BSA A65 Lightning

In the 1965 film Thunderball, SPECTRE agent Fiona Volpe, played by Italian actress Luciana Paluzzi, rides a gold-painted BSA A65 Lightning motorcycle. Fiona Volpe fires two rockets which destroys the car that gives chase to James Bond in his Aston Martin DB5.

For the filming, a working missile launching system was fitted to the motorcycle, but the explosion which destroyed the car was actually detonated remotely by stunt coordinator Bob Simmons, who was also the stunt driver of the black car that gets destroyed. The motorcycle was ridden by UK motorcycle champion Bill Ivy, who was wearing a blond wig to look like Fiona Volpe.

The scene was recorded at the Silverstone racetrack in the UK. The BSA and themaking of the scene, can be seen in a 1965 tv special, sponsored by the Ford Motor Company film, called A Child's Guide to Blowing Up a Motor Car. This 16 minute comic promotional mock documentary about a boy and his uncle who visit the Silverstone Racetrack during filming of the James Bond movie Thunderball. The video is well worth watching and is included on the Ultimate DVD edition and Blu-Ray editions of Thunderball.