BMW Vehicles and Bond

During the 1990’s Bond moved away from his classic Austin Martin to embrace BMW products.  Perhaps it was the technology of BMW, the variety of vehicles to choose from, or the locations that Bond was traveling to for business but in reality it was due to the royalties BMW paid to get the products on the screen.   BMW did not let the audience down.

Bond’s BMW Z3 convertible roadster was the first BMW outfitted with Q’s innovative enhancements.  It was a small car packed with many “Q inventions”.  There was a manual transmission and a convertible roof installed so that it would fit its role on a Caribbean Island.  Improvements included an all points radar with a pop up screen between the front seats to alter Bond’s path to approaching planes.  There was a parachute available to discharge out the back to allow the car to jump out of airplanes when his vehicle had to follow Bond to his assignment.  Stinger missiles were located behind the headlights.  Finally, there was a built in self destruct system.  None of the enhancements other than the radar were ever shown in use, but the BMW Z3 made a great impact with all its Q additions.

The next BMW car to be used in the film was a BMW Z8 customized by Q. This car was considered “fully loaded” even by Q’s standards when all the interceptive countermeasure equipment was installed.  To keep both the equipment and Bond safe, Titanium armour was added.  Drivability for Bond was enhanced with a heads up display familiar to Bond’s jet fighter pilot skills complete with enough fire power to blast any helicopter from the sky.   Firepower comes from a target locking missile system located behind the car’s exterior air vent.  Remote driving through key fob control was introduced on this model.  Bond remotely drove this car, blasted one Eurocopter AS-355F1 Ecureuil II “Twin Squirrel” helicopter out of the air just before the second one cut the car in two with the five blade tree cutting rig.  This car was sacrificed by Bond to save his life.  It was too bad Bond did not get to drive this car through a Tim Horton’s drive through to test out the six cup holders installed.

The final and largest appearance of BMW vehicles came next in 1997 when the BMW750IL Sedan and the BMW R1200 motorcycle appeared in large roles within the film.  The motorcycle may not have had the Q installed enhancements but it performed some of the best chase scenes speeding along streets, walkways, rooftops, and jumping buildings moving fast enough to protect Bond and his rider from a row of bullets.   This is likely the only motorcycle to take out a helicopter with a washing line.  Totally different from the motorcycle, the sedan was a symbol of refinement packed with Q options.  This car showed up as a banker’s car to act as a cover for Bond when playing the role of a banker.  This car was like a safe to its contents just as a bank vault is a safe to our valuables.  The sedan had a glove compartment acting as a safe, complete with a spare Walther PPK gun.  The top level security of the car showed in its glass which was sledgehammer and tire iron proof.  Door handles were electrified.  A touch pad on a specially modified Ericsson mobile phone acted as a state of the art remote control for the vehicle complete with a stern German female voice assistant.  Secret gadgets included a tear gas system, rockets hidden in the sunroof, caltrop in the rear bumper, re-inflatable tires, and even the hood badge was a cable cutting device.   It was too bad this car did not have a parachute installed to save it from falling to the ground.  It was a good thing Q issued this car with full collision damage waiver.