Could a spy movie car be a good driver's car?

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y_p_w

y_p_w

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You know, I was looking at my kid showing me a toy from a character from Cars 2. It was patterned after a classic James Bond spy car - like an Aston Martin DB5, but not exactly.

I guess they threw in all these gadgets, weapons, armor, etc. I know it's really just a movie concept, but somehow in spy movies they can drive the snot out of them when they should probably weigh about twice as much as a standard version. Even heavily armored vehicles like the Presidential limo aren't known for being terribly fast, and basically they don't need to be.
 
It can. I owned one, a 1998 BMW 750 il. You used to see them a lot in low-budget action movies in the early part of the century. To a casual viewer they looked pretty credible as a number one heavy (main gangster) car, yet they were cheap enough to be blown up on a B movie budget. It wasn't the armor plated version though.
 
Originally Posted By: jimbrewer
It can. I owned one, a 1998 BMW 750 il. You used to see them a lot in low-budget action movies in the early part of the century. To a casual viewer they looked pretty credible as a number one heavy (main gangster) car, yet they were cheap enough to be blown up on a B movie budget. It wasn't the armor plated version though.

Well - I remember one driven by James Bond.


I get that the base car may be drivable, but once it's armored, weighed down with all sorts of gadgets and weapons, wouldn't it handle and accelerate more like a boat? I have four passengers in my car and I can already feel the performance getting sapped out of my car.
 
Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Originally Posted By: jimbrewer
It can. I owned one, a 1998 BMW 750 il. You used to see them a lot in low-budget action movies in the early part of the century. To a casual viewer they looked pretty credible as a number one heavy (main gangster) car, yet they were cheap enough to be blown up on a B movie budget. It wasn't the armor plated version though.

Well - I remember one driven by James Bond.


I get that the base car may be drivable, but once it's armored, weighed down with all sorts of gadgets and weapons, wouldn't it handle and accelerate more like a boat? I have four passengers in my car and I can already feel the performance getting sapped out of my car.

Apparently the armored version only weighs around 300 lbs more than a regular 750iL.

Normal E38 7-Series cars drive quite well though, from what I hear.

What I love most about them is that it's easy to swap manual transmissions into them. All the engine options -- including the V12 -- were available with manual transmissions in other BMWs, so the most important bits bolt right up. You don't even have to fab up interior trim parts because the E38 was available with a stick in other markets (with smaller engine options). That means you can do the swap mostly (entirely?) with factory parts, right down to the ECU software. When you're done, you can enjoy the engine of your choice (I6, V8, V12) with a clutch pedal and real shifter, and your passengers can enjoy a high level of luxury. And when it's just you in the car, it's surprisingly satisfying on a back road for a 2-ton car, especially of that vintage.

I've always had some desire for a 2001 750iL 6MT with a few choice performance bits. Maybe one day, for lols...
 
Originally Posted By: d00df00d
Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Originally Posted By: jimbrewer
It can. I owned one, a 1998 BMW 750 il. You used to see them a lot in low-budget action movies in the early part of the century. To a casual viewer they looked pretty credible as a number one heavy (main gangster) car, yet they were cheap enough to be blown up on a B movie budget. It wasn't the armor plated version though.

Well - I remember one driven by James Bond.


I get that the base car may be drivable, but once it's armored, weighed down with all sorts of gadgets and weapons, wouldn't it handle and accelerate more like a boat? I have four passengers in my car and I can already feel the performance getting sapped out of my car.

Apparently the armored version only weighs around 300 lbs more than a regular 750iL.

Normal E38 7-Series cars drive quite well though, from what I hear.

What I love most about them is that it's easy to swap manual transmissions into them. All the engine options -- including the V12 -- were available with manual transmissions in other BMWs, so the most important bits bolt right up. You don't even have to fab up interior trim parts because the E38 was available with a stick in other markets (with smaller engine options). That means you can do the swap mostly (entirely?) with factory parts, right down to the ECU software. When you're done, you can enjoy the engine of your choice (I6, V8, V12) with a clutch pedal and real shifter, and your passengers can enjoy a high level of luxury. And when it's just you in the car, it's surprisingly satisfying on a back road for a 2-ton car, especially of that vintage.

I've always had some desire for a 2001 750iL 6MT with a few choice performance bits. Maybe one day, for lols...

How well armored? I heard that possibly the ultimate factory-made armored vehicle is the Mercedes-Benz S600 Guard, which weighs about 9200 lbs, which is about 4000 lbs more than the base S600. And that doesn't even include a smoke machine or missiles.
 
Proper (Cold War) spy films tend to be set in the Eastern bloc. Those cars weren't generally regarded as good drivers cars, though I quite liked mine.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: d00df00d
Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Originally Posted By: jimbrewer
It can. I owned one, a 1998 BMW 750 il. You used to see them a lot in low-budget action movies in the early part of the century. To a casual viewer they looked pretty credible as a number one heavy (main gangster) car, yet they were cheap enough to be blown up on a B movie budget. It wasn't the armor plated version though.

Well - I remember one driven by James Bond.


I get that the base car may be drivable, but once it's armored, weighed down with all sorts of gadgets and weapons, wouldn't it handle and accelerate more like a boat? I have four passengers in my car and I can already feel the performance getting sapped out of my car.

Apparently the armored version only weighs around 300 lbs more than a regular 750iL.

Normal E38 7-Series cars drive quite well though, from what I hear.

