Buy a custom-built DB5 Bond stunt car, Ferrari’s new GT3 racer, electric Rolls on the Riviera

Own the custom DB5 stunt car from Craig’s final Bond flick

Intake: London auctioneer Christie’s will be hosting a 60 Years of James Bond sale in the fall (September 15–October 5), and among the highlights are the hero cars of No Time To Die. Going under the hammer will be a Defender 110 and Range Rover Sport SVR, as featured in pursuit of 007 in a Land Cruiser, plus a Jaguar XF chase car used for filming the pre-credit sequence, and a Defender 110 V8 Bond Edition. The undisputed star of the sale, however, will be the Aston Martin DB5 stunt car which was custom-built for the film. For obvious reasons a real DB5 wasn’t sacrificed in the amazing Matera battle scene, so an exact replica was constructed on a spaceframe chassis, clothed in carbon-fiber panels and fitted with a 350-hp straight-six motor and manual transmission. This unique vehicle will be the headliner of the live auction at London’s Albert Hall on September 28, while an online sale opens on September 15 for a selection of other 007 memorabilia.

Exhaust: The sky(fall) is the limit for the one-of-a-kind DB5 stunt car, but even its co-stars are sure to fetch a fortune. A Spectre Land Rover, built by Bowler for the 2015 movie, sold for almost $450,000 in 2018. This is going to be a blockbuster auction, make no mistake. —Nik Berg

Behold Ferrari’s latest factory-built race car

Intake: Ferrari has formally revealed the new successor to the 488 EVO GT3 car that is raced globally in multiple GT3 series. It’s called the 296 GT3, and it will first take to the track at the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona in January of 2023. It’s a mid-engine model, of course, with a 3.0-liter turbocharged V-6 engine good for 600 horsepower at 7250 rpm. “The 296 GT3 is born from the 488 GT3’s legacy,” said Antonello Coletta, director of Ferrari’s sports car racing activities. Ferrari says the 296 GT3 “aims to surpass the astonishing numbers achieved by the 488 GT3, drawing on the expertise of the Ferrari Competizioni GT team and the innovative solutions that the car provides.” Ferrari didn’t provide a price, but we’re guessing about $650,000, with deliveries to begin later this year.

Exhaust: The good news for Ferrari owners: Dozens of 488 GT3 V-8s just became mildly obsolete, and therefore affordable … by Ferrari standards, anyway. –Steven Cole Smith

It’s no vacation as the Rolls-Royce Spectre visits the French Riviera

Intake: Where else would Rolls-Royce go to put its first electric car through its paces than the sun-drenched coast of the Côte d’Azur? Second or third home to tanned billionaires, this place of fine wines, café culture, and haute couture will surely be where many a Spectre spends its summers. Rolls-Royce says it will drive almost 400,000 test miles in the region, taking in the winding Mediterranean coastline before heading inland to Provence and the Autodrome de Miramas proving ground, which hosted the French Grand Prix of 1926. There’s a lot to test as the Spectre will be the most connected Rolls-Royce ever made, with 141,200 sender-receiver relations in its complex electronic systems. The car’s Magic Carpet Ride is just one example, where a Flagbearer system reads the road ahead to fettle the suspension for the most comfortable drive. Engineers will also be validating the 30 percent stiffer aluminum spaceframe architecture and the 0.25 drag coefficient in preparation for the car’s debut towards the end of 2023.

Exhaust: More than half the Spectre’s total test miles will be done in France “on the very roads that many production Spectres will be driven on,” says Rolls-Royce, but local testing will also take place in “key markets,” so expect to see Spectres cruising California soon as well. Rolls-Royce is fully committed to electrification, so there’s a lot riding on the success of this program. — Nik Berg

2022  Mercedes-AMG SL gets a price tag

Intake:  The 2022 Mercedes-AMG SL is making some big changes as the long-running convertible ditches its retractable hard top for a fabric soft-top, adds AWD, and also comes with standard back seats. The latter two changes mark firsts for the SL—rear seats were last optional on the R129 Sl which debuted in 1989. After showing off the shapely and powerful V-8-powered AMG versions nine months ago, Mercedes has finally dropped the price: the 469-hp AMG SL 55 will start from $138,450, and the 577-hp AMG SL 63 will start from $179,150, boh including destination.

Exhaust: With a lighter, more rigid platform, a technologically advanced interior, and powerful V-8 engines, both flavors of Mercedes-AMG SL sound like they’ll be fantastic grand tourers. If you’re worried that the mission statement of the SL has changed with the addition of two rear seats, it t seems that, like previous SL optional rear seats, these standard rear seats are best suited for kids and only when the front passengers aren’t particularly tall themselves. The same basic SL formula of a long hood, short deck, and top-down luxury performance still seems to be wholly intact. —Brandan Gillogly