20 James Bond References You Might Have Missed In Die Another Day
6. The Tyre Spikes
Few Bond cars can compete with the classic Aston Martin DB5, which originally featured in Goldfinger and Thunderball, and hosted a variety of jaw-dropping gadgets.
Some have come close, such as the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, which featured a host of devices that paid homage to the classic car and added a few of its own, such as a rocket booster, outriggers, missiles, and tyres with retractable spikes to keep it from skidding during a desperate chase across a frozen lake in Slovakia. The V8 Vantage was pivotal in helping audiences to accept Timothy Dalton as James Bond in The Living Daylights, whilst keeping Double-0 Seven's legacy alive.
In Die Another Day, James Bond's Aston Martin V12 Vanquish is also equipped with retractable spikes in its tyres, which help it to grip the surface of an ice lake during a daring chase with a Jaguar XKR driven by Graves's henchman, Zao. When Zao corners the Aston Martin inside Graves's melting ice palace and attempts impale it with a battering ram, Bond uses a combination of the Aston's invisibility cloak and its snow tyres to conceal himself upon a wall, whilst Zao and his Jaguar crash into the freezing lake below.
Pierce Brosnan had originally been contracted to portray Bond in The Living Daylights, but had to withdraw owing to his contractual obligations to appear in Remington Steele; had things been different, he would likely have driven two Aston Martins during his run as Double-0 Seven.