Hooniverse Asks- What’s The Best Spy Car?
Have you ever noticed the incongruous contradiction between most spies and their Lifestyle? I mean, it’s their primary function to blend in and be as unnoticeable as possible, and yet there they are tooling around in cars like Lotus 7s and Aston Martin DB5s with ejector seats. Do you know how conspicuous an ejector seat is?
It seems, if you really want to succeed as a spook, your ride absolutely needs to stand out. The Avengers’ John Steed maintained a corral of Blower Bentleys, while Jason Bourne favored classic Minis and kinetically-edited fight scenes. But the king of both spies and ostentatious cars is. . . Bond, James Bond.
Jimmy the B has had, over the years, the aforementioned Aston Martin custom DB, as well as various submersible loti and a BMW 7-series that was controllable from a BlackBerry. Dude was lucky with the ladies too, from what I hear. So many spies, so many cars. You may not agree with the cover-blowing nature of the most well-known spies’ rides of choice, but you have to admit, they’re, for the most part, pretty snazzy. Which one is your favorite?
Image source: [007museum]
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I'd go with the classic Shaguar. Yeah baby!
<img src="http://www.coolthings.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/shaguar1.jpg" width="400">
image courtesy of coolthings
Yellow 2CVs will help you blend in as a spy, or so I've heard.
<img src="http://www.imcdb.org/i129535.jpg" width=500>
The Flying Matador
<img src="http://www.combatreform.org/flying-amc-matador003.jpg"width=500>
Dammat! I just knew somebody was gonna beat me to that.
The Piranha Spy Car in "Man From U.N.C.L.E. Notice the rocket launcher tube in the gull wing door.
<img src="http://www.c-we.com/piranha/uncle2.jpg"width="500"/>
My big brother had the model version (AMT, I'm pretty sure).
Is it bad that the first two things I noticed were Napoleon Solo's Walther P-38 and the car's Magnum 500 wheels (in that order)?
No, it's not bad. I noticed the wheels first, then his shoes.
I noticed the oil leak. Damn English cars.
Now that was a great show!
wow good call![youtube -kOeZG2Jlmc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kOeZG2Jlmc youtube]
Interesting way he's holding that rocket, like he intends to smoke it…
Obviously something very expensive, unusual, fast and conspicuous.
What cracks me up about that Lotus is when one of the bad guys comes upon it, with a rock. He sees the "BURGLAR PROTECTED" sticker on the window, then throws the rock through the window. Of course, the car explodes, taking him out. "BURGLAR PROTECTED", indeed.
I'd say a cosmetically-unmodified black Accord V6 from oh, say, ten years ago. Quick and agile enough for most jobs, but also thoroughly inconspicuous – which, well, I'd consider to be a benefit in that line of work. If I'm wrong, then clearly Hollywood's got some sort of control over international organised crime these days.
In the Get Smart pilot, agent 86 drove a 250 GT.
<img src="http://www.imcdb.org/i186796.jpg" width=500>
Tough call the Sunbeam Tiger had some panache too
<img src="http://www.imcdb.org/i003567.jpg" width="600">
<a href="http://www.imcdb.org/i003567.jpg” target=”_blank”>http://www.imcdb.org/i003567.jpg
And then he went to an Opel GT.
<img src="IMAGE URL" width="600">
<img src="http://imcdb.org/i011071.jpg">
Teh googles tell me Don Adams got to keep the Tiger as part of his compensation, and also that an Alpine was sometimes used as a stand-in.
I'd pick the GT500 ragtop over the Sunbeam, though.
<img src="http://imcdb.org/i331544.jpg" width=500>
Michael Weston's 1973 Dodge Charger with it's white interior. (I've been watching alot of Burn Notice lately)
<img src="http://kustomsandchoppersmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Charger-Burn-Notice.jpg" width="500">
The Jackal's Alfa…
<img src="http://www.drivepast.com/posters/main/jackalspray.jpg"width=500>
I was first introduced to the Alfa Romeo brand by the '60s Christopher Cool: Teen Agent book series I read as a kid. Chris drove a red Giulia TZ with all the usual spy gizmos.
<img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5088/5382089518_7672ba17ba.jpg">
Christopher Cool must have been very well funded.
He also had a black Jag E-type. The legitimacy of having fancy sports cars were cleverly worked into the premise.
