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The Silver Beast
After already having five cars, justifying a sixth to my better half is going to be tough but we have agreed a motivational strategy. Once I lose 2 stone , I can buy a nice, silver Saab 900 Turbo. An interesting challenge.
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Could you please repost here
http://www.mi6community.com/index.php?p=/discussion/2367/chat-thread-free-discussion/p37
or even here for all I care?
http://www.mi6community.com/index.php?p=/discussion/14327/the-new-years-thread-your-resolutions#latest
Thank you. :)
Exactly. I see we need to brush up on our Continuation Bond history, folks. Read more here:
http://commanderbond.net/2284/the-silver-beast.html
I have to say though 'The Silver Beast' was always part of the Gardner era that left me very cold.
For a start, despite the technical solidity and the fact that Saab produced decent motors, it always struck me as hardly the kind of car Bond should be driving. Not exactly low rent but not something that aroused any feelings of desire to own one in the reader.
I'm also not that happy that Bond would have a nickname for a car. Is that really the sort of the thing Bond would do?
Yes he had favourites - the Beretta, the Bentley - but he's not so sentimental that he would go about giving them pet names surely?
The whole Saab thing in the Gardner books always struck me as a) trying to make the books more like the films by having cars with gadgets and b) Gardner having a mate who owned a Saab dealership and arranged for him to go for some all expenses paid ice driving courses in Sweden on the understanding the car would feature in the book.
There's a fair but of stuff in Gardner I quite like but this doesn't fall into that category.
PS sorry if this is in the wrong section but it seemed appropriate
The only one that may be more accessible is the BMW Z3 in Goldeneye.
I remember reading an article in either ahem Penthouse or Mayfair (I only bought the article naturally!) circa 1985 (I think Sabrina got her norks out in that issue to help you date it) where there was an interview with Gardner and a photoshoot of the working Saab with all the gadgets taken at some sort of airfield/racetrack.
I think it certainly did most of the things it said in the book. Would be nice to track down that magazine one day - for Bondian research purposes obviously.
Given your name you might get the model right.
Also the Renault 11 and Citroen 2CV have to be pretty affordable.
Woops! Z3. That's what I get for posting with a head cold. Besides, I hate that car anyway. The car I'm referencing in my screen name is the one from TND (which, I suppose, had more along the lines of rockets and not missiles).
Given the risk with finding spare parts, I heartily recommend BMW as an alternative. 7 series, circa TND, or the Z3 from GE (get the M version). Unfortunately, the outstanding Z8 from TWINE (my favourite...the car not the film) goes for around $300K these days on the used market.
The Saab 900 Silver Beast is exhibited at the Saab Car Museum in Trollhättan, Sweden. At least that's what I get from this cute Bond Fansite.
Quirky, successful, understated individuals who shy away from the stigma of driving a BMW or Mercedes. According to Top Gear, Saab Drivers are members of the ‘ intelligentsia’, including but not limited to architects, graphic designers, civil rights lawyers, and specialist doctors.
Saab Drivers usually identify with one or more of the following reasons for having purchased their vehicle:
- Integrity and Spirited Engineering
- Design with meaningful lines through the whole body and details which support the wholeness
- Understatement
- Trustworthiness
- Intelligent and nontraditional solutions to major and smaller problems
- The courage to think and act (in the developing of cars) for good and sensible reasons, instead of commercial “fanciness”/trendiness
- Fist Class in Safety
- High performance turbocharged engines
- Saab's iconic cult-like following
- Care about the environment combined with driving-pleasure
- Admiration for a small brand with a very innovative heritage
PS re Wizard's objection to Bond having a nick name for the car, to be fair and accurate , it was Q branches nickname for the Saab, not Bond's, as they treated it with caution.
Are you sure about that? You may well be correct but I seem to recall Bond referring to it as the Silver Beast at least once.
Alas my complete set of Gardner books is in the loft in my parents house in France so I can't check.
Can anyone here verify? I'm looking at you @Dragonpol as the resident Gardner scholar.
Indeed he refers to his Saab as the Silver Beast in "For Special Services", when he asks for it to be delivered in the US. To which M is very reluctant.
Yeah sure. Saabs are cheap. They are not prestigious and suitable for a 'car lover' or sophisticated English gentleman such as Bond. Fleming's Bond drove an Aston or a Bentley. Bond driving a Saab is like him buying his suits from Asda. He wouldn't do it.
The Silver Beast was the nickname members of the service had given to Bonds car but then he uses it after they have given it that name.
Exactly. Not Flemingesque at all.
I know this an older post but personally I find the TND BMW 750 just too ordinary-looking (either to compete with the S class of its time, as always, or for a Bond car in general).
The Z8, however, I think looks absolutely gorgeous. Z3 not so much.
I'm not a fan of Saab in general but I think the 900 looks decent enough. I just don't see it as much of a car for Bond to drive. Someone here mentioned the Renault 11 or the Citroen 2CV as an alternative - the latter I believe should be fairly accessible and I personally think has stronger ties to Bond (just because it lasted longer in the film and is more distinctive).
Also @patb if I may inquire, what are your five other cars?
Correct, Saab would win every time.
When I read this thread I wonder where you aficionados were in the '80s.
At the time of 'Licence Renewed' the Saab 900 Turbo was one of the most sort after, discreet performance cars on the road and was the perfect choice for Gardner's re-boot.
With its rally heritage and distinctive Swedish lines it was the thinking man's choice whilst BMW had become the Yuppies favourite.
Although Gardner eventually put 007 in a Bentley - I think it was in 'Role Of Honour' - this was as a result of an unexpected inheritance and was, in my opinion, a mistake. The Saab 900 Turbo was absolutely the definitive motor for that decade and was the last real Saab. The Americans, in the guise of General Motors, went on to completely ruin the marque and during their tenure you wouldn't have put Get Smart in it but that's another story. For Gardner's very creditable re-boot it was perfect.