On entering, we're confronted with a scale-model helicopter that was used in the explosion-laden attack on 007's childhood home in Skyfall. Upstairs are some storyboard sketches from the films, but downstairs is where the hardware is to be seen.
First off, we're confronted with two Rollers; Goldfinger's one from, err, Goldfinger and the one from A View to a Kill - you remember, the one that Christopher Walken and Grace Jones pushed into a lake, and Roger Moore managed to survive by using one of the tyres as a makeshift aqualung. You don't remember? That's fine, because this exhibition has flat-screens on the walls next to each exhibit showing the scenes from the film each vehicle appeared in.
Next up is a plane - the mini-jet from Octopussy that ran out of petrol; nearby is the reversible jacket used in the same pre-credits sequence.
What's that red car over there? It's Tracy's Mercury Cougar from On Her Majesty's Secret Service, complete with skis on the back, and the chase sequence on the accompanying flat-screen shows that it was Diana Rigg's character who got to do the driving, with George Lazenby relegated to the passenger seat.
Just along from here are the BMWs from the Pierce Brosnan era, including the remote-controlled repmobile from Tomorrow Never Dies (fun fact: the chase sequence was filmed in the car park at Brent Cross shopping centre), parked opposite the villain's Jag and the 'disappearing' Aston from Die Another Day. Further along is another Aston, the V8 Volante from the Timothy Dalton era, with the cello-case they used to escape propped up nearby.
Moving on, there's another aircraft, the 'Little Nelly' gyrocopter from You Only Live Twice (a big screen behind it shows us the airborne action sequence) alongside assorted motorbikes, the tuk-tuk from Octopussy and the Renault that got taken apart in the Paris chase in A View to a Kill.
What about the boats? They're here somewhere ... the speedboats from Live and Let Die and The World Is Not Enough are present and correct, and there are underwater bits and bobs from Thunderball, For Your Eyes Only and Never Say Never Again (yes, the unofficial one's here too). As far as sub-aquatic Bond is concerned, though, the one everyone really wants to see is the Lotus that turns into a submarine in The Spy Who Loved Me.
But that is of course merely the second most famous of Bond's vehicles. What of the silver-grey Aston Martin DB5 driven by Sean Connery in Goldfinger that became part of 007 folklore to such an extent that two of his successors have driven it too? It's here, more or less in the middle; no exhibition of Bond vehicles is complete without a DB5.
There are two modern Astons as well, both of which show evidence of having been well-used to say the least. The DBS from Casino Royale, the one that got rolled multiple times, is next to the DBS from Quantum of Solace that is missing a door on the driver's side and although it's roped off there's a sign on the seat saying that no-one is allowed to sit on it (yes, I was tempted). Both of these, by the way, have the steering wheel on the left-hand side - all previous vehicles (the ones supplied by Q-Branch, at any rate) have had the wheel on the right, British style. Daniel Craig's blood-stained dinner jacket is displayed nearby.
Fancy a coffee? Displayed in the cafeteria (and yes, they are playing Bond themes on a loop) are the helicopter and armoured train models from GoldenEye and a glass cabinet displaying an array of tie-in toys.
Then there's a collection of props in a glass cabinet near one of the Astons; contents include a Walther PPK with a silencer, a sliver money clip and several passports issued to various incarnations of 'Bond, James'; did the makers really go to this amount of detail? There's even an old-fashioned paper driving licence which shows that Bond has four penalty points!
Well, given how many of the afore-mentioned vehicles ended up getting damaged in some way, you wouldn't expect the world's greatest fictional spy to have a clean licence, would you?
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