While on my daily hot girl walk yesterday evening, I came across a street-parked Aston Martin Vantage that stopped me in my tracks. Not just any “normal” Vantage, this is a Vantage 007 Edition, of which just 100 were produced in 2020 to celebrate “No Time to Die,” the last James Bond movie with Daniel Craig as the titular character. Most importantly to me, its unique styling cues were inspired by the V8 Vantage that Timothy Dalton drove in 1987’s “The Living Daylights,” which is my absolute favorite Bond car — and my favorite Aston.
I immediately knew this Vantage was this particular special edition, because my brain is useful for basically nothing but knowledge like this, but even if you weren’t aware of this special edition it would be a very cool spec. It’s painted in the subtly brown-ish shade of Cumberland Grey, with silver wheels (a rarity for modern Vantages) and yellow lines on the splitter, side skirts and diffuser inspired by the hazard stripes on the ‘87 Vantage’s deployable skis. There’s a kinda lame Vantage badge on the fender vent, but decidedly not lame is the custom grille, which has a chrome border and square mesh like on the older car.
While I didn’t take a peek into the cabin, there are some cool Bond-inspired details in there as well. It has some 007 badges, of course, and the seats, parcel shelf and headliner have a lined leather motif like that of the ‘80s model. For the real nerds, the sun visors are embroidered with the radio frequency Bond uses to escape in the movie, the carbon-fiber seatbacks have holes inspired by a cello (an important plot point in “Daylights”), the paddle shifters have etched missile guidance crosshairs, and a plaque under the center armrest has a laser-etched design depicting all the different gadgets of the “Daylights” movie car.
Sadly, this particular example didn’t have the best option that Aston offered for the 007 Edition: A custom ski rack and color-matched pair of skis. In “Daylights” Bond’s Vantage doesn’t have a ski rack per se — it has built-in outrigger skis that deploy from the side skirts — but it’s a cool touch nonetheless. Bond has driven cars with rad ski racks, though, like his red Turbo Esprit in 1981’s “For Your Eyes Only.”
This package cost $34,425 on top of the standard Vantage’s base price. Sure, that’s the price of a nicely optioned Honda Accord, but is an Accord this cool? Certainly not. You’re never gonna catch me being annoyed by how much Aston milks its Bond history, either, but I would love if more companies would do the same. Bond has driven so many different sorts of cars over the decades that are also worth being celebrated. Where’s my special edition Renault inspired by the Renault 11 that gets sawed in half in “A View to a Kill?”
