Everyone knows that James Bond prefers an Aston Martin. DB5, ideally. But as any Bond aficionado will tell you - possibly at length in the corner of a pub - Ian Fleming first gave his dashing spy a series of Bentleys, culminating in a fictional car in ‘Thunderball’, a unique coachbuilt Bentley known as the "Locomotive". Now this lesser-known Bond car can be filed under non-fiction, thanks to an obsessive fan. And yes, these images are real.
Because Bond fan Tony Hunter is also a car designer so when he decided he just had to have Bond’s Bentley Locomotive, he at least had the basic skills. Source material was easy to find. Fleming describes the basis for the Locomotive as an R-Type Continental Mk II, bought cheap after "some rich idiot had married (it) to a telegraph pole on the Great West Road". Bond sent it off to coachbuilders Mulliner Park Ward to transform coupé into bespoke open two-seater.
The most beautiful Bentley ever made?
Fleming described it as “the most selfish car in England” and fan Hunter wanted one. He sourced a 1953 R-Type Continental - often described as one of the most beautiful Bentleys ever made - and like Bond before him set about creating the Locomotive. Hunter has said that he wondered why no-one had tried to do this before. "I quickly realised why.” An 18-month projected build lasted a full seven years.
Worth the effort? Just look at it. Bentley heritage is very much present. Selfishness is expressed in accommodation for just spy and current companion, ditching the original car's rear seats. Bond’s Fleming-decreed dislike of the sharp profile of the Continental’s rear led Hunter to draw a more curved resolution to the design. Imposing Bentley bonnet is louvred to express performance and features, as Fleming wrote, a silver thunderbolt rather than the Bentley B as bonnet mascot.
Bentley Locomotive: A look inside
Interior features lavish use of American walnut, speaking of extravagant luxury. Seats are hand-quilted black leather again as Fleming described. Colourway is also ’Thunderball’-correct, the author describing it as “elephant’s breath grey”. Tony Hunter had paint hand-mixed until he was content that Bond’s choice had been perfectly realised. Result? The Locomotive is tailor-made for drawing up outside Casino de Monte Carlo.
Under the bonnet is a rebuilt version of the original 4.6-litre straight-six, with detail-obsessed Hunter planning to fit a supercharger in the future, as Bond did in ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’. Performance will be more than adequate. The R-Type Continental’s 115 mph top speed was very fast for its time, enough to see off a pursuer or two.
Tony Hunter hasn’t revealed the final bill. Needless to say that whatever it’s cost, the end result is worth it, and not just for avid James Bond fans. The Locomotive has an air of a bespoke sports car that’s always existed and that’s quite the achievement. For yours, start with a £500,000 1950s R-Type Continental and work from there. We’re stirred and shaken.
Next up: Take a look at this stunning 1965 Aston Martin DB5.
