Aston Martin

Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd. is a manufacturer of luxury automobiles. Up to the year 2003, a total of approximately 20,200 cars had been built by Aston Martin. Today, the company is part of the Premier Automotive Group division of Ford Motor Company.

Astons on film

The very British glamour of Aston Martin cars meant they were a natural choice for the James Bond series of action films, notably the silver DB5 that appears in Goldfinger (1964) and Thunderball (1965) as James Bond's company car, and then in GoldenEye (1995) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) as his private car. In On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) there appears, for a short time, a charcoal grey DBS. After an interlude with Lotus, Aston Martins were again used, a charcoal grey Volante in The Living Daylights (1987), and, after another hiatus, the Vanquish appeared in Die Another Day (2002). In early 2004, Henrik Fisker, Design Director at Aston Martin, revealed that James Bond will be driving the new AMV8 Vantage for Bond's next adventure in 2006.

Related Topics:
James Bond - Goldfinger - Thunderball - GoldenEye - Tomorrow Never Dies - On Her Majesty's Secret Service - Lotus - The Living Daylights - Die Another Day

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The Italian Job (1969) features a silver DB4 Convertible, owned by crook Charlie Croker, played by Michael Caine. Later, this car is destroyed in a Mafia ambush, along with a pair of E-type Jaguars. The cars were meant to serve as getaway vehicles in the subsequent robbery "in case anything goes wrong." The gang decide to proceed despite this loss, and the question of what happens if anything goes wrong is pointedly ignored by Croker. Interestingly, the filming of the Aston going over the cliff was not considered dramatic enough by the director (due to the explosion looking too "faked") and so rather than destroy another Aston, a Lancia mocked up to look like its British counterpart was pushed over the edge for the second take. In the 2003 remake with the same title, the character Handsome Rob, played by Jason Statham, ends up driving an Aston Martin, but not the Vanquish that he wanted. Instead, it is a DB7 Volante.

Related Topics:
The Italian Job - Michael Caine - Mafia - E-type Jaguar - Lancia

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See also: List of Formula One constructors

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