What I love most about them is that it's easy to swap manual transmissions into them. All the engine options -- including the V12 -- were available with manual transmissions in other BMWs, so the most important bits bolt right up. You don't even have to fab up interior trim parts because the E38 was available with a stick in other markets (with smaller engine options). That means you can do the swap mostly (entirely?) with factory parts, right down to the ECU software. When you're done, you can enjoy the engine of your choice (I6, V8, V12) with a clutch pedal and real shifter, and your passengers can enjoy a high level of luxury. And when it's just you in the car, it's surprisingly satisfying on a back road for a 2-ton car, especially of that vintage.

I've always had some desire for a 2001 750iL 6MT with a few choice performance bits. Maybe one day, for lols...



A properly armoured vehicle adds considerably more than just 300lbs to the weight of the base normal vehicle. We make a 1 ton suburban specifically for the aftermarket armored business because they add a substantial amount of weight to the truck that a 1/2 ton cannot handle. These 1 ton models are not available to the public to purchase.
 
Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Originally Posted By: d00df00d
Apparently the armored version only weighs around 300 lbs more than a regular 750iL.

Normal E38 7-Series cars drive quite well though, from what I hear.

What I love most about them is that it's easy to swap manual transmissions into them. All the engine options -- including the V12 -- were available with manual transmissions in other BMWs, so the most important bits bolt right up. You don't even have to fab up interior trim parts because the E38 was available with a stick in other markets (with smaller engine options). That means you can do the swap mostly (entirely?) with factory parts, right down to the ECU software. When you're done, you can enjoy the engine of your choice (I6, V8, V12) with a clutch pedal and real shifter, and your passengers can enjoy a high level of luxury. And when it's just you in the car, it's surprisingly satisfying on a back road for a 2-ton car, especially of that vintage.

I've always had some desire for a 2001 750iL 6MT with a few choice performance bits. Maybe one day, for lols...

How well armored? I heard that possibly the ultimate factory-made armored vehicle is the Mercedes-Benz S600 Guard, which weighs about 9200 lbs, which is about 4000 lbs more than the base S600. And that doesn't even include a smoke machine or missiles.

Not sure how it compares to the S600 Guard. I know it's designed to take small arms fire and light explosives. Apparently a lot of the armor is aramid, which for what that's worth.

Gun and explosive testing starts at 2:13 here:


Also, there's this story about a previous-generation (E32) armored 7-Series taking sniper fire in Iraq: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2016/11...is-sniper-fire/

There seem to be multiple protection levels for this kind of car. I'm reading that the S-Class Guard has been offered with multiple levels. Maybe the numbers you saw were for one of the heavier versions, whereas the E38 750iL Protection was only offered with one of the lighter types.
 
Armored vehicles are reasonably well know for busting or bending suspension pieces after seeing "action" evading an attack.

The best armored vehicles are built from the ground up as armored vehicles. But they are not well regarded as rockets.
 
Originally Posted By: Ducked
Proper (Cold War) spy films tend to be set in the Eastern bloc. Those cars weren't generally regarded as good drivers cars, though I quite liked mine.

Bond movies tended to have cool sports cars. Makes like Aston Martin, Lotus, or Jaguar. The enemies weren't really Cold War enemies though.

Heck - a stock Aston Martin DB5 isn't even that fast a car compared to something modern like a WRX. But it looked cool.
 
Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Originally Posted By: Ducked
Proper (Cold War) spy films tend to be set in the Eastern bloc. Those cars weren't generally regarded as good drivers cars, though I quite liked mine.

Bond movies tended to have cool sports cars. Makes like Aston Martin, Lotus, or Jaguar. The enemies weren't really Cold War enemies though.

Heck - a stock Aston Martin DB5 isn't even that fast a car compared to something modern like a WRX. But it looked cool.


I was responding to the title.

Bond doesn't do much spying and couldn't, since he, and of course his toys, lack the required covert qualities.

In East Germany in the 60's you didn't blend in by looking cool, and if you didn't blend in you would get caught.

Eg The Ipcress File. Sort of an anti-Bond film.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Ducked
I was responding to the title.
Bond doesn't do much spying and couldn't, since he, and of course his toys, lack the required covert qualities.
In East Germany in the 60's you didn't blend in by looking cool, and if you didn't blend in you would get caught.
Eg The Ipcress File. Sort of an anti-Bond film.


Come on, man,
not everybody got the joke with Baryshnikov opening a trabant kick-"proof" door (Company Business)......
 
Originally Posted By: pandus13
Originally Posted By: Ducked
I was responding to the title.
Bond doesn't do much spying and couldn't, since he, and of course his toys, lack the required covert qualities.
In East Germany in the 60's you didn't blend in by looking cool, and if you didn't blend in you would get caught.
Eg The Ipcress File. Sort of an anti-Bond film.


Come on, man,
not everybody got the joke with Baryshnikov opening a trabant kick-"proof" door (Company Business)......


Don't get your point (don't think I've seen that film) but I suppose "stealability" in a car might be a lot more useful to a spy than, say, a couple of fixed Browning .30 cals behind the indicators.

(I THINK that's what they were, but on my Corgi die-cast version it would have been a bit hard to tell without a jewellers eyeglass)
 
Last edited:
I had a James Bond car as a daily driver for a few years. Whether it was a good driver's car is a very subjective matter.
wink.gif


It was actually the same colour and all.
 
Originally Posted By: Garak
I had a James Bond car as a daily driver for a few years. Whether it was a good driver's car is a very subjective matter.
wink.gif


It was actually the same colour and all.

I was on some message board once where the discussion was about the kind of watch that James Bond wore. He was complaining that the laser wasn't working.
 
Can't. Unsupported protocol.

I suppose the fixed machine guns might have worked a bit on a Citroen DS, with individual shock height adjustment. Can't think of anything else of that era that would have allowed you to aim.
 
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