We digress periodically, and this is one of those days. For James Bond is back, in book form anyway, and I was happy to see that he rides in style again in Carte Blanche. No more Volvos, or whatever sensible thing the previous authors for hire were placing him in. No, Jeffrey Deaver remembered that Bond's parents left him a small sum when they passed and he has spent it properly, on a Bentley Continental. Good choice. Twin turbo V-12. Zero to 60 in under five seconds. And a better than expected if not completely sensible 19 MPG on the daily commute.
Though I cannot get all the way past the idea that the Continental is a re-bodied Volkswagen Phaeton, this is not a terrible thing. It frankly does not happen often but when I am passed on the highways these days it is usually by a young man in an Audi after all and those are Volkswagens too. The company has been building some very respectable transportation in recent years.
The wheels are turning.
Photo: Adrian Pingstone
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10 comments:
If it makes you feel any better about the provenance of the Bentley, Will, my understanding is that the Phaeton was Piech's way of getting customers to pay for the R&D for the Bentley. So, if true, the Phaeton is, in a sense, the derivative even though it came first.
This is a great car - my personal favorite! Nice digression.
It looks like a spin-dryer on wheels to me; a grotesque thing - but quite in the spirit of our miserable and ugly age.
It's amazing that a small bequest from the 1930s following a climbing accident in the Aiguilles Rouges could stretch to the cost of a Bentley today!
The Bond books were written at a time when British prestige was at an all time low. Ian Flemming responded to this by showcasing British products; Bond's shirts were from Turnbull, his suits were cut in London, if not Savile Row, his car was a Bentley, his tipple of choice when not on the road was Scotch, and a big English breakfast was de rigueur.
I have no objection to product placement, because Felmming did that. But if you want to keep the spirit of of the novels, the products should be (at least nominally) British.
Carl - yes - Fleming certainly did product placement, as few (if any) had done before. The normal formula for shop names etc was to merge real names (Horridges, for example, was Galsworthy's way of naming a department store!) and Floris were so grateful for the mention in Dr No that they sen Fleming a box of goodies. The trouble with the 'Bond franchise' now is that it's all moving away even from the stories in the books (not least because they have run out) but poor old Bond has been subject (as is so much) by globalization. Mind you, try to order some English snuff or a Floris cologne from outside the EU and you find out how big some borders remain - but only the ones that we don't want of course!
Not sure why you're so harsh on the Phaeton. It can never claim to be the "people's car", but it's a very well made vehicle.
It's not true to the books, but I feel the films did British automotive style the best credit by putting Bond in an Aston Martin in Goldfinger.
One of the things that never came through from the books was Bond's never-changing breakfast of scrambled eggs (with or without bacon) and coffee. He eats mountains of it in the books.
A "well-made vehicle" to me means something with a chassis and coachwork, that will still be around in 50 years' time. As to Bond's breakfast - he has a breakfast of French maran eggs (through his house-keeper, May), and wholemeal toast and coffee, at the very beginning of one of the novels - and I got the distinct impression that they were soft-boiled that time! Fleming seems to have had scrambled eggs most mornings in Jamaica. I have to say that I prefer a nicely made omelette.
I prefer the omelette too, but that might make our hero a bit too much the Francophile. The deciding factors may be really bitter Scottish marmalade and kippered herring. I don't remember if Bond has them in the novels, but to enjoy them you must either be authentically British, or a VERY committed Anglophile.
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