2015 Land Rover Defender SVX Spectre JB24

In 1962, over a winning hand of Chemin-de-Fer, a secret agent introduced himself and twenty-five films later he needs no introduction. By the third film, 1964’s Goldfinger, the franchise had found its footing and 007 his car, the Aston Martin DB5. The title song’s opening chorus “Goldfinger, He's the man, the man with the Midas touch” as belted out by Shirley Bassey, is relevant today as it can be argued that any car featured in the long-running film series has the Midas touch. Values of the Aston Martin DB5 have skyrocketed since the re-introduction of the model in Daniel Craig’s first outing as James Bond in 2006’s Casino Royale. It had a starring role in 2012’s Skyfall and featured in the closing credits of the 2015 film Spectre.

Sam Mendes, the director of both Skyfall and Spectre wanted a spectacular snow chase scene and turned to Jaguar Land Rover to assist. With the standard Land Rover 110 Defender deemed a bit too bland for the baddy’s getaway car they turned to leading Land Rover modifiers, Bowler. The firm transformed 10 standard production, Santorini Black, crew-cab 110s into the SVX Concept or Spectre Defender. The cars featured huge 37-inch tyres, heavy-duty roll cages plus toughened suspensions with rose joints and Bilstein rally dampers. A hydraulic handbrake was installed, and its lever repositioned. The engine was tuned to give 180bhp and Recaro seats fitted.

The Land Rovers fell into two categories for the chase sequence, high-speed getaway road cars and low-speed snow cars. This particular Land Rover was developed for the snow scene and given the way in which some of these cars were used during filming, it is unsurprising that not all survived intact with three cars out of the original 10 apparently destroyed.

This particular car enjoyed the most spectacular demise of all, ending up being rolled into a ball by Bond's wingless Britten-Norman Islander as it emerged from the barn still travelling at speed prior to the aircraft gently T-boning the following Range Rover containing the female lead, Léa Seydoux. It was initially assumed that the Defender was damaged beyond repair but apparently not, as when it was returned to Bowlers, they felt that the damage was lighter than it appeared and, £46,000 later, it's back as good as new. It has still only covered 35 kilometres and was UK registered this year. It will be MOT tested prior to the sale.

There are a number of replica Spectre Defenders available on the market but, that's what they are, replicas, and what we have here is the real deal on offer at No Reserve and like anything with genuine Bond movie provenance, there will always be a ready market.