AMC Matador coupe

In the movie The Man With The Golden Gun (1974), villain Francisco Scaramanga drives (and flies!) an AMC Matador coupe.

The Matador was produced by the American Motors Corporation (AMC) from 1971 to 1978, and the 2-door coupe version from 1974 to 1978.

The AMC Matador coupe is the car of Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee), and along with Nick Nack (Hervé Villechaize) they use the gold/brown colored Matador, licanese plate number 7543, to kidnap Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland) and make their escape. The car transforms into a light airplane when wings and a flight tail unit are attached, and flies "200 miles west of Bangkok", as Bond later reports to M.

The actual machine was not airworthy and could only make a 500-metre (1,640 ft) flight, so a meter-long (39 inch) remote controlled scale model built by John Stears was used for the film's aerial sequences. One of these models is on display at the Designing 007 exhibitions around the world.

The "flying AMC Matador" machine was exhibited at auto shows. It was part of AMC's marketing efforts for the aerodynamically designed coupe, as well as publicity exposure for the concept of unique flying machines. The Man With The Golden Gun movie is filled with AMC cars, as part of a product placement strategy. James Bond himself (Roger Moore) drives an AMC Hornet hatchback, which he takes from an AMC dealership to chase Scaramanga. AMC Matador 4-door sedan police cars can also be seen. At the time, the Los Angeles Police Department used these AMC Matadors as their car. AMC is mentioned in the end credits of the film.

Scaramanga's AMC Matador coupe has been made into a 1:43 scale model in the James Bond Car Collection, issue 44.
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