The best Bond girl cars

From the amphibious Lotus Esprit that plunges into the sea in The Spy Who Loved Me, to the bright yellow Triumph Stag careering around Amsterdam in Diamonds are Forever, cars have always been a huge part of the appeal of the James Bond movie franchise.

Another big draw of the series has been the Bond girls – the love interests, the glamorous heroines, and of course those devilish female nemeses. Well, put these two together and what have you got? That’s right – some rather wonderful cars driven by some captivating, often dastardly ladies. Here's our pick of the best Bond girl cars.

By the way, if you simply can't get enough of Bond vehicles (and we can't), you'll also enjoy our rundown of classic cars made famous by Bond.

Toyota 2000GT

You Only Live Twice

We begin with Bond's fifth on-screen outing, 1967's You Only Live Twice. The screenplay, written interestingly by Roald Dahl and only loosely based on the Ian Fleming novel of the same name, sends Sean Connery's Bond to Japan to investigate why American and Soviet spacecraft have been mysteriously disappearing in orbit. Yes, it's the late 1960s, a few years after the Cuban Missile Crisis, and this is Cold War central.

Pitching up on a remote Japanese island, Bond stumbles upon the infamous Ernst Blofeld, head of SPECTRE. This shadowy organisation appears to be working for an unnamed Asian nation, with the aim of kicking off a major conflict between the Transatlantic superpowers.

One of the film's most memorable characters is the Japanese secret service agent Aki – and she lingers in the memory, in large part, because of the frankly wonderful car she drives. Yes, the fortunate Aki gets to motor around in an open-top Toyota 2000GT, one of the most gorgeous, eye-catching grand tourers from the GT's late 60s / early 70s heyday.

It's no exaggeration to say that the 2000GT upended global perceptions of Japanese motor cars. Until then, cars like the Toyota Corona and Nissan Bluebird had persuaded the world that Japan turned out safe, reliable and fuel-sipping 'econoboxes' – but nothing with any hint of creative flair. By contrast, this amazing-looking GT, with its long, swooping fastback rear, Ferrari-like tail lights, endless acres of bonnet and exotic pop-up lights, put paid to all that.

Today, given its extraordinary beauty, iconic 'dawn of the supercar' status and extreme rarity (only 351 were produced), the 2000GT is a very valuable car indeed. Should you, by some extraordinary piece of luck, happen to have one of these in your garage, classic car cover is an absolute must.

Ford Mustang

Goldfinger

If you had to choose one iconic car sequence from the whole Bond franchise, it just might be the mountain section in 1964's Goldfinger. In this part, Sean Connery's Bond, driving his (what else?) Aston Martin DB5, pursues Tilly Masterson up the Furka Pass in her cream convertible Ford Mustang.

Tilly, for her part, is on the trail of the villain Goldfinger (who's at the wheel of a 1930s Rolls Royce Phantom III Sedanca de Ville, since you ask. Some rather fine cars were cruising around the Furka that day). Her mission: to exact revenge for her sister's death. The resulting chase along a winding, unfenced mountain road is genuinely white-knuckle stuff. The scenery ain't half bad either.

Tilly's choice of wheels is a good one. The vehicle that introduced the 'pony car' concept to a grateful world, the Ford Mustang first appeared in 1964, making Tilly's one of the very first off the production line. That first-generation Mustang was a typically nimble, fine-handling Ford, and if we had to drive any car up the tortuous Furka Pass (and yes, please, we'd like to do just like that), this car would be near the top of our list.

Interesting fact: the original plan was for the film to feature a hard-top Mustang Fastback in gold paint (for 'Goldfinger', see?), but production was moving so fast on set that Ford didn't have the relevant car ready in time. So, they sent a convertible version instead – which, for those wind-in-the-hair thrills, was surely a very acceptable replacement.

By the way, if you are planning any automobile heroics like those seen in this film, do make sure you have some specialist car insurance in place!

Mercury Cougar

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

By the late 1960s, her work in The Avengers had made Diana Rigg one of the most bankable TV and film stars in the world. Rigg was an obvious choice, then, to play Bond's love interest in 1969's stylish sixth instalment, On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

The two meet right at the start of the film, when the super spy (here played by Australian actor George Lazenby, in his one and only outing as Bond) happens upon the glamorous Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo at the beach. He saves her from drowning – and a bond is forged between the two.

Rigg had famously driven a small but perfectly formed Lotus Elan in The Avengers. This time, she gets something from the other end of the automotive scale – a whopping great, seven-litre V8 Mercury Cougar. American cars of the 1960s and early 70s were big, brash and aggressive, and the first-generation Cougar was no exception. In one amusing scene, Rigg and her Cougar scatter a series of Ford Escorts and Minis to the four winds. Whether on the chic streets of Italy or the broad plains of Minnesota, when you saw this car, you got out of the way!

Leyland Sherpa

The Spy Who Loved Me

1977's The Spy Who Loved Me is blessed with some extraordinary, almost otherworldly feats of mechanical engineering. There is, of course, the amphibious Lotus Esprit, which converts into a submarine to enable Roger Moore's Bond and the KGB agent Triple X to escape from evil scientist Karl Stromberg and his henchmen.

Then there's Stromberg's extraordinary underwater base, Atlantis. An oceanic citadel-cum-marine research lab, Atlantis resembles nothing more than a giant four-legged metal frog supported by vast ballast tanks.