From the web: "The Top-secret Educational Espionage Network, or TEEN, is a hush-hush corps of bright young students specially developed by Intelligence on the theory that its members would be less open to suspicion than older agents. As an undercover arm of the American CIA, it has access to the same networks and also often cooperates with other intelligence services of the free world. The headquarters is located in New York City on Broadway near 56th Street, using the import sports car showroom of Luxury Motors as a front…"
I kind of like this one from the TV series "I Spy"
<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tlhBSnsdBqs/TnNf-GLLbjI/AAAAAAAAQW8/doULb6NaaKI/s1600/dj3a.jpg" width = 500 end>
AHA! This just answered a stupid question/comment I made on facebook.
Never mind that. Carry on.
The Spy Hunter "Interceptor:
<img src="http://images.loqu.com/contents/670/464/image/2008-09-26/2.jpg" />
In choice of Commodore 64 or Arcade trim.
[youtube qsG8bySwoiI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsG8bySwoiI youtube]
Wait… Pontiac G8, Holden Commodore, Commodore 64.
I smell a conspiracy.
Wow, I'd never actually seen that, but I guess it works!
6-degrees of DB-5…
Volvo 164. What? How likely is it that a car without brakes ends up exploding in TV or movies? After the communists shoot his brakes out, MacGyver here performs a Volvo-enthusiast-approved field expedient repair and saves the day. James Bond had the entire technical staff at MI-6 working on his stuff and what did he get? An Aston Martin that gushes oil and smokes worse than a Trabant, and the car alarm on his Lotus obviously sparked and ignited the fuel vapor seeping through the injector fittings.
[youtube PaPrK26fTvM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaPrK26fTvM youtube]
You get my vote!
There are at least 2 different Volvos in that clip – notice the door handles in the first few shots (thumb-button style). At 0:50 & subsequent shots, the car has flat, inset pull-type handles that continued through into the 2XX series.
At 1:09, it looks like it might actually be a 245, not a 164.
Good catch with the door handles! I count three different ones, based on the shape of the body damage. It looks like they had the first car with the older door handles, then the camera rig car, and a third car that loses it's hood and goes through the checkpoint.
Bond's Z-8, though it lasts only long enough to be cut in half. The new Aston's nice, but a bit rolly. Ever notice how these fantastic, capable cars always get destroyed, a lot?
<img src="http://gay-nerds.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Gallery_Zangief.jpg">
You Americans spy like little girl. When I want information I take it like man, with a Kalashnikov at my side and the strength of my people carrying me.
<img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1078/1387305252_c2520a009a.jpg">
You silly Rus, that there is the prototype from the Polish submarine fleet. It's the first one that floated!
Haha! Plaster sub no good! Told you!
wazzup with those tires? obviously flat, but I've never seen dents in the top of the tire like that before. Otherwise, looks like a fun little toy to float across a swamp in.
The only analog I can think of is when a kickball is low on air, but not flat.
Probably a symptom of low pressure enormous bias-ply tires.
Note the rims underneath holding up the axles.
We used to see dents like that all the time on our old ATCs when the tires were low or flat the minute you lifted it off the ground.
<img src="http://www.3wheelerworld.com/oldsite/files/Sads/sHonda1980atc185.jpg" width="500">
Is that a Lada Niva under all that?
Yup.
If I had my choice, it would be the Hammer wagon. Nondescript, but able to get me out of East Berlin in a hurry.
<img width=500 src="http://bringatrailer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/1988_Mercedes_Benz_300TE_AMG_Hammer_Wagon_Front_1.jpg">
At the time I owned a C70 coupe so my brother got me "The Saint" movie on DVD. I did not watch enough of the film (it is surprisingly bad) to figure-out if he was a spy, probably more thief, but for me it was the best car since I had one.
<img src="http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1998-Volvo-C70-Coupe-Poster-Val-Kilmer-Saint-/22/!C!Q5Hv!BGk~$(KGrHqJ,!lwEz+wB8jg9BNCQbMdwCQ~~0_3.JPG" width="500">
It's so weird to see Val Kilmer all thin and handsome, since nowdays he's just really fat.
And of course in the sixties Saint TV series, the character drove a Volvo P1800. Although Simon Templar wasn't a spy so much as an adventurer and gentleman thief.
I watched that movie just to see Elizabeth Shue's lustful gaze. Gets my heart pumping just thinking about it.
But yea, a bad movie.
Then you must see Leaving Las Vegas.
Now, while movie spies tend to drive things that are a bit flash, real life spies would probably want to blend into the background. You know, drive something that they could park right in front of foreign places and yet have nobody notice. So, I submit, the Toyota Corolla:
<img src="http://images.pictureshunt.com/pics/t/toyota_corolla-7231.jpg">
It was sold everywhere – if you're doing some spying in China it was even sold by about 20 different companies – it's not very distinctive and it would blend right in to any city in the world. As a spy agency, you could easily modify it to be a bit quicker and more laden with heavy artillery in order to deal with those pesky spies on the other side (lots of grille to hide rockets and machine guns behind), but until that's necessary, if you're in a Corolla, nobody even knows you're there.
