Sunbeam Alpine Series II

The first car ever driven by James Bond on screen is a blue Sunbeam Alpine Series II Sports Tourer Roadster.

The car with license plate Z 8301 is used in the Jamaica scenes in the movie Dr. No (1962).

Bond drives the Sunbeam to Miss Taro’s house in the Blue Mountains and has to escape the Three Blind Mice who are trying to run him off the road.

With the two-door roadster’s agility, coupled with Bond’s superior driving skills, the assassins in their lumbering black hearse do not stand a chance. Bond spots an angledozer at work in the road ahead and takes advantage of the Alpine’s low profile to drive under the machine’s shovel-arm, which is reaching across the road. The bulkier hearse cannot execute the move and veers off the road, tumbling down the mountainside and erupting in flames.

The car used for filming in Jamaica was finished in the color Lake Blue, with matching upholstery and wire-spoke wheels with white-wall tyres.

About the Sunbeam

The Sunbeam Alpine is a two-seater sports roadster/drophead coupé that was produced by the Rootes Group from 1953 to 1955, and then 1959 to 1968. The Series II was launched in 1960, featuring an enlarged 1.6-litre engine (producing 80bhp) and revised rear suspension. 

Trivia

When the crew arrived at the Jamaica location to shoot the chase with the Alpine and hearse, they discovered a huge Warner-Swasey excavator blocking the road. Unperturbed, director Terence Young chose to incorporate the blockage into the script, chatting to the digger driver, measuring the distance between the digger arm and the top of the sports car and then telling stuntman Bob Simmons that his “head will just go under”. Stunt driver Bob Simmons drove the Alpine at 45mph, heading straight for the extended digging arm, his car bouncing on the road. He just made it, but then had to battle to bring the car to a stop on the narrow, skiddy road. As mentioned in Spy Octane, Sean Connery and Terence Young remember Sean Connery himself driving the car under the digger arm. Unfortunately the shot of the car driving under the arm is not used in the film.

The owner of the Series II used in the film, Jennifer Jackson, received a £10-per-day fee for the use of her car, unaware that it would soon become a famous piece of movie history. 

In Ian Fleming’s original novel Dr. No, Commander Strangways drives a black Sunbeam Alpine.

Sources: 007.com, Spy Octane, WikiPedia