Visiting 007 x SPYSCAPE: Driven in New York

When you are going to New York City, there's a Bond highlight that must be visited! Interactive spy museum SPYSCAPE has a special James Bond exhibition "007 x SPYSCAPE: Driven".

Thanks to David from the Bond Experience and the nice people at SPYSCAPE, I was able to visit the museum as a Gold VIP on May 12th (the day after I attended the Orlebar Brown 007 Collection preview event in New York).

Together with David we started the day early and had the whole 007 experience to ourselves. I would recommend doing DRIVEN first, and then the regular SPYSCAPE exhibition. This way you will avoid the crowds and you won't be tired when arriving at the 007 part.

We were treated to a VIP visit of SPYSCAPE, including a gold experience wristband

Spoiler Alert: this article doesn't mention all the details of the exhibition, but if you want experience the museum completely spoiler free, just go there and don't read the article!

The 007 x SPYSCAPE: Driven experience focuses on the Aston Martin DB5, Q's James Bond gadgets and Ken Adam's set designs. All this is presented in an interactive and immersive way, where you can stand right next to replica gadgets admiring the ingenuity of production design from the Bond films.

The experience is designed in collaboration with EON Productions and James Bond film crew members: EON archive director Meg Simmonds, marketing Stephanie Wenborn, brand manager Heather Callow, art directors Dean Clegg, Mark Harris and Neil Callow (who was also involved with the 007 ELEMENTS experience in Sölden), production designer Dennis Gassner, special effects supervisor Chris Corbould, visual effects supervisor Steve Begg and DB5 expert Dave Worrall.

Entering the exhibition through a dark hallway fills you with great anticipation as the suspense builds while the lights turn down low.

The first room is a visual delight: in a completely dark room, video fragments from the Bond films are projected on three Aston Martin DB5 'body shells'.

After a small in between room you get to the highlight of the experience, 'Q's workshop' with a real Aston Martin DB5 at the center of the room. And not just any DB5, but the actual car used for the filming of GoldenEye. SPYSCAPE acquired the unique Aston Martin DB5 from GoldenEye for £2m on July 13, 2018 at the Bonham's Goodwood Festival Of Speed sale.

The beautiful and historic car is perfectly placed in the large, black room, lit from all sides. Lamps hang from ceiling, similar to the lamps seen in Q's workshop in the last two Bond films.

The room is a good spot for a selfie with one of the most famous cars in the world.

The car headlights and rear lights are on, and dashboard lights are added to show the interior even better.

It's amazing that you can touch the car and peek your head inside for a close look at the interior, complete with champagne cooler and bottle of Bollinger Champagne, and the printout (download the same here) from the Alpine radio with info on Xenia and the Manticore Yacht.

On the walls of the Q workshop, DB5 gadgets are highlighted, with a model of the gadget and copies of the original designs, including the tyre slashers, radar, bullet proof screen and of course the ejector seat.

The layout of the room and the design of the animations on the large tv screens and info sheets are all very well done.

The adjacent room is dedicated to designer Ken Adam, who was responsible for the amazing set designs of the early James Bond films.

The last room takes a closer look at the explosive scene at SkyFall when Bond's DB5 and old family home are blown to pieces.

After visiting the Bond rooms, you can get a drink at the cafe while shopping for SPYSCAPE and James Bond books and merchandise.

The 'regular' SPYSCAPE exhibition itself is also definitely worth a visit. In this immersive museum, you will find out what kind of spy you are through a series of interactive challenges.

For more information and tickets, visit www.spyscape.com. It's recommended to purchase tickets in advance.
Address: 928 8th Ave, New York, NY 10019
Opening times: 10am - 9pm (Mo-Fr) / 9am - 9pm (Sa/Su)
Tickets 007 x SPYSCAPE: Driven $23 Adult, $18 Child

With many thanks to TheBondExperience, SPYSCAPE and Orlebar Brown.

All photos © Bond Lifestyle