So far, so wonderful. Less awe-inspiring (but equally great to see) is the Leyland Sherpa van that Agent Triple X, aka Barbara Bach, drives. The scene in which she struggles to get the Sherpa into gear while Bond comments patronisingly from the passenger seat is… well, it probably wouldn't get made now.

Ferrari F355GTS

Goldeneye

The sight of a glamorously made-up Famke Janssen, dressed all in red and black and behind the wheel of a bright red Ferrari F355GTS, is perhaps the apogee of the dastardly but glamorous Bond femme fatale. Janssen's Georgian villain Xenia Onatopp drives the Ferrari in a colourful fashion, squeezing past Bond's by-now-vintage Aston Martin DB5 before spinning out of control.

Janssen / Onatopp might have flung the Ferrari around with gay abandon: these days, we'd recommend treating it with just a little more care and respect. The F355 (1994-1999) was a magnificent return to form for the Prancing Horse, after its predecessor the 348 had been put in the shade by the Porsche 911 and Honda NSX. Nowadays, it's a covetable classic.

Similarly, Goldeneye was seen as a big return to form for the Bond franchise, after the relative disappointment of the Timothy Dalton era (The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill). We'd like to credit Janssen and her very red Ferrari with a small but significant part of that success.

Renault 5 Turbo

Never Say Never Again

Ah, the Renault 5. Practical, engaging to drive and cute-looking in that inimitable Gallic way, it was one of our favourite superminis from the 1970s and 1980s.

The wide-bodied, mid-engined Turbo variant, however, was a completely different beast. Primarily built for rallying, the 5 Turbo was also sold in a street version, the latter capable of around 130mph and a 0-60 sprint time somewhere in the region of 6.6 seconds.

Apart from those bulging side arches, the car looked more or less like a normal 5. Down there among the mechanicals, though, things were very different. The standard 5 was a typical front-wheel drive, front-engined supermini: this Turbo variant went for rear-wheel drive and put the engine just aft of the midsection. The car got its rear suspension from the Alpine A310 (one of our choices of 10 cars that epitomise French style, incidentally), and the five-speed manual gearbox came from the range-topping Renault 30 TX.

The charismatic 5 Turbo got a starring role in 1983's Never Say Never Again. Barbara Carrera plays Fatima Blush, an employee of Blofeld's SPECTRE who has been sent to hunt down and kill Bond. Blush gets behind the wheel of a Renault 5 Turbo to chase down our hero, who's driving a Yamaha XJ650 Turbo motorbike, in the film's most dramatic chase sequence.

Citroen 2CV

For Your Eyes Only

The Bond films are widely perceived to be all about glamour, prestige, and enviable lifestyles. Sharp suits, beautiful women, outrageous acts of athleticism and derring-do… and some incredible cars. Well, yes, all true. But there are a few rather wonderful exceptions to the latter – like the bright yellow Citroën 2CV that plays a key role in 1981's For Your Eyes Only.

The backstory: Roger Moore is back behind the wheel of a Lotus Esprit, although not the same one as the famous submarine of The Spy Who Loved Me four years earlier. One of this new car's distinctive features is its anti-theft security: when two burglars try to break into the vehicle, it promptly bursts into flames. One way to see off thieves, we suppose, although if you're planning on owning a desirable car we'd simply recommend a decent locking system and some good classic insurance.

Finding himself without wheels, Bond hitches a ride with Melina Havelock, the daughter of murdered marine biologists who, like our hero, wants to take down the bad guys. In a nice, all-French chase sequence, Bond and Havelock's 2CV gets up a decent head of steam to escape the villains’ Peugeot 504s. Hang on: a 2CV winning a car chase? What planet are we on here? Well, it turns out that the film's 2CV got an upgraded, four-cylinder engine borrowed from its larger sibling, the GS.

MG MGB

The Man with the Golden Gun

Are there any Bond cars that you can own yourself? Most definitely there are. Maybe the Toyota 2000GT that we began this list with is just out of your league. But we doubt that’s the case for the charming, fun and affordable MGB.

Wait a minute. The MGB, everyone's favourite weekend runabout – a Bond car? Yes indeed. In The Man with the Golden Gun from 1974, Britt Ekland plays Mary Goodnight, Bond's glamorous but occasionally hapless assistant (bear with us – this was the early 1970s). Her vehicle of choice is a slightly bilious, pale-green MGB convertible, and she drives Roger Moore's Bond around Hong Kong in it as he hunts for signs of the villain Scaramanga.

Referring perhaps to the car's interesting colour choice, Bond is slightly rude about it ("Madam, would you be good enough to move this inverted bedpan?" he asks, before recognising Goodnight at the wheel). We feel much more kindly disposed towards it – the MGB is one of the absolute icons of British automotive history, and one of our most popular models for supplying insurance for your classic car.

Even better, the car that features here is an earlier model with the lovely chrome bumpers, before the introduction of the US-required rubber bumpers that robbed the car of just a little of its nimble grace.

Lancaster classic car insurance: for icons and everyday drivers alike

Well, as we've seen, Bond girls got to drive some truly fantastic cars; some quirky and loveable cars; even some hilariously incongruous cars. A pretty broad church, in fact.

Which is also how we'd describe the range of cars for which we provide classic car insurance. Whether you're behind the wheel of a Toyota 2000GT or a Citroen 2CV, and whether your classic is road-ready or just at the start of a long restoration journey, we'll be very happy to insure it for you.

Call us for a classic car insurance quote today.

Policy benefits, features and discounts offered may very between insurance schemes or cover selected and are subject to underwriting criteria. Information contained within this article is accurate at the time of publishing but may be subject to change.