This is one of the most prized cars in my collection. I'm a big James Bond fan and that includes his cars! The first I heard of this model was on the Exoticar website in November 1999. I immediately pre-ordered it, and sat back and waited. As I'm patient (to a degree!) I waited over 6 weeks with no word. I rang Exoticar and found that not only did they not get the Bond Z8 in stock, they had no record of my order either! By this stage, I found out that the Bond version in silver, with a 007 presentation box, was a BMW exclusive only, and would only be available through their dealerships. I was gutted! I could have gone to any number of BMW dealerships around Dublin and ordered it, but by then (February 2000) everywhere was sold out! Then, at the end of April 2000, Kevin Pickell at www.scale18.com got in a limited supply of Bond Z8's! Within one week it was delivered, and took pride of place in my collection! Later in 2000, most BMW dealers got a second lot of these 007 Z8s back in stock, but since then they have been sold out.
The Z8 was produced in limited numbers only, and only in left hand drive. It is powered by the same 400bhp BMW Motorsport V8 that is found in the 1999-2003 M5 (another car I hope is made in 1:18th), and consequently it is rather fast! The Retro styling is meant to echo the BMW 507 from the 1950's, which also was a limited production 2 seater V8 convertible. To some, the styling is overdone and fussy, but I think it looks great! The dashboard is painted the same colour as the bodywork (silver in this case), as it is in the Fiat Coupe from 1994, and the instruments are mounted centrally, which I think is odd, as the car is to be made in left hand drive only. Even the steering wheel is Retro in appearance, with a series of metal spokes connecting the rim to the compact central boss with an airbag.
The Bond car was only seen in a small number of scenes in "The World is Not Enough" with Pierce Brosnan (in his 3rd outing as 007). We first see it (along with new 007 boffin "R", aka John Cleese) in "Q's" laboratory, as Bond is being shown the new gadgets to be used in the movie. Features mentioned are "all points radar", "titanium armor" and "remote control" (which was first seen on Bond's BMW 750iL in "Tomorrow Never Dies").
Apart from a few further shots of Bond driving the car through some oilfields, the big scene for the Z8 is also it's last! Bond finds himself under attack by two helicopters with underslung circular saws. He starts the Z8 by remote control and has it come to him. Then he uses a targeting array on the steering wheel which locks onto the helicopter, and then an air to air missile pops out from behind one of the side vents and shoots the offending helicopter down. Unfortunately for 007, the 2nd helicopter ambushes Bond from behind and saws the Z8 clean in half! Bond quips "Q's not going to like this". Poor Q rarely gets any of his equipment back in one piece! The car sawn in half in the movie was actually a glassfibre mock-up. In fact, the Z8's used in the movie were all mock-up's, using an American chassis and V8, with glassfibre body panels made up by BMW. This was not in order to save money, but because no Z8's were available in time for filming!
This model is a typical quality piece from Kyosho. The fit and finish is excellent (as you would expect from Kyosho) with smooth, even silver paint, small enamelled BMW badges (instead of decals), and realistic textures for the seats and carpets (even in the boot). Both doors and the hood and boot open as well. The weakest part of the model for me is the wheels, which do not look quite right, when compared to the 1:1. I think the shape and separation of the spokes is just not accurate. AUTOart have also released several Z8s including a James Bond version, and it is superior to the Kyosho model in a number of ways. It has better brake and interior detail and the wheels look just like those on the 1:1. The Bond version also has a pop out air to air missile behind the side vent just like the movie car. However, given the trouble I went to in getting my Kyosho 007 Z8 I'm not in any hurry to swap it for the AUTOart version! I have a non-Bond black AUTOart Z8 in my collection as well.
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