Super agent 007 drives Bentleys and Aston Martins in the
James Bond thrillers. Yet, author Ian Fleming chose to drive early 1960s Thunderbirds and traded one of these for his 1963
Studebaker Avanti which he regarded as "an infinitely higher class of machine." The world famous author visited the Studebaker South Bend, Indiana factory to order his Avanti in black in 1963. The black color required some extra coats of paint and for reasons unknown was never very successfully applied to the fiberglass body. Fleming died in 1964 and the fate of his Avanti remains unknown. A 1963 Aston Martin DB5 was customized for the 1964 James Bond movie "Goldfinger" and returned in 2013 in "Skyfall."
Ian Fleming Official Website
