Battle-scarred Aston Martin DB5 unveiled at Beaulieu's Bond in Motion – No Time To Die exhibition
SCHOOLCHILDREN visiting the National Motor Museum got an unexpected bonus when Lord Montagu unveiled a battle-scarred James Bond Aston Martin DB5 as he launched a display of machines and gadgets from the latest big-screen blockbuster.
The Beaulieu exhibition from No Time To Die was opened with top filmmakers, notably Oscar and Bafta winner Chris Corbould OBE, the special effects supervisor behind the most dramatic action sequences in 15 of the 25 Bond films screened, writes Glynn Williams.
Both dressed in black tie and dinner suit, Lord Montagu and Chris pulled the covers off the DB5 which was one of eight stunt cars built for the film by Aston Martin, starring alongside two priceless originals.
Special features on this car – first seen in Goldfinger and later blown up in Skyfall – and joining the iconic ejector seat, include revolving machine guns in the headlights and a new LED changing number plate.
Chris’s favourite sequence from the film sees Bond, played by Daniel Craig, escape from his Spectre enemies in an Italian town square with headlight guns blazing amid tyre-smoking doughnuts.
Chris Corbould said: “The exhibition sums up everything we did in the film. The original vehicles are all there in one place to see – from the classics to up-to-date and even state-of-the-art cars. It’s a wonderful collection.’’
He said the film had been “really emotional, the end of an era,” as he revealed he had now hung up his special effects gloves as he turns to directing.
The guru behind Bond classic action sequences, including the tank chase in GoldenEye and the train crash in Skyfall, said the premiere had been the culmination of a sometimes-fraught production with the film’s recent release postponed several times due to the Covid pandemic.
“But at the end of it all we’d beaten the virus and the main thing is that everyone enjoys the film.”
Also among the guests was Tim Browning who designed the submersible glider named ‘Stealthy Bird’ by Q, which now perches above the exhibition, open to the public until November next year.
Lord Montagu said of the museum’s long association with film maker Eon: “Exhibiting Bond cars in the National Motor Museum is a great way of combining our subject – the history of motoring right up to the present day – with one of the best known themes from the world of entertainment.”
Bond in Motion – No Time To Die follows in the footsteps of Beaulieu’s popular Bond In Motion exhibition 10 years ago which showed 50 original vehicles from 50 years of Bond.
The new exhibition will offer the first opportunity for the public to see many of the original vehicles, gadgets and costumes from No Time To Die, against the backdrop of large screens showing film action.
Visitors can see the Aston Martin DBS Superleggera, driven in the film by new agent Nomi, the Aston Martin V8 previously seen in The Living Daylights – and Chevrolet Bel Air from a Cuban sequence as well as Bond’s Land Rover Series III and a crashed new Land Rover Defender 110.
A range of Bond merchandise will also be on display in the exhibition and available to buy in the Beaulieu gift shop.
