The Alley stunt car 1F05M160938
and a few bits of 1F05M100066 and other no-Bond cars
© Mike Alameda, Wolfgang Kohrn 2001, updated 2021
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A modified 351 Mach 1 and the
other ones - destroyed, layed on the roof and more. One stunt car used in the movie that made the 2-wheel stand was a 351cui engine powered red 71 Mach 1 called later "the Alley car'. By best knowledge (since 2017) we speak of VIN 1F05M160938 further described below. However other cars were used to film the various scenes on different dates. For example in the movie you see the one with the white sidewalls that exits the scene later on and fals on its wheels (the wrong way around as it entered the movie scene as you can also spot in this shot). There is still some discussion about the car used in the studio and at the additional necessary Las Vegas scenes. |
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On the left you see a look from under the car and maybe you can spot some of the modifications, which were done before the actual filming. Buzz Bundy drove the car on 2 wheels through the narrow alley first. 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. Some scenes had to be refilmed again at the Universal studios, since flashlights and too many spectators got in the way during the repeated film scenes. So actually there is not just one car, but most probably at least 2, if not 3 that were used for filming of the "working" stunt. According to narrations at least 4 are mentioned to be laid on the roof by another stunt team, which missed to get it on 2 wheels. Some dents visible on the Blue-Ray led to further research from In Search of Mustangs in late 2014 through 2017. Unfortunately the website that promised more hasn't been finished up to now by the team. They counted in total 6 Mach1 being used in the movie. We just focus on this page on 1F05M160938 as one of them, but ISOM has found further hints as of early 2015 with Kevin Martis support about the background of movie car supply for Diamonds are Forever. So stay tuned for more information coming soon in September 2022 from Bo Durban from that research. |
Buzz Bundy and the |
Let's look back on this car now with its picture/paper trail. 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, since he was known for successful 2-wheels driving. |
The Tournament of Thrills show after the movie
| Buzz Bundy used an M-code 351 Mach 1 after the BOND movie for his new stunt car show, though he had other Mustangs earlier. Here is an announcement flyer of this show showing pictures from the movie. The text in the brochure reads as following: "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."
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Buzz Bundy and the car Below:
| So Buzz basically performed the same stunts in the movie as in his Tournament of Thrills stunt show. The red 351 (M-code) 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) Peter Nelson in Joseph Brancellas ownership and brought over to England to be reunited with other James Bond cars.  According to the Marti report and Lois Eminger reports from 1998 this Mustang was originally sold by Pacific Auto Sales in Long Beach to the production team 2 weeks prior to the filming and later bought by Joseph Brancella, who displayed it with the original side scripts of the Tournament of Thrills show. Joseph asked for the invoice in January 1998 to Lois and gave permission to use his documents including pictures to Donald Farr and owners of the other cars, thus we are showing them off here. It should be noted that 4 other Tournament of Thrills cars (amongst them a white and a red 71 hardtop and a white 70 Sportsroof) had a clear indication on the Eminger invoice copy about the delivery to the team. Joseph Brancellas car not. So for a long time there was little evidence what a Pacific Auto Sales car had to do with the production team and the TOT car. Further evidence of the sales to the production team is not on our desk. The Brancella car was obviously registered in the early 80ies in Florida, visible by the still intact tax stickers that are today on the displayed 160938. |
Where is the Alley car today?
This is obviously not it! Actually we had gotten this picture above early on from somebody and believed it was the car. But further research in June 2021 with Guillaume Vesnat from France brought up that this red Mustang with a black front bumper, hood locks and the stickers on the co-drivers side - aside from the yellow headlights and fog lights - was actually shown in the 1996 Bond Show during the Paris Mondial d'Automobile motorshow. The Colline Motor Museum in Paris was involved, they had asked the MCDF for providing some Mustangs, but they had to turn down the request at that time. Where the cars actually were obtained is unclear, whoever has an idea, pls. write. It is believed that all 3 were just replicas used for that purpose in Paris. Another Mach 1 that is not the real car. 1F05M100066 is displayed since quite some time in the Bond in Motion display.  Since a few years in the Petersen Museum. However it has turned out that this car is as well not the real deal. It is another early car that was sent to the Las Vegas Convention Center for display. Just like the car from Mike Alameda. It is owned by the Ian Fleming Org. They bought it in good faith based on past knowledge, but that is it. Here it is shown earlier in UK.  The interior is even worse.  |
The car was at least from 2001 to 2013 in the 'Stars of the Cars' collection based in Keswick in the UK. There had been plans that it would be restored, as it was in a sad condition (2002). Many of the original modifications have been researched by the collection owner.
Peter Nelson himself updated us on
the car in late 2007 with below picture. In a major sales action in 2013 of the Keswick Bond
collection to Dezer in North Miami/Florida the char changed ownership and
location. ____________________________________________________ Fortunately I was allowed to take some detailed shots
inside and outside for the ponysite. Thanks to the museum staff for their
hosting and listening. Here is a
short video
of the Bond collection - stroll with me through the aisles. The museum is
currently under reconstruction with 2 new areas to host the Bond collection
in the future.
Some statistics and a rumour: See our Bond replicas or go back to the sidemenu of this webpage. |
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