Autoworld launched an all-star cast for the summer break. Their permanent exhibition is complemented by several exciting special exhibitions, including a dozen Bond cars and exhibits from the outgoing Bond in Brussels show and several dozens of barn find classics from the Mahy collection (for more info, check out their website: https://www.autoworld.be/en/). You can also check the previous exhibitions we covered:
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If you missed the brilliant Bond in Brussels, Autoworld offers you a last chance to catch up with what is left.
The Bond in Brussels was a highly successful exhibition hosted in the Brussels Expo area. With over 40 cars and many more exhibits, it definitely took our breath away.
Since July, Autoworld welcomed about a dozen vehicles and other gadgets from the film No Time to Die, with a few items from other films, like the red Lotus Esprit featured in a toy box.
The last instalment was a true homage to the automotive history of the franchise, featuring a lot of classic Aston Martin hero cars (Autoworld received three). Decorations include the foldable glider Bond used to infiltrate Safin’s island and the cybernetic eye of Blofeld’s henchmen.
These items add a lot to the experience…
The most iconic car of the exhibition (probably the most iconic Bond car of all time) is the DB5 from the latest Bond movie, serving as a personal car for James to drive Madeleine on vacation. In the spirit of the original, the bulletproof DB5 was equipped with miniguns that pop out in the front headlights, a mine dispenser on the rear bumper, as well as the classic smokescreen device. Since the third movie (Goldfinger), the DB5 became quintessential Bond equipment, showing up in about a dozen Bond movies, either as MI6 company car or Bond’s personal car.
Initially, Ian Fleming’s Bond character drove a DB Mark III in the novel, so an Aston was an obvious choice for his ride. Luckily, Aston Martin recognised the marketing potential and provided its DB5 prototype for the movie, and the rest is history. The DB5 was also featured in the following movie Thunderball and was recast for sentimental purposes for a dozen Bond films, irrespective of what “company car” MI6 provided.
The other hero car Aston is an Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante, originally featured in The Living Daylights. With the arrival of Timothy Dalton, Aston Martin also returned to the franchise. The car reappeared in the latest instalment, as No Time to Die pays homage to almost every Aston Martin ever used in a Bond movie. The vehicle had minor roles and was used by Daniel Craig’s Bond character to travel between locations. At the end of the film, the car is taken over by Madeleine.
The V8 is paired with a blue Series III Defender used as Bond’s vehicle when residing in Jamaica.
The other box featured the beige Land Cruiser that belonged to Madeleine in the latest Bond movie, and Bond took the steering wheel to escape from mercenaries led by Logan Ash. An old Toyota to outmanoeuvre the brand new Landys, hardly a better product placement than that…
The Land Cruiser was parked back-to-back with the black 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air used by Spectre in Cuba, taken over by Paloma, Bond’s CIA contact.
The next stage featured a Defender used by the above-mentioned mercenaries, along with the newest Aston recruited by MI6. Thou g this Aston Martin DBS Superleggera was only included for a brief scene when Nomi drives Bond to go to the airport for their mission to infiltrate Safin’s base.
The car is an exquisite masterpiece, Aston’s latest high-performance grand tourer that took the top of the line-up in 2018, replacing the Vanquish. Its 5.2-litre twin-turbocharged V12 engine peaks at 725 PS, bringing the DBS Superleggera from 0–100 km/h in 3.4 seconds.
Autoworld left the candles on for the 70th anniversary of the Corvette.
America’s most iconic car just turned 70, and Autoworld honoured it with a sixteen-car temporary exhibition. Officially the show is over, but they parked nine of them in the gallery, plus Autoworld’s own C3 in a 1:1 size toy box. Among the rarest of the Corvette C3 variants, this limited series was produced as a Pace Car for the 500 Miles of Indianapolis in 1978. But fans of each generation will find their favourite.
After a bold start, eight generations of Corvettes followed, with the C8, the latest of the line, and its hybrid version has just been unveiled across the Atlantic. The follow-up summer exhibition also managed to enlist seven of them, starting with a 1954 C1 from the second year of production.
The curators secured two specimens of the second generation, a 1963 split window and a 1966 with the new 427 cubic inch V8.
There were even two cars from the C3 generation (in addition to the Pace car in the white box) and C4 with the iconic digital dashboard.
The C5 is a special anniversary edition from 2003, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Corvette.
The 2015 C6 is a Z06 Convergence sports edition with several special features and carbon-fibre body panels, and a power-folding top.
Witness the history of the future: milestone electric cars from all epochs.
Autoworld offers a comprehensive selection of milestone electric cars with obvious historical milestones, like the Prius and the Tesla Roadster, but there is so much more.
The oldest electric cars stem from the early twentieth century, starting with an old Detroit Electric car from 1916, paired with a Toledo steam car from as early as 1906.
The E Golf from 2014 and the Micro small city car is a less affluent addition, but they also enlisted their replica of the iconic Jamais Contente, the first electric car to break the 100 km / h speed barrier as early as 1899. In fact, it was the first car ever, beating petrol and steam cars to make history.
We met the Jamais Contente several times (in Turin, Paris Motor Show, Retromobile 2019 , Mulhouse and the original in Compiegne), which begs the question of how many replicas might be around.
Mahy brought along dozens of barn-find classics
Until 3 September. Autoworld gives a glimpse of the vintage car collection of the Belgian Mahy family. The collection consists of some 1100 cars (from 1895 onwards) and is one of the most complete collections of car history.
A part of the collection (approx. 400 cars) can be seen in two musea in Belgium. But most of the collection (called ‘The Reserve’) is stored away in large hangars that are closed to the public.
The exhibition provides a small glimpse of the collection, and the background material explains their unique stories. We will return with more details on the cars in a month with hundreds of photos. Stay tuned…
