TLD V8 Replica
Mark Hazard
West Midlands, UKPosts: 495MI6 Agent
For those with LOTS of money, a low milage V8 Vantage with rocket booster and skis/outriggers along with a lot of cosmetic surgery:
http://www.bramleyweb.co.uk/details/Aston%20Martin/V8%20Saloon%20to%20Vantage%20Specification/2069.htm
they don't list the asking price, but if the project itself was valued at over £134,000 don't expect a bargain basement price
)
For those that have the November issue of Octane, it's on page 167.
http://www.bramleyweb.co.uk/details/Aston%20Martin/V8%20Saloon%20to%20Vantage%20Specification/2069.htm
they don't list the asking price, but if the project itself was valued at over £134,000 don't expect a bargain basement price
)For those that have the November issue of Octane, it's on page 167.
Comments
Looks a great deal better than the real thing which is also featured in that magazine and looks decidedly ropey with its dents, broken foglight etc.
I'm sure that the car suffered a few dents whilst making the film - I remember when I borrowed the Bond V8 that AML look after, some little £^*% bag(nasty little boy) put a large dent in one of the doors.
I wonder if the broken light was done during the time of the photo shoot, as I can't see it being allowed out with a broken glass lens (H&S).
His Spy Who Loved Me Lotus is in similar bad shape: the wheels are badly corroded and there's a bit of trim hanging off the side (unsuprisingly the Octane shoot took pictures of the other side!
I do wonder if that's replica is quite the right colour; looks a bit lighter, don't you think?
My Other Half and I had had this wonderful idea of doing Cannonball run with different cars. He was going for the Ferrari 308 with a Magnum Hawaiian shirt, and I was 'borrowing' a friend's 21 year old son to act as navigator and dress up in a tux while I drove a DBS in an evening gown and heels....
*sigh*
There's always next time....
Cumberland Grey, from what I've seen, is one of those colors that responds to the area around it. Here's an example, also Cumberland Grey, that looks even lighter than the replica. This one also has the correct BBS wheels for the TLD car.
http://www.hubbardcs.co.uk/v8
After having looked after the AML 007 show Vantage for eleven weeks you would think that I would have noticed something like that. What I did notice however, was that the Bramley car is a manual, whereas the AML 007 show Vantage is an automatic.
Here's the one you borrowed at the bottom of the page. Not a Bond car, but certainly a very nice one indeed.
http://www.astonmartins.com/v8/007_james_bond_v8.htm
In your defense, it is my absolute dream car(the faux pseudo '67 Shelby from Innerspace is a distand second), and I'm a bit of a car guy, at least for the one's I really like.
Thanks for the link, but the car at the bottom is the Bramley car, the one I borrowed (in 1992) was the AML/Eon vehicle.
Although the article only mentions a couple of "Vantages" used in the film, I understood that the AML/Eon vehicle was used in the film, along with at least another two, as well as four or five fibre-glass replicas (seen in Eon's Pinewood props building - "Shed 10" also in 1992).
I also understood that they were a mixture of manual and automatics - and yes, I did notice the difference in the "time to leave" sequence. I even fixed the prop cars rear(?) laser hub so that the battery could be changed
Bit disappointed that the Bramley car now seems to be the legitimate owner of B549WUU, could mislead a lot of fans into believing that this car was in the film.
Interesting that they used any autos; I would have thought that the stunt guys would have been dead against that.
So yours had show gadgets attached? What were the spotlights like; can you remember? The Cars of the Stars one has them the wrong way up (we shouldn't be able to see the lenses when they're open!) and that also has a show laser hub with an led in it. Do you know what numberplate it was registered with?
Perhaps they were just used in the non-stunt sequences?
Quoting from an article I wrote many years ago:
"The AML "show car" has also been converted from standard, and is not registered for road use - part of this conversion necessitated the removal of the fuel tank and replacing it with a jerrycan (for safety reasons). The "gadgets" available for display on this V8 Vantage are: the spot-light missiles, the outriggers (skis), laser beam in one of the wheel hubs and the rocket booster under the rear licence plate. The spot-lights have to be manually lowered, and the missiles are push-fit, and usually kept in the boot; the outriggers also push-fit, into special locating mounts in the skirting (that in the film works like a roller-shutter); the laser-hub is a standard push-fit hub, with a small battery powered LED (which I repaired when in my care); the head-up display is a window sticker, augmented by a flashing (mains powered) lamp; and the rocket booster is again a flashing lamp, inside a mirrored tube fitted with red cellophane to give a flame effect - the number plate section is not moveable. A couple of spiked snow tyres and an "ice-cutting wheel" are also available for use with the "show car"."
I mentioned to Peter Nelson the other week that the spots were fitted incorrectly and he assured me that this would be attended to.
With reference to the number plate, again from my ancient article:
"The Volanté, the first V8 Aston Martin seen in the film, is fitted with a manual gearbox and no gadgets were employed on it. That particular Volanté was the vehicle originally registered as B549 WUU (as used in the film), to Victor Gauntlet, then Executive Chairman of Aston Martin Lagonda Limited, and loaned to Eon on the condition that it was not involved in any of the stunts. After filming was completed, the index (registration) number B549 WUU was retained (although withdrawn as a registered number) for the AML promotional ("show car") Vantage. The Volanté was later sold, adopting a new personalised index number - ASV 870. It was resold in late 1988/early 1989, shortly after I had found and photographed it (in Oct/Nov 1988), and I understand that it has since (during 1991?) been resold yet again, at an auction held during a Classic Car Show at the Birmingham NEC."
Hope this helps. One of these days when I can sort out my PCs I hope to be able to post photos that I have taken of these cars (amongst others) from my collection.
No. Peter bought two of the real Vantages and at least one fibre-glass version (which icluded the mechanism for the outriggers) from Eon, to the best of my knowledge AML and Eon still own the official "show car"