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I was on pace for my final blog in the Countdown to Bond series to correspond with the opening week of "Quantum of Solace." Then they moved the start date to Nov. 14. Oh well...

Last week, I described in detail why "Die Another Day" was a heap of cinematic crap and closed with how wonderful the next film was. But if you've seen it, you probably already know why "Casino Royale" was not only a brilliant Bond film, but a brilliant film, period. So let's talk about the cars...

The above title is how I've referred to "Die Another Day" since it arrived in 2002. I walked out of the theatre thinking I was just slapped in the face. "I waited three years for this?" If you've been paying attention to these Bond blogs (who am I kidding, of course you have), you may have noticed I prefer the movies that stick closer to the novels' more serious tone...

If the Z3 in "GoldenEye" was a pretty face with no teeth (in terms of engines and gadgets), the car 007 drove in "The World Is Not Enough" came through on all counts: the BMW Z8. Like the Esprit before it and the DBS after it, the Z8 was in its nacient stages when its respective movie was in production, but BMW was desparate for it to be the Bond car. Only 16 cars were in existance and they were all prototypes, so BMW donated one of those prototypes and the Bond team cooked up several duplicates to use and abuse during filming. They took exact molds and applied them to Cobra kit car chassis...

As if to make up for the fact "GoldenEye's" BMW Z3 didn't show off any of its supposed gadgets, the Bondmakers threw just about everything but the kitchen sink into the next Bond car and to do it, they'd need something big. Enter the BMW 750iL from "Tomorrow Never Dies." Off the top of my head, this thing had 12 rockets in the sunroof, trapezoidal spikes in the bumper, reinflating tires, cutting saw in the hood roundel, electrified body and tear gas for security, sledge-hammer-proof glass, voice responses, and a remote control built into Bond's cell phone. The latter allows Bond to pilot the 750 from the back seat and from outside the car itself...

It was November 1995. I was 12 years old and sneaking into my first movie. The ticket girl asked in what year I was born and I fumbled out "1981" since the movie was rated AA14 in Canada. This was the first Bond movie made in six years and the first one I ever saw in theatres...

After the awesome Aston Martin Q car in the "The Living Daylights," Timothy Dalton went rogue as 007 in "Licence to Kill" and therefore went without any special transportation from Q branch. He did get to drive a Lincoln VII around Miami, but he doesn't like to talk about that. The bad guy drives a Maserati in the movie, but it also sucks...

"The Living Daylights" is a big deal for a number of reasons. It was the first Bond movie not to star Roger Moore in seven films and 14 years. It therefore was Timothy Dalton's first appearance as 007, a last-second replacement for Pierce Brosnan...

"A View to a Kill" is the rare Bond movie where 007 assumes multiple aliases. As super wealthy race horse owner James St. John Smythe (prononuned Sin-Gin Smythe), Roger Moore is chauffered about in a 1962 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud...

In 1981 James Bond literally needed to come back down to Earth. Like "You Only Live Twice" before it and "Die Another Day" after it, "Moonraker" took 007 to such outlandish heights, the producers knew there would be no way to top it. So, they went back to the books...