When you think of James Bond, one car brand is synonymous. That of Aston Martin. OK, there have been flirtations with Lotus and even BMW, but it has always been Aston Martin that topped the pile. So, were do Land Rovers fit into all this? Well Land Rovers have appeared in numerous James Bond movies over the years. Roger Moore drove a converted open top Range Rover (Called the Rapport Huntsman) in Octopussy that towed a horse box with a rather unique missile launching system and in the Living Day lights, Timothy Dalton drove a particularly nice military Series 3 off a cliff in Gibraltar.

Above – This Rapport Huntsman is a replica of the one driven by Roger Moore in the film Octopussy.

To get your full Land Rover experience within the world of Bond, we need to jump forward a movie or two to Skyfall. Bond is famous for the exciting adrenaline filled opening sequences and Skyfall did not disappoint. During the opening sequences we see Moneypenny, played by actress Naomie Harris, driving a 2012 Defender 110 Double Cab pickup through the busy Istanbul traffic. Emphases on through. Literally. By the time she leaves the vehicle it is rather worse for wear. The vehicle used was a fairly standard 110 with steel wheels and the 2.2 litre Puma engine. For the film 12 Land Rovers were prepared, one fitted with a roof mounted pod, in which the vehicle was controlled by the Stunt Driver Ben Collins, whilst Harris acted. After filming some of the Land Rovers were sold on the open market, but the most damaged one was kept and can sometimes be seen at the British Heritage Museum at Gaydon.

Abve – The most damaged Skyfall Defender is housed at Gaydon, where you can revel in all its dented glory!

Perhaps the most famous of Bond Land Rovers are the ones built for Spectre. As with Skyfall, the base vehicle was a Defender 110 Double Cab pickup, however for Spectre they were given a dose of steroids and then some. For the film 10 Defenders were passed to Bowler motorsport and turned into the SVX Concept.

Externally a full roll cage protected the occupants and was fitted with a roof rack and four spotlights. For added off road prowess, a snorkel and bash plates were also added. The standard 2.2 litre engine was given 185 bhp and a hydraulic hand brake was fitted to aid the stunt driving. This vehicle spawned numerous replicas’ with every Land Rover modification company worth its salts making a “Spectre Style” Land Rover. In the film we see Bond being chased by the Defenders in Austria and if that wasn’t enough the baddies also had some Range Rover Sport SVR’s with roof mounted light bars to help them. But all this was in vain. Despite having awesome Land Rover products Bond evades the villains, saves the world and lives to fight another day. Again.

Above – To compliment the beefed up Defenders, the baddies in Spectre also drive Range Rover Sport SVR’s!

For Bonds next and, at the time of writing, final outing Land Rover wanted to showcase the all new L663 Defender. However, this hadn’t quite been launched so filming had to use very early pre-production and production models. Keen to demonstrate to the public that toughness if it’s new product, sequences from the film were actually used in the Defender promotional material. In the film sequence Bond is once again chased by the bad guys in their Defenders and motorcycles. We see the Defender making 30-meter jumps, being driven hard and at one point, do a full roll over back onto its wheels and carry on driving. You may think that these special movie vehicles were heavily modified for the film, but you would be wrong. Other than a stripped-out interior, safety equipment and some additional underbody protection the Defenders were all standard P400 models. Following its endorsement of the film a limited edition variant called the 007 edition was introduced based on the P525 V8 110 Station Wagon.

Above Left – No Range Rovers were harmed in the making of Die another Day. Oh apart from this one. This one was mullered! Above Right – The Defenders used were pretty much stock and were very abused during the filming!

Following the last movie, it is not clear where the Bond franchise will go next, but one thing is for sure. The bad guys will be driving Land Rovers.