Mr Bond's Aston Martin DB5 - complete with machine guns, revolving number plates and ejector seat - has just been sold to Ohio-based Harry Yeaggy for £2.9 million. And that got us thinking: just how much do you have to pay to play at being James Bond?
After all, Britain's most famous MI6 operative has driven plenty of less-than-glamorous cars, so you don't have to part with Aston money to bag a Bond-style ride.
Most obvious of the non-Astons is perhaps an early Lotus Esprit - as featured in
, but that'll still set you back around £12k (
like this 1982 Esprit Turbo
Bond's 1990s BMW phase offers a little more in the way of affordable fantasy, although his most exotic BMW steed - the Z8 from The World Is Not Enough - is now fetching more than it cost when new, as this 2002 Z8 with 15k miles, up for almost £90k proves.
Much more sensibly priced Bond BMWs include the Z3 1.9 from
that (if you can bear the hairdresser jokes) can be had in decent nick for little more than £3000 (
such as this blue Z3
BMW 750iL like this one
, yours with 90k miles on the clock fro just £2.5k.
At the more esoteric end of Bond's chariots is the Citroen 2CV, which featured in a memorable chase sequence in For Your Eyes Only and even spawned a special edition (see pic). Mind you, it's no longer the budget car it once was, with well-preserved examples such as this 1988 2CV fetching a couple of grand.
If a Tin Snail is a bit slow for you, then how about a
Maserati Biturbo
, though we don't think Bond drove it) for £4750?
At the more mundane end of things, an Audi 200 (The Living Daylights) in good condition could be yours for around £3800, or how about Bond's 'rep' period, when he drove the current-shape Ford Mondeo (Casino Royale)? This can now be had for less than six grand (we know you're tempted).
Of course, if you really wanted to be obscure you could delve into the series of Bond novels by John Gardner - which could mean a Saab 900 Turbo for £1500 or even a Bentley Mulsanne for just £11k. But then nobody would know they were Bond cars, would they?