Also, when you inevitably destroy it in a car chase, nobody cares.
Although you can never go wrong with the ubiquitous government-issue black Tahoe.
<img src="http://www.imcdb.org/i109156.jpg" width="500">
- Breach
- Clear and Present Danger
- Conspiracy Theory
- …?
I also like the ZAZ-965 that the CIA man drives in Tomorrow Never Dies.
<img width="500" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Saporoshez_ZAZ_965_A.JPG">
It's sort of the opposite of what Jimmy B would drive.
<img src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j129/hoopd87/cbce343e.jpg" >
<img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_leoGYAeiH44/SFV1Y_BqflI/AAAAAAAAB8o/57_T3D_U4GY/s320/benz.jpg" />
Okay, I'm slightly biased…
1965 Mercury Colony Park….good enough for Matt Helm, good enough for Hooniverse
<img src="http://www.imcdb.org/i287771.jpg">
<img src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTdwdlkm-qrklnzZZG5qAyXfBGinTAKG6EFtGMkrZWTf3KKl6A_YvAGO1Ki">
<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2783/4460415181_4048956b24.jpg">
Best. Theme. Ever.
Thought about posting that one
The day before our very first race I randomly ran into the black spy-car at the intersection next to my house. They were loaded up and heading out while I was driving the Bee down the street taking it over to where my RV/trailer sat waiting. (driveway too short for trailer).
It was memorable not only because I saw another Lemons car in my neighborhood, but because the Bee refused to get on the trailer. I spent several hours chasing down random fuel, electrical and oil faults the only cropped up when I tried to drive it on the trailer.
It was as if it knew something…
Not a "spy" movie perhaps, but there is a small amount of cloak and dagger involved.
[youtube dcEYv_hI3-s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcEYv_hI3-s youtube]
Nick Fury's flying Porsche 904, from Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (later blown up and replaced by a Ferrari 330/P4 Berlinetta).
I would take one of these:
<img src="http://mgb.classicsportscars.eu/PICTURES/mgb-gt-jaguar-e-type.jpg">
Now I know he's not a spy but his car has enough tricks to put him up there with the best. I nominate the gadget mobile. (As well I know I put one up already)
<img src="http://cache.pakwheels.com/forums/2006/12/18/gadgetmobile-inspectorgadget_94B_PakWheels(com).jpg">
Sometimes you can use other things to draw attention away from the spy:
<img src="http://www.lotusespritturbo.com/James_Bond_Lotus_Esprit_Turbo.jpg" width="600">
and sometimes you need good Ol' Merican power (with bad movie editing to boot)
<img src="http://files.myopera.com/edwardpiercy/blog/Diamonds-Mustang-Mach-1-2.jpg" width="600">
Bam.
<img src="http://images.worldgallery.co.uk/i/prints/rw/lg/9/2/Brian-Cosgrove-Danger-Mouse—Top-Secret-Car-92044.jpg">
McGill from Man in a Suitcase had the right idea.
<img src="http://www.imps.me.uk/images/On%20screen/Man%20in%20a%20suitcase%203.jpg">
<img src="http://autouniversum.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/alpine-i.jpg?w=300&h=190">
Chaica
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dd/Chaica_car_at_Regiontour_2010.jpg/800px-Chaica_car_at_Regiontour_2010.jpg" width="400">
Many were run by the KGB, it was one step down from the ZIL. Apparently Khrushchev preferred these to the ZIL.
Though I am not sure how inconspicuous you could be when you are one of the few people with a car.
Ever since I was a youngster, I've wanted to own Bond's personal car from the Casino Royale novel (I read the books long before I saw my first Bond film).
It's a battleship-grey 1930 Bentley 4 1/2 litre convertible, fitted with an Amherst Villiers supercharger — basically a home-made Blower Bentley. Probably a lot like Ralph Lauren's 1929 Blower Bentley, but with grey paint and no number or flag painted on:
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/1929_Bentley_front_34_right.jpg" width="550">
Undercover Brother, brother…
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/z72uy.jpg" alt="" title="Hosted by imgur.com" width="500">
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/muAKk.jpg" alt="" title="Hosted by imgur.com" width="500">
[youtube oj03IT2805Y http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj03IT2805Y youtube]