In his 12th outing at the cinema in "For Your Eyes Only" in 1981, James Bond used two Lotus Esprit Turbos as his personal transport. The first car was a white Turbo which happened to get blown up near the start of the movie. Later on, Bond (played by Roger Moore in his 5th time in the role) is seen driving this bronze metallic Turbo complete with two pairs of Olin skis on the rear deck. The skis are in context as the car is seen in the Italian Alpine resort of Cortina. The car is not used in any chase sequences, and it is only seen in the movie briefly. Bonds contact in the Italian secret service is murdered in the car, and that is as close as it gets to action! For once, Bond gets to return a car to Q-Branch more or less intact!
AUTOart have done a good job in recreating this movie car, and the skis on the rear deck are spot on. The car is otherwise the same as the other Esprit Turbos in AUTOarts range. One omission however is that the car does not have numberplates, which is odd as it is meant to recreate a specific car. If I figure out how to make my own then I'll add them myself! I haven't included a picture of the car's engine in this review as the skis made it difficult to open the rear hatch sufficiently to allow a good engine photo to be taken. However, the 2.2 litre four cylinder turbocharged engine is the same in this model as it is in the other Aa Esprit Turbos in my collection, and which are pictured elsewhere in this site.
In total I'm giving it 7.5/10 marks, and I feel it is a must have model for any James Bond fan.
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