Bentley Bond Special Series - Devil May Care

In casino royale - we first hear of Bond's fascination with Bentleys - he drives:

'One of the last of the 4 ½-litre Bentleys with the supercharger by Amherst Villiers, he had bought it almost new in 1933 and had kept it in careful storage through the war. It was still serviced every year and, in London, a former Bentley mechanic, who worked in a garage near Bond's Chelsea flat, tended it with jealous care. Bond drove it hard and well and with an almost sensual pleasure. It was a battleship-grey convertible coupé, which really did convert, and it was capable of touring at ninety with thirty miles an hour in reserve.'

~ Casino Royale

Bond writes off his first Bentley in Moonraker - after which he takes delivery of a Mark VI.

'The 1953 Mark VI, had an open touring body. It was battleship grey like the old 4 ½-litre that had gone to its grave in a Maidstone garage, and the dark-blue leather upholstery gave a luxurious hiss as he climbed awkwardly in beside the test driver.'

~ Moonraker

The Mark VI, however, is quickly surpassed by Bond's third and final Bentley - the Continental, which Fleming describes as 'the most selfish car in England'. This is the car that Bond drives in Thunderball and subsequently On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

'It was a MK (V) I Continental Bentley that some rich idiot had married to a telegraph pole on the Great West Road. Bond had bought the bits for £1,500 and Rolls had straightened the bend in the chassis and fitted new clockwork - the Mark VI engine with 9.5 compression.'

~ Thunderball

This is the car that most seems to have captured Fleming's imagination - he researched the specification carefully, going into meticulous detail as to the car's modifications. Writing to his friend Whitney Straight he states:

'In connection with James Bond's new car, I would like it to be a cross between a Continental Bentley and a Ford Thunderbird - i.e. a smallish cockpit with a long bonnet line and a large boot behind.'

He is thought to have based the car on a custom modified Bentley Continental designed by French coachbuilder Henri Chapron. Fleming goes on to describe the car in greater detail in the novels:

'Bond had gone to Mulliners with £3,000, which was half his total capital, and they had sawn off the old cramped sports saloon body and had fitted a trim, rather square convertible two-seater affair, power-operated, with only two large armed bucket seats in black leather. The rest of the blunt end was all knife-edged rather ugly, trunk ...'

Bond clearly shares Fleming's passion for this particular car, so much so that he names it 'the locomotive' ... It's his personal car (the Aston Martin was the 'pool car' of the service) and as such his real automotive passion stays with the Bentley.

'The car was painted in rough, not gloss, battleship grey and the upholstery was black morocco ... She went like a bird and a bomb, and Bond loved her more than all the women at present in his life rolled, if that were feasible, together.'

And so - in Devil May Care Sebastian Faulks once more treats us to Bond happily behind the wheel of 'the locomotive' - you'll have to wait until 28 May to read more.

» Page top