# What kind of Bentley did James Bond drive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2003, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bentley-did-james-bond-drive/193317 "2003-08-06T12:55:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bentley-did-james-bond-drive/193317/1 "2003-08-06T12:55:24Z")
James Bond had cool expensive cars in the movies, but in the books he was pretty much living on a civil servant’s salary. He drove an old Bentley that was souped up, but a little rough-looking. I think it was painted grey. What model Bentley did he drive? I’d like to see a photo of one. ---
**Author:** ![Sur\_Nii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Sur\_Nii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sur_Nii)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bentley-did-james-bond-drive/193317/2 "2003-08-06T13:24:21Z")
I seem to recall that he had a Sunbeam Alpine, and aren’t you talking about a Rolls Royce Silver shadow he had? May have been ‘M’ I’ts been a while since I have read the books. Here’s one site : [http://website.lineone.net/~007bonds/menu.htm](http://website.lineone.net/~007bonds/menu.htm) The name is Sur’Nii, Doper Sur’Nii, with a licence to quill:cool: ---
**Author:** ![li\_l\_Dickie\_Dirtz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@li\_l\_Dickie\_Dirtz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/li_l_Dickie_Dirtz)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bentley-did-james-bond-drive/193317/3 "2003-08-06T13:30:01Z")
Wasn’t it a Sunbeam Tiger? ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bentley-did-james-bond-drive/193317/4 "2003-08-06T13:36:07Z")
Well, I think they first bring up the Bentley he drives in his normal life in _Moonraker_. It may have been _Live and Let Die_ though. Anyway, my recollection was that it was a 193? Bentley. [You can get a good idea of what it would have looked like here](http://www.classic-british-cars.com/bentley-pictures-1.html). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bentley-did-james-bond-drive/193317/5 "2003-08-06T17:25:53Z")
No, this has nothing to do with the films. In the books he drove a beat-up, souped-up Bentley. I know the model was mentioned in one book or another, but my books are in storage. Anyway, I’m looking for the book car, not a film car. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bentley-did-james-bond-drive/193317/6 "2003-08-06T17:51:41Z")
I haven’t read the original books since high school but Bond’s personal car was a supercharged 1933 Bentley Continental, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bentley-did-james-bond-drive/193317/7 "2003-08-06T18:13:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Johnny L.A. \* > \*\*No, this has nothing to do with the films. In the books he drove a beat-up, souped-up Bentley. I know the model was mentioned in one book or another, but my books are in storage. > > Anyway, I’m looking for the book car, not a film car. \*\* Right, it was a [1930 Bentley 4.5-liter](http://www.rrab.com/b45ltr.htm#top). I have a link showing what Bentleys of that era looked like. It would have been something similar. [quote] _Originally posted by Jeff Olsen_ **I haven’t read the original books since high school but Bond’s personal car was a supercharged 1933 Bentley Continental, IIRC.** Bentley didn’t start producing Continental versions until after WWII, I believe. Rolls-Royce did, though. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bentley-did-james-bond-drive/193317/8 "2003-08-06T18:59:09Z")
Just goes to show how reliable my memory is for something I read over 15 years ago. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bentley-did-james-bond-drive/193317/9 "2003-08-06T19:54:30Z")
**Neurotik** : That “4.5L” part rings a bell. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bentley-did-james-bond-drive/193317/10 "2003-08-07T00:13:23Z")
Just to add some mindless trivia: the referenced turbocharged Bentleys were nicknamed “blowers”. Yeah, you can stop sniggering now. You too, in the back. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bentley-did-james-bond-drive/193317/11 "2003-08-07T01:25:16Z")
I once had a female friend we nicknamed “blower.” OK, not really. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bentley-did-james-bond-drive/193317/12 "2003-08-07T01:35:57Z")
**Sur’Nii** and **li’l Dickie Dirtz** : I don’t recall what he drove in the book, but in the film _Dr. No_ he drove a Sunbeam. I couldn’t tell if it was an Alpine or a Tiger. I’d have to look again. Didn’t the Tiger have a bulge in the bonnet? Speaking of blowers, Moss Motors is developing period-looking superchargers for the MGB. ---
**Author:** ![li\_l\_Dickie\_Dirtz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@li\_l\_Dickie\_Dirtz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/li_l_Dickie_Dirtz)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bentley-did-james-bond-drive/193317/13 "2003-08-07T22:21:41Z")
I’ve never read any of the books, but I’m fairly certain Bond drove a Tiger in the movie. Maxwell Smart drove an Alpine, didn’t he? My dad had an Alpine. I wish we’d held onto it. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bentley-did-james-bond-drive/193317/14 "2003-08-07T22:39:36Z")
I’m pretty sure Don Adams drove a Tiger in _Get Smart_. I heard he still has it. You might want to get an Alpine before they _really_ get expensive. Fortunately they’re cheaper than a Tiger. You can have your Alpine, and by that time maybe my '66 MGB will be out of restoration. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bentley-did-james-bond-drive/193317/15 "2003-08-07T22:51:56Z")
Yes, Don Adams started with a Tiger, the drove a Kharman Ghia in one season (wtf??) and ended up driving an Opel GT. If it had been me, I’d have stayed with the Tiger. Product placement, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![li\_l\_Dickie\_Dirtz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@li\_l\_Dickie\_Dirtz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/li_l_Dickie_Dirtz)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bentley-did-james-bond-drive/193317/16 "2003-08-08T03:26:30Z")
Yeah, Alpines have always been cheaper. That’s why my dad had one of them and not a Tiger. My brother sold it to a guy in the Lake Jackson, TX area, so if anybody out there is in Lake Jackson and knows of a dark blue Alpine. . . ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bentley-did-james-bond-drive/193317/17 "2003-08-11T17:52:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Coldfire \* > **…the referenced turbocharged Bentleys were nicknamed “blowers”…** Yes, that’s correct, but the “blower” wasn’t a turbocharger, it was a crank-driven supercharger. A turbo charger uses a turbine in the exhaust stream to drive a compressor; it’s thermodynamically efficient, because you reclaim some of the energy that would otherwise leave via the exhaust pipe. Typically both the turbine and the compressor are centrifugal, and their casings are shaped something like a snail’s shell. But the Bentleys had simple mechanically-driven superchargers, which are technically not turbochargers. I believe that the Bentley used a Roots-type compressor, which has two interlocking rotors running in a roughly cylindrical casing; air enters one side of the casing and leaves the other. Some of the other '30s cars (the Graham, for instance) used a mechanical supercharger with a centrifugal air compressor; the casing for the compressor looks something like a turbocharger, but, again, it’s not, it’s just a supercharger.