Modified 351 Mach 1
Here you see a look from under the car and maybe you can spot some of the modifications that were done before the actual filming.
Buzz Bundy drove the car on 2 wheels through the narrow alley first.
Buzz Bundy and the
Tournament of Thrills
The Tournament of Thrills was a stunt car show team that had already its name before the BOND movie was actually filmed. Buzz Bundy and his team was called in for the crash car scenes on the parking lot and the alley stunt. Later some of the scenes (where the car exits the alley) were redone with a french stunt team and mixed with the originals for the movie.
The Tournament of Thrills show after the movie
Buzz Bundy used the actual 351 Mach 1 after the BOND movie for his new stunt car show. Here is an announcement flyer of this show showing pictures from the movie.
The text in the brochure is this:
The Great James Bond Mustang Escape
In 'Diamonds are Forever' the James Bond Mustang cornered in a dead end street by pursueing police cars, hits a ramp and goes up on 2 wheels. Aiming for a narrow pedestrian walk, narrower than the car's width, he squeezes through the long alley, balancing on two wheels. The police car can't, of course, make it and Agent 007 escapes. The sequence at right shows, how it was done with Buzz Bundy, Tournament of Thrills stuntman, at the wheel doubling for Sean Connery.
One of the highlights of the James Bond hit 'Diamonds are Forever' is the exciting auto crash and chase scene. Tournament of Thrills was called in to do the stunts for these hilarious and hair-raising sequences and performed them in studio back lots and in the streets of Las Vegas. In these scenes, sharp eyed stunt fans may recognize versions of Tournament of Thrills events such as the ramp-to-ramp Jump, Dive Bomber Crash, Reverse Spins and Hi-Skis (two wheel driving). The drivers you see in todays show were the ones who drove the police car and the Agent 007 red Mustang.
Buzz Bundy and the car
Below:
Buzz
Bundy with his attractive companion, the driving double for Jill St. John
So Buzz basically performed the same stunts in the movie as in his Tournament of Thrills stunt show. The red 351 Mustang Mach 1 probably saw a lot of such events and thus it probably will take a lot of time to restore it. The car was later found in New York by Cars of the Stars (UK) and brought over to England to be reunited with other James Bond cars.
Where is the Alley car today?
Picture courtesy Stars of the Cars/P.Nelson
before the restoration
The car is currently in the 'Stars of the Cars' collection based in the UK.
There had been plans that it will be restored, as it was in a sad condition (2002).
Many of the original modifications have been researched by the collection owner.
Peter Nelson updated us on
the car in late 2007 with below picture.
"I have not restored ours because I think it better to keep it as
original as possible."
See the side menu for other Diamond themes of interest.
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