The Bamford and Martin Sidevalve was a short chassis tourer, open-topped roadster. First produced in 1924, approximately 55 Sidevalves were built[1]; the last of the 61 cars produced by the company prior to its 1925 acquisition and rebranding as "Aston Martin".[2] The vehicle first appeared in Charlie Higson's 2005 Young Bond novel, SilverFin, and went on to appear in Blood Fever (2006) and Double or Die (2007).
Appearances[]
During the Easter of 1933[3], James' Sidevalve was willed to him by his late uncle Max Bond, who taught James all he knew about cars at the time, and even gave him some rudimentary driving lessons. As James was only 13 at the time, Charmian Bond kept the car stored. James later persuaded his guardian to let him bring it to Eton College, telling her that it would be kept at the school and used by the boys to learn about mechanics, under the careful supervision of a master. In reality it was kept hidden away in a garage owned by Perry Mandeville in a backstreet in Windsor. Consumed by grief over the death of his father, Mark Goodenough temporarily stole the car during Eton's The Fourth of June. On December 15[3], Bond took the car to Cambridge as part of an investigation. Chased by contract killers Ludwig and Wolfgang Smith, he managed to crash into a bridge and totalled the vehicle. James escaped mostly unscathed, but the car itself exploded and vaporized Wolfgang's ear with a super-heated sparkplug.
Images[]
Trivia[]
- The Short chassis Sidevalve tourer was the final car produced by Bamford and Martin Ltd.
- In artist Kev Walker's graphic novel adaptation of SilverFin, the vehicle's number plate is "MBND1".
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Higson, Charlie [October 2009] (June 2010). Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier, Young Bond (in En-UK). Puffin Books, p.184. ISBN 978-0-14-132770-9.
- ↑ Paul Duchene (October 25, 2013). A Fitful Start-Up That Became a Symbol of Privilege (En-US). The New York Times. Retrieved on 2020-11-12.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 See Young Bond timeline.