philosophy he is developing for Aston Martin.
With more power than the standard DB7 Vantage the Zagato version also has upgraded brakes, sports suspension, a new interior and an all-new two-seater aluminium coupe body.
The Aston Martin first appeared as Bond’s car in ”Goldfinger” when the DB5 model saved James Bond’s life on a journey through the forest near Auric Goldfinger’s processing plant.
The most sophisticated James Bond car was the 1986 Aston Martin Volante in ”The Living Daylights”.
Bond, clutching a martini, is said to have rolled over lazily on when told of the new Aston Martin and to have remarked that he was pleased. No immediate confirmation of this was available. – Sapa-DPA