[Big Test] They made us into petrolheads

From the worlds of film, race, rally and television, they’re the classics that whet our formative appetites and turned us into petrolheads in an instant. Join us as we simultaneously raise the chequered flag and shout “lights, camera, action!”

Words ROSS ALKUREISHI Photography CHARLIE MAGEE

Clockwise from top left: Ford Capri 3.0s, BMW E30 M3, Volvo P1800, Jaguar Mk2, Subaru Impreza, Ford Mustang 390GT, Aston Martin DB5 and Ford Escort MkII RS1800

Single words and names are all that is required: Bond, Bullitt, Morse, Touring Cars, The Professionals, The Saint, Roger Clark and McRae. On reading each, a synapse is fired, and the image of an influential car is retrieved from long-term memory stores and catapulted into the mind’s eye. Yet today, there’s no need for highfalutin cerebral mechanisms, because they’re all here, right in front of me – cars just like the stars of the big screen, little screen, racetracks, and rally stages. And it’s an awesome sight.

Each harks from a pre-social media age when instead of hype, swollen internet egos and influencers, the stars let their cars do the talking. So, say hello to the Aston DB5, Ford Mustang, Jaguar Mk2, BMW E30 M3, Ford Capri 3.0S, Volvo P1800, Ford Escort RS1800 and Subaru Impreza. Time to find out which star car shines brightest.

Aston Martin DB5

There’s no doubt that our first car is arguably the most iconic ever to grace the silver screen (although an American muscle car will shortly try its damndest to argue that point) from the moment in 1964’s Goldfinger that Q informed 007 his Bentley had been replaced by an Aston DB5 with ‘modifications’. A generation of cinemagoer was instantly sold on a picture of Silver Birch, British sports car perfection before it even moved.

‘60s dreamland: Bond versus Bullitt, anyone?

Factor in Furka Pass duelling with Tilly Masterston’s Ford Mustang convertible, and the utilisation of its many nefarious toys to dispatch and escape Auric’s Mercedes Ponton-riding goons, and it’s a deal sealed in cinematographic heaven.

Yet, even here today, surrounded by other automotive superstars, it remains a paradox: muscularly alluring, yet at the same time refined and understated. A bit like 007 himself. That’s thanks to the seamless nature of Carrozzeria Touring’s wonderfully sinuous aluminium work draped over fine steel tubes to form its Superleggera construction method.

I’ve driven a multitude of DB4/5/6s, and yet perhaps it’s because of that exterior colour that parking myself inside the cabin – with its generously bolstered leather seats, multitude of chrome-rimmed dials and sober gloss black dashboard – I can’t help but feel I’ve arrived on centre stage.

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