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Am 4.7.2021 um 12:23 schrieb IkarusJohn:

Bond car …

Bonds roadster was only made 2x for the film. I think some collectors opened coupes in the 1980s because they wanted a convertible. And there was a one-off Targa version.

The 2000 GT held three FIA worldrecords in speed/endurance for a short period of time (72hrs, 15.000 km and 10.000 miles) before a Porsche 911 took over.

In the 1960s and 1970s more than 500.000 cars were made of this model (yes model, by Corgy Toys, haha). Fullsize only 351 at Yamaha.

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Some additional 2000GT infos ...

The conversion into the roadster wasn´t a big problem and didn´t need many reinforcements. The car itself was too expensive to compete with cars in the (US) target market so a roadster was never seriously considered when the coupe didn´t sell well. I´m not sure if the story is true that the basic ideas grew at Nissan and Yamaha and were later sold to Toyota (who redisigned the final car with their own designer). Nissan was in design discussions with Graf Goertz (BMW 507, Nissan/Datsun 240Z) and rumours say he was involved in the basic design ideas to create an E-Type/911 rival for Nissan (which in the beginning was NOT the later very successful 240Z).

The story why a convertible for Bond (as there wasn´t a series cabriolet) were cinematic and sponsor reasons. It was much easier to film an open car at the close ups and driving scenes and Connery would have looked "oversized" in the Coupe. Also Sony as an early Bond film sponsor (the camera monitor was some sort of product placement) might have preferred the convertible. In the only known survivor (the film car for Japan, now in the Toyota collection amoung 4 or 5 more coupes) the hood boot was fake. There was never a proper convertible hood.

The second roadster was for studio work in UK, that must have been the only car which had the Sony monitor installed (the Toyota collection cabrio doesn´t have the monitor and looks more "stock"). The remain of the UK car is unknown.

Can anyone recall the two camera lenses installed in the dash? I think they were Asahi/Pentax. I doubt they could have filmed Bond and the lady driver the way they were installed, they weren´t Fisheyes 😉 

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On 7/4/2021 at 11:23 AM, IkarusJohn said:

Bond car …

The coupé 2000GT we used to have, was quite creaky on undulating roads, a bit like my 1977 911, even with its welded in steel roll cage, so I suspect the torsional strength of the 2000GT body was not that great....and that's before you cut the roof off. This would be typical of 1960's GT cars without a space frame. The engine is probably the smoothest 6 cylinder I have ever driven. A little gem, if a tad lacking in low down torque. It might have been a better car with a 2.5 or 3 litre engine but that could have exposed the lack of torsional rigidity and spoilt the balance. I think the UK Bond Roadster may be in Jay Leno's collection. 

Wilson

 

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AFAIK Jay Leno doesn’t own a 2000GT but did briefly drive the Toyota collection car on site. With a lot of digging it seems the UK car was destroyed at some point. Intriguingly the actual car for the “over the shoulder” studio shots filmed indoors at Pinewood seem to be an Alfa 2600 spider not the Toyota - with Connery sitting on a low wooden box not an actual seat.

The lenses are Pentax Takumar (one is a Super-Takumar but I can’t decipher the other - I don’t think it has enough letters to be a Fisheye Takumar 18mm)

Edited by NigelG
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Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!


 

Note Connery (on his box) below the roof line....


From imcdb.org files.
(I am unable to trace the original copyright owner - mods delete if appropriate.)

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Indeed here the dash, seats, rear mirror and steering wheel look completely different to the car in the Toyota collection.

I saw guys with similar size like Connery sit in the works collection car and they sit MUCH higher than Bond in the film (window frame on eye level). So the wood box assumption could be very right and I had the same idea. Just remember Bond and the girl when they are not sitting in the car (where they seem to be equally tall, Bond just a bit higher as this photo shows).

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vor 15 Stunden schrieb NigelG:

 Intriguingly the actual car for the “over the shoulder” studio shots filmed indoors at Pinewood seem to be an Alfa 2600 spider not the Toyota - ...

 

I do miss the little A-pillar side screens of the Alfa 2600 spider in these scenes.

Interesting to watch the scenes carefully, even the rear mirror fixation seems to change within seconds. And sometimes Bonds head was MUCH higher like he sits on the correct 2000GT seat because his eyes seem to be on window level and much higher than the lady drivers head. In other scenes not.

So which car was used for the interior/over the shoulder shots? I think different ones, but possibly the two built Toyota 2000GT convertibles. How that? Toyota says the two convertibles were made from 2000GT prototypes and these prototypes can look different in details (even front windscreen/doors).

When you carefully look at the faux tarpaulin there is the 4 center (quilting) element you can also see at one of the 2000GTs.

The Bond car collector who couldn´t buy the works cabrio rebuilt one from a coupe. Although he may have worked on the front and rear end (which differ from the serial coupes) I doubt it has the same shaped side doors as the prototype in the works collection. EON production gave him the dash gadget control panels (maybe they had a second set for close ups). Car had been sold 2x and belongs to a collector from Japan now.

As a side note Toyota gave EON two coupes which weren´t used for the film and later sold in UK.

Finding photos of the UK studio car would be the next step. And maybe anyone can determine which car they are sitting in the studio shots. As this question is similar to this threads theme, it would be a nice "side job" until the next car shows up.

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My apologies.  I completely forgot.  Here is one:

 

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1 hour ago, Jim J said:

'fraid not.  It is GM (General Motors, that is, not genetically modified) though.

In that case I'll throw out : circa 1938 V-16 Cadillac, although the right-hand steering wheel, as well as the sunroof and roof-mounted wipers suggest it was made for a left-side driving country, since those were not options offered to US customers.

JZG

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Dear Rona!d, like you I am scratching my head about this one.  The best of my knowledge, the General Motors cars assembled here in the thirties had scuttle mounted windscreen wipers.  The difficulty is private imports.  best wishes, Hektor

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