Cool Cars and Bond, James Bond
The Saratoga Automobile Museum unveils its most ambitious exhibit to date, Owen Wilson's 'Paint' gets a release date, and more happenings from this week in Saratoga.
While James Bond somehow manages to come out of every altercation unscathed, the same can’t be said of the vehicles the fictional MI6 agent has been using in high-stakes getaways for the last 60 years. A collection of those vehicles—everything from the Lotus Esprit S1 “Wet Nellie” car/submarine Roger Moore uses to shoot down a helicopter from underwater in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me to a 2015 Aston Martin DB10, a vehicle made specifically for 2015’s Spectre—is now on display at the Saratoga Automobile Museum as part of “Bond in Motion,” a collection of original James Bond vehicles that executive director Carly Connors has called the most ambitious exhibition the Museum has ever put together.
On Thursday evening, the Museum hosted a members and media preview of the exhibit, which saw dozens of Bond fans and car enthusiasts alike gather for the first look at the 23 vehicles included in the exhibit and their associated video monitors playing scenes from the movies they appear in on loop. (Curator Steve Struss told me that getting the rights to the clips was almost as costly as getting the cars themselves.) “That was the one that flipped,” one Bond junkie said, pointing to the 2006 Aston Martin DBS that Daniel Craig flips to avoid hitting Eva Green’s character who is lying in the middle of the road in 2006’s Casino Royale. “Not only do we have machine guns,” Northway Brewing’s Max Oswald said about the car, which has been retrofitted with a pair of weapons on the hood, “but we also have missiles.” While the Aston Martin didn’t show any signs of having been rolled seven times (a stunt which set a Guinness World Record for the most cannon rolls ever completed in a car), others in the exhibit had definitely seen some wear and tear.
Over at the drinks station, Laura Bradigan, Carly’s mother and bona fide woman around town, kicked off a debate about the best Bond actor. “The best James Bond is Sean Connery!” she said, as if it wasn’t even a question. “He’s the original. He was the original ‘shaken, not stirred.’” For the most part, people agreed, but Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig each got a few votes. “I grew up with Daniel Craig, but I like Connery,” Steve said. “But, I mean, look how happy that guy is on the jet ski,” he continued, gesturing to a photo of Roger Moore on the 1977 Wetbike Watercycle used in The Spy Who Loved Me. “It’s like trying to pick your favorite kid—and I don’t even have any kids.” Laura, on the other hand, was only getting started. “Do you want to ask my favorite Bond girl?”
While watching a scene from 1987’s The Living Daylights where Timothy Dalton utilizes the 1985 Aston Martin V8’s spiked ice tires and hydraulic outrigger skis to escape down a snowy mountain, a small group got to talking about what made the Bond movies such a spectacle, especially back before modern-day movie-making techniques. “They all had good soundtracks,” someone said, referencing Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die.” (Steve, on the other hand, had a different opinion, having listened to countless hours of a rotating playlist of Bond songs. “If I hear ‘Skyfall’ one more time, I’m going to quit,” he said sarcastically.) “It was the music, the actor, the girls, the machinery,” someone else said, adding that scenes were filmed in amazing cities all over the world.
Just then, the video screen showed the scene where the ’85 Aston Martin shoots a laser out of its wheel and slices off the entire bottom of the police car driving next to it. “They’re corny movies, for sure,” an older man said. “But somehow, you watched them.”
—Natalie
Quote of the Week
“I guarantee if you sit on the toilet you will pee.”
—Overheard at Uncommon Grounds
Saratoga on Screen
It was hard not to get caught up in the Owen Wilson mania that spread through Saratoga when the A-lister was in town last year filming the indie Paint. (For more on Owen’s local fan following and alleged connections to Chick-fil-A, click here.) The hype died down when film crews left the Spa City, but now we have something new to celebrate: Paint will be released on April 28, 2023, The Daily Gazette reports.
About Time
Big news in the bacon world: Last week, Time magazine named MyBacon, the flagship mushroom-based meat alternative produced by Green Island company MyForest Foods, one of the 200 best inventions of 2022. Haven’t heard about the sizzling strips of crispy fungi coming out of Rensselaer County? Check out SLAH’s story on MyBacon and Capital Region Living’s story on company founder Eben Bayer for more information.
Save the Date
Single in Saratoga returns with fewer nerves, more men and, yes, ugly sweaters! Join Saratoga Living and Deep Eddy Vodka for an evening of games, drinks and mingling at Bailey’s. Missed last month’s singles night? Be sure to check out our photo gallery and party recap (scroll down to read). Get your tickets for the December 7 event here. (Yes, wingmen and wingwomen are welcomed, too! PLUS: We’re LGBTQ+ friendly—check out the invite for details!)
This Week in Saratoga Living After Hours
On Monday, we asked readers three questions about Saratoga’s food scene, past and present.
And on Tuesday, we ventured south of the Twin Bridges to check out the newest restaurant in Latham’s food scene: The Scarlet Knife.