Spy Octane Pre-order
5th November 2024
Pre-order the new book about Bond's vehicles with an MI6 exclusive reader discount
By MI6 Staff
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Marking the 60th anniversary of 'Goldfinger', and the gadget-laden Aston Martin DB5 that became its four-wheeled star is Spy Octane: The Vehicles of James Bond.
Written by acclaimed Bond historians Matthew Field and Ajay Chowdhury this is the first of three volumes that take an in-depth look at every one of the vehicles in the James Bond movies – which have become the longest-running film franchise of all time.
Through incredible detective work the authors have unearthed undiscovered and ground-breaking secrets behind the vehicles such as the autogyro Little Nellie, the Toyota 2000GT Convertible, the Moon Buggy and of course the iconic Aston Martin DB5 – which secured the most successful product placement deal in movie history and was described as ‘the most famous car in the world’.
Spy Octane presents for the first time the definitive, in-depth story of each of these vehicles – and many more. It draws upon hundreds of exclusive interviews with the filmmakers, actors, stunt-drivers, motor industry executives, museum curators and private vehicle owners, and countless motoring and entertainment periodicals, books, magazines and unpublished ephemera.
Some of these cars and crafts embarked on glamorous promotional tours around the world, others ended up on the race track, in museums, in the hands of collectors – or abandoned to rot, only to be rediscovered decades later.
Hundreds of photographs take the reader on a journey through the golden age of James Bond in the 1960s, exploring Bond creator Ian Fleming’s passion for exotic travel and individualistic motor cars before detailing the array of vehicles which propelled 007 through the first seven Bond films on land, sea and in the air.
Author Matthew Field said: “We have been so fortunate to have been granted access to a great number of private archives from around the world as well as those of Ford and Toyota who have shared a wealth of incredible, never-before-published photographs and documents.”
Author Ajay Chowdhury said: “We have been blessed with the cooperation of so many who have entrusted us with their stories for the first time. We have also unearthed 007 vehicles which were thought to have been lost forever.”
Matthew Field and Ajay Chowdhury collaborated on 'Some Kind of Hero: The Remarkable Story of the James Bond Films' published by The History Press in 2015. They curated and wrote the special edition bookazines 'Remembering Roger Moore' and 'Sean Connery: A James Bond Journey' for MI6 Confidential. Their work has appeared in James Bond articles and publications around the world. In 2019 Field’s Porter Press book 'The Self Preservation Society: 50 Years of The Italian Job' won the Royal Automobile Club’s Motoring Book of the Year.
Porter Press International is renowned for publishing top-quality motoring books. Founded in 2005 by acclaimed automotive author Philip Porter, the company is now firmly established worldwide as a leading motoring book publisher.
Datastream
Size: 317mm x 270mm
Format: Jacketed hardback
Page count: 432 pages
Price: £99.00
ISBN 978-1-913089-85-6
Publisher: Porter Press International
Publication date: November 2024
ORDER ONLINE AT PORTER PRESS - USE THE CODE 'MI6' FOR 10% OFF
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