There’s a new Bond film, Spectre, hitting theaters Friday. With it comes a new car for Britain’s favorite secret agent to throttle and thoroughly mistreat.
It’s called the Aston Martin DB10. And unlike other 007 mobiles before it, this one isn’t a production car you or your rich uncle can buy. Instead, it’s a bespoke machine designed and built by the men at Aston Martin in a matter of months — just for Spectre.
Before it hits the silver screen and you settle in with a bucket of popcorn in your lap, we thought we might look at the new Aston and reveal a few details behind Bond’s newest ride.
A matter of Months
In September 2014, Spectre director Sam Mendes toured the Aston design studio and fell in love with a simple sketch hanging on the wall. According to Wired, Mendes insisted it become the new Bond car.
Further complicating things, beyond simply creating an unplanned car from scratch, the production for the film was set to start in April the following year — just seven months away. Despite the time crunch and the unimaginable task of creating a new Aston virtually from thin air, Aston creative director Marek Reichman agreed and he and his 25-member team set to work.
Not for Sale
As I mentioned earlier, the Aston Martin DB10 piloted by James Bond in Spectre isn’t one for sale — now, or ever.
While Aston will follow the current DB9 with a DB11, the DB10 nameplate has been reserved just for 007 himself. Accordingly, it’s a highly specialized car.
Aston designers started with a V8 Vantage and stretched it in both width and length. Then they fitted to it the sleek, bespoke body. One that Aston Martin says hints at future models. Note that it’s not a clear showing of the future design language of the iconic British brand but rather a clue. I suspect the DB11 will be much meaner looking, with many more fins and gills.
Jump-safe, not Crash-tested
To save time, since the Aston team compressed what is normally a half-decade process down into a matter of months, the DB10 isn’t so much what you’d call “street legal.” Along with its super-low nose, which breaks some road laws around the globe, the car didn’t go through any crash-testing.
That doesn’t mean, though, that it’s not stout — quite the contrary. Mendes insisted Bond’s car be able to withstand a full Bond-ening. This means it has to be able to sprint to 60 mph from a standstill in fewer than five seconds, easily crack 100 mph and also survive several sweet jumps, à la Dukes of Hazard. While making the car sturdy enough to take flight required extra reinforcing of the suspension, the speed and agility requirements came easy. After all, this is Aston Martin we’re talking about.
10, in Total
Of course, Aston couldn’t build just one DB10 — there had to be several for the production. So it produced 10 in total: eight for the production itself and two additional examples for publicity tours, etc. It’s unclear how many of the production units lived to fight another day. Given the $34 million worth of cars destroyed during filming, though, I suspect few made it to the wrap-party.
Before meeting their untimely deaths, each DB10 build was given the full Aston treatment. Each vehicle was built with a 4.7-liter V8 and a six-speed manual gearbox, which is the source for the blistering speed requirements discussed in the last section. As you can tell from the audio track of the video above, though the engine is getting on a bit in years, having been in production in one form or another since 1996, it still sounds exceptionally mean.
Under the hood of the V8 Vantage that lent its form to the DB10, the 4.7-liter V8 makes 420 horsepower. How many it made for 007 is unclear. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a few tick more.
50 Years
The DB10 marks 50 years of Aston Martins in James Bond films. In fact, 12 of the 24 Bond cars have been Astons — more than any other brand. Although you might not be able to buy the DB10 like other Bond cars (including an AMC Hornet and Renault 11), I dare say the DB10 might be one of the coolest. In fact, it’s the fact that you can’t buy the car that adds to its allure. People famously want what they can’t have. But when the 2017 DB11 comes out, you’ll essentially be able to one-up 007 … How cool is that?
via Mashable