Citroën 2CV

In the movie For Your Eyes Only (1981), James Bond and Melina Havelock escape from Hector Gonzales' villa in a yellow Citroën 2CV, a classic french automobile.

The car in the film, with license plate M - 1024 - A, is a 2CV 6 Club and is owned by Melina Havelock (played by Carole Bouquet). Bond and Melina have to use the car after Bond's Lotus Esprit has just destroyed itself when some henchmen tried to open it. When the 2CV crashes during the chase and is set on its wheels by helpful bystanders, Bond puts himself behind the wheel of the car ("You don't mind if I drive, do you?") and continues the escape. The 2CV is almost completely destroyed during the chase but makes it safely back to Hotel Bellavista.

The car chase is supposed to take place near Madrid in Spain, but was actually filmed on the island of Corfu, Greece. Bond and Melina are chased through the village of Pagi and the surrounding countryside. The villa of Hector Gonzales can still be visited on the island.

Several 2CV's were used for the filming of the chase scenes. The trailer version that was used at Pinewood Studios is at the Beaulieu National Motor Museum in the UK. At least one of the working 2CV's is owned by Nigel Wild, a car collector who keeps a collection of Citroëns in a church. Another one is in The Netherlands, and one more is at the Conservatoire Citroën in France.

Citroën launched a special edition 2CV 007 edition to coincide with the 2CV product placement in the film. This was a "Jaune Hélios" 2CV 6 Spécial, painted in yellow with 007 and fake bullet hole stickers.

Several scale models were made of the Citroën 2CV. Corgi made several 1:43 versions of the car. The 2CV was also released as as nr. 5 of the 1:43 scale James Bond Car Collection. A more rare, larger 1:18 scale version was made by Solido, which includes the 007 logo and bullet holes on the doors. Find a selection of 2CV models on eBay.

Photos of the 2CV 007 Edition courtesy of Étienne Musslin.