Thoughts from the Curb

Sep 30, 2008 - Countdown to Bond: GoldenEye, The One That Started It All

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. Sure, I had seen a bit of "Live and Let Die" and "Thunderball" before, but I was not hooked. The movie was "GoldenEye" and it started a 007 obsession that continues strong to this very day. But "GoldenEye" started another obsession, one that currently sits downstairs in the Edmunds garage.

"Your new car. BMW. Agile, five forward gears, all-points radar. Self-destruct system and as usual, all the usual refinements. Now, this I'm particularly proud of. Behind the headlights, stinger missiles."

Of course, we saw none of that on the BMW Z3 in the movie. New Bond Pierce Brosnan just briefly putters around the Caribbean with the Bond girl before handing it over to a C.I.A. ally. And with a measly 1.9-liter four banger, it was hardly the high-performance machine Bond was accustomed to.

But I didn't care (and neither did the people who sat on waiting lists to get one). The Z3 was simply stunning, especially in its "GoldenEye" color of Atlanta Blue. This was the car I yearned for the rest of that decade. When my father had to sell his Miata because of U.S. safety standards, I begged him to get a Z3. I still remember the day the saleswoman from Dreyer & Reinbold BMW in Indianapolis let him take me down the street in a new-for-'97 Z3 2.8 (in Atlanta Blue). I'd never been in a car that quick before. Sadly, we couldn't swing it at that time.

Years later,  "GoldenEye" remains amongst my favorite Bond movies even though I've now seen them all countless times (including the four subsequent adventures). And even if I've now driven the latest and greatest Bond car, the Aston Martin DBS, the Z3 holds a very special place in my heart. When I decided my TSX was uselessly gathering dust and depreciation down in the garage, my search for a less expensive and more collectable automobile began and ended with one choice. I found a 1998 Z3 with a mere 38,900 miles on her. It was of course Atlanta Blue with a tan interior, just like Bond's. It didn't have the stinger missiles, but it does have the sweet 2.8-liter straight six. I'd call that a push.

So that's why I own the car I do and why I feel compelled to dedicate one blog per week to a Bond car until "Quantum of Solace" opens. And it all started with "GoldenEye."

-James Riswick

2:44 pm | Categories: bond cars, my z3 Permalink | Alert Administrator

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