Our rating analysts compared the values of real Bond cars used during the production of the famous films with the prices of standard examples of the same model and found that a starring role in a James Bond film averaged over 1,000% of the value of one Cars, with a given vehicle being worth almost 5,000% more than its roadworthy equivalent.
Because Hagerty monitors and tracks thousands of auctions, dealer and private sales each year, we can compare the average selling price of a standard car to the selling price of the same model that was used during the film’s production. We converted the prices using the exchange rate at that time and then compared them with the Hagerty Price Guide value for this year. Where the sale took place before our records began, we came to value through contemporary sales lists and other evaluation resources.
In reverse order, Hagerty reveals the 10 models that earned the highest premium in a Bond blockbuster thanks to a big screen appearance.
1971 Ford Mustang Mach 1, diamonds are forever
Sales year: 2004
Standard Hagerty value: £ 9,200
Bond car value: £ 12,650
Bond premium: 37.5%
Tiffany Case’s red Ford Mustang Mach 1 certainly made a visual impact in the 1971 movie Diamonds are Forever, but it didn’t wow buyers when it went up for sale by Barrett-Jackson in 2004 and failed to hit its reserve with a top bid of $ 23,000 (£ 12,650).
That was 37.5% more than a standard car was worth at the time, but not selling it puts the car at the bottom of our list.
Mercedes190E1991 Mercedes-Benz 190E, no time to die
Sales year: 2021
Standard Hagerty value: £ 6,500
Bond car value: £ 8,991
Bond premium: 38%
This car is weird: it’s currently being sold on the Car and Classic classifieds sites, but it’s not yet on the big screen as, like in No Time to Die, the latest movie, it stars and it doesn’t even appear in the trailers. Even so, the value of this car is nearly 40% higher than a standard car – not a bad mark-up for something that, to our knowledge, doesn’t play a big role in the movie.
1937 Bentley4
1937 Bentley 4¼ liter Gurney Nutting 3-Position DHC, Never Say Never Again
Sales Year: 2010 Standard Hagerty Value: £ 133,300 Bond Car Value: £ 221,500 Bond Premium: 66%
James Bond drove this car in some scenes in the 1983 Warner Brothers blockbuster Never Say Never Again, and it sold for £ 188,500 when it was auctioned by Bonhams in September 2004. Six years later the car returned to the showroom, and this time Bonhams fetched £ 221,500 more than two-thirds more than a standard car of the time.
This one was quite a star, however: not only did it have the Bond connection, but it also appeared in Magnum, PI and was a true Concours example after being in 2003 after a restoration that allegedly cost more than $ 450 Pebble Beach had played, 000.
1969 Aston Martin DBS
1969 Aston Martin DBS-6, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
Sales year: 1978
Standard Hagerty value: £ 3,050
Bond car value: £ 8,991
Bond premium: 182%
James Bond was only married once, and that was his wedding car. This green six cylinder Aston Martin DBS was used in a number of scenes in the 1969 film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and exported to Australia, where it was sold to current owner Sigi Zidziunas in 1978, who told ABC News in Australia, “It got in advertised in the newspaper as an ex-movie car, but I didn’t believe it because there was nothing wrong with it – who believes used car sellers? ”It was already expensive back then: advertised at AUD 14,950, Zidziunas put it down to $ 14,200 – the equivalent of £ 8,991. Standard cars in good condition were worth £ 3,050 at the time, according to contemporary leaders: that’s a 182% premium.
Aston Martin DBS
2008 Aston Martin DBS V12, Quantum of Solace
Sales year: 2012
Standard Hagerty value: £ 70,000
Bond car value: £ 241,250
Bond premium: 245%
This 2008 Aston Martin DBS was driven by Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace and was one of seven used for filming. Sold as a “collector’s item”, Christie’s auction house warned potential buyers that they were responsible for “all testing and repairs and any other legally required paperwork” to turn it back into a street car. The caution did not deter buyers: with a retail price of £ 241,250, the car surpassed its highest pre-sale estimate of £ 150,000, around 245% above the value of a normal car at the time.
