Roger Moore’s favourite 007 James Bond stunt car comes up for auction with hopes of $500,000

A Citroën 2CV driven by Roger Moore in For Your Eyes Only is coming up for auction in the UK.

Not an Aston Martin, but a Citroen 2CV. Roger Moore’s favourite ‘Bond’ car may come as a bit of a surprise – until you see the action scenes it starred in.

Now the yellow car from the great chase sequence in For Your Eyes Only (1981) comes to auction for the first time after being rescued from a scrapyard in Paris and bought by a collector.

Heritage Auctions’ starting bid is $120,000, but the car carries hopes of up to $500,000 as a hammer price, with current bidding on the timed online auction coming to an end on July 17, 2025.

The yellow Citroën 2CV was one of six used for the seven-minute car chase sequence in which James Bond (Roger Moore) and Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet) escape from Gonzales’s Villa on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain.

This one was the ‘pristine’ car used at the beginning of the sequence as Bond and Melina make their escape, one of just three 2CVs modified to withstand the action required by the filmmakers.

The production team customised the car for filming, fitting it with a more powerful Citroën GS 1015cc engine not commercially available on a 2CV (which used 602cc engines), adapting and reinforcing the interior and giving them reproduction Spanish-style number plates with the vinyl lettering M-1026-A.

A number plate made in England prior to filming was identifiable by small print on the plate which read TUCKERS BS AU 145.

This car was used specifically for the driving shots with Roger Moore and Carole Bouquet, and so was not fitted with a roll cage as it would have been visible on camera.

As 007 takes the wheel he shakes off two Peugeot pursuit cars by barreling down lanes, lurching through a sleepy village, before literally flying through the olive groves in this seemingly indestructible 2CV.

Director John Glen says, “I love that scene; it was the complete opposite of what one would expect, it’s usually an Aston Martin, so I thought let’s go the absolute opposite end of the spectrum with a Deux Chevaux.”

When interviewed on BBC’s Top Gear, Roger Moore proclaimed it to be his favourite Bond car and later wrote in his memoir, “It was huge fun to drive down through olive groves in.”

While the scenes are set in Spain, the filming took place on the island of Corfu in September 1980. French precision stunt driver Rémy Julienne and his team handled the action shots using the other identical cars.

This is the first time one of the 2CVs used in For Your Eyes Only has been offered at auction.

Once filming was complete, the three modified cars returned to the UK; one was sold to UK collector Nigel Wild; another retained by Citroën for its private collection; the third (the lot presented here) was sent to a vehicle recycling facility in Paris; it was recovered from destruction by Philippe Wambergue, a collector and racer of Citroën cars, and acquired by the current owner in 2004. He wasn’t sure whether it was a Bond car or not. It was only when collector Nigel Wild inspected the car for him at Citromobile, a Citroën car exhibition in The Netherlands, that he confirmed it had all the right features.

As this 2CV was rescued from a scrapyard it has been fitted with replacement - but faithful - period yellow doors and boot lid, yellow roof, and seats. Areas of yellow paint are peeling, and it shows signs of production wear to both the bodywork and interior.

Heritage is putting it on sale as a prop car for display purposes, not a roadworthy vehicle, and will provide a certificate of authenticity to go with it.

“The wonderful thing about this car is that it is imbued with the daredevil spirit of Bond,” said Alastair McCrea, Heritage’s Director of Entertainment & Pop Culture, UK & Europe. “The car chase is one of the most creative and imaginative action sequences of any Bond film, and it is easy to understand why Roger Moore favoured this car over some of the flashier models.

“Because the other surviving models from the film are in permanent homes, this will be the only opportunity to acquire one of the 2CVs that actually appeared on screen, and this is the one that had Roger Moore in it.”

More info and bidding on the Heritage Auctions website.

Images courtesy of Heritage Auctions