The name's Bond... James Bond

As a kid, I had a small Matchbox version of the Aston Martin DB5 that Sean Connery used in Goldfinger, with a working ejector seat.  That's long gone now but Scalextric have just released a slot car version and Louise got it me for Christmas.

This is a nicely detailed model; I particularly like the wire wheels and spinners.  But it also has some of the gadgets that Q described to Bond in the film (classic line: "I never joke about my work, 007"). The car has working front and rear lights but the sidelights at the front have machine guns protruding from them (non-functioning!).  Operated by the boot catch is a bullet proof shield that pops up.

And operated by a lever on the side of the car, is the working ejector seat.  The set comes with a bollard that clips to the edge of the Scalextric track so the ejector seat is triggered as the car drives past.  The passenger flies out but I haven't lost him yet!

All this in a smart presentation box.  This is the 1st of three.  The other two are representations of the DB5s in GoldenEye and Casino Royale.  I suspect that those will just have different number plates and no gadgets, so the Goldfinger model is the one to get.

Vee-dubs

Thanks to Andy's 4WD, we made it across town to get together for Rivals Christmas.  And also thanks to Andy, I'm now the proud owner of another couple of slot cars - VW Golf Mk 1s produced by Spirit, who also made the fabulous BMW 2002s Andy tracked down for my birthday.

I kept my coat on to go up in the loft to try them out.  It's minus 8 here at the moment and the track had contracted and come apart in one place, but no permanent damage.  Like the Beemers, these cars are a hoot - they drive very fast and slide all over the place.

Porsche 911

It's been a bit cold up in the loft recently so not a lot has happened on the Scalextric front.  But I have had a successful clear out of cars on eBay - either ones that didn't live up to expectations, or that I'd bought at auction for such a good price, I thought I could turn a profit... to buy more cars I really wanted.

So the first new purchase is a companion for a Porsche 911 that Andy bought me quite a while ago - a 1973 Le Mans version.

I wanted a similar vintage with lots of livery, and found another Fly model, this time the 1982 911SC Rally El Corte Ingles.

This version is suspiciously plain as delivered.  But underneath is a plain package intriguingly labelled "Adults Only".  This contains the transfers for the main sponsor - Rothmans cigarettes.  After soaking in water and sliding the transfers on to the car, it now looks complete...