Aston Martin DBS
1969 Mercury Cougar XR7, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
Sales year: 2020
Standard Hagerty value: £ 55,500
Bond car value: £ 365,500
Bond premium: 559%
Contessa Teresa Di Vicenzo, also known as Tracy Bond, drove a stunning car throughout the 1969 Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, including the first scene she shared with the Aston Martin DBS-6 described above. One of four reported Cougars used for filming, he was sold for £ 365,500 at Bonhams Bond Street Sale in London on December 16, 2020, beating his presale estimate of £ 100,000 to £ 150,000. That’s an enormous 559%. above the standard price for the model.
1965 Aston Martin DB5, Thunderball and Goldfinger
Sales year: 2019
Standard Hagerty value:
£ 616 550
Bond car value: £ 4,677,850
Bond premium: 759%
Dubbed “the world’s most famous car” when it went up for auction by RM Sotheby’s and the iconic Bond car in 2019, this was the real deal: one of two cars bought by Eon Productions for the Thunderball launch and then to “Q Branch” specification for the film Goldfinger.
It sold just above its upper estimate for $ 6.38m or £ 4.67m, a 759% markup over a standard DB5. In this case, origin was everything: a similar DB5 used as a stunt car in the filming of Golden Eye was sold by Bonhams the previous year, but it made “only” £ 1,961,500, a little more than three times that Value of a standard model. Still, it’s only fourth on the list …
2014 Land Rover Defender 110 Double Cab SVX, Specter
Sales year: 2018
Standard Hagerty value: £ 35,200
Bond car value: £ 365,000
Bond premium: 937%
As early as 2017, a well-known dealer took me to his storage barn, deep in the British countryside. He swore to keep me secret, took me inside, and picked up a tarpaulin that covered a very special Land Rover that had been used in the filming of the Specter movie. Later that year, RM Sotheby’s sold one of these special Bond SVX Defender 110s for £ 230,000 and the following July Bonhams sold another for £ 365,000.
The timing was perfect: production of the original Defender had ceased in 2016, but in 2018 the factory had announced a small run of 70th anniversary specials. The demand for the model soared. The price of the Bonhams Specter Defender was almost 940% higher than that of a Standard 110 Defender, but just look at that. It’s as cool as the frozen Austrian landscape it was filmed in.
1974 AMC Hornet
1974 AMC Hornet, The Man with the Golden Gun
Sales year: 2017
Standard Hagerty Value: £ 5,200
Value of the Bond car: 89 € 105
Bond premium: 1,614%
Ask anyone to name a James Bond stunt and the corkscrew “astro-spiral” jump of Roger Moore’s Bond in the 1974 film, The Man with the Golden Gun, should be top of the list. The American car used was an unusual hero: an AMC Hornet so mundane that even the US Hagerty Price Guide does not consider it worthy of inclusion.
But the actual car that was used on the set was very special: it was cared for exactly as it was serviced during the shoot, and it was bought for 110 cars at RM Sotheby’s Auburn, Indiana in 2017. That puts it in second place.
Lotus spirit
1977 Lotus Esprit S1 ‘Wet Nellie’, The Spy Who Love Me
Sales year: 2013 standard
Hagerty value: £ 12,300
Bond car value: £ 616,000
Bond premium: 4 908%
The most valuable Bond car compared to its standard street counterpart is the 1977 Lotus Esprit S1, known as “Wet Nellie,” which starred in the 1977 film The Spy Who Loved Me. It was sold for £ 616,000 at RM Sotheby’s 2013 London auction, a huge 4,908% mark-up on the model’s Hagerty price guide at the time.
Lost after filming, it was rediscovered in a New York storage container in 1989 and sold to the next lucky owner in a blind auction for $ 100.
In fact, the ‘Lotus’ – which Elon Musk bought on sale – was actually a movie prop submarine that was only used in underwater scenes, and it doesn’t even have wheels. So is it a car at all? Should the humble AMC Hornet take the checkered flag? We leave the decision up to you.
Best supporting actor
Two other Bond cars were up for auction but they couldn’t be included on our list as none were open to the public so there is no “standard” value. Both cars starred in the 2015 movie Specter, in which they chased each other through the streets of Rome.
Bonds Aston Martin DB10 was valued at Christie’s for 2,434,500 pounds in 2016.
To read Haggerty’s full report, visit www. hagerty.co.uk
Source: newspapers
