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When Ian Fleming’s novel Goldfinger was published in 1959, he provided James Bond with an Aston Martin for the first time. Prior to that, Bond had been driving Bentleys. In the book, he offered the following description: „Bond had been offered the Aston Martin or a Jaguar 3.4. He had taken the DB III. Either of the cars would have suited his cover – a well-to-do, rather adventurous young man with a taste for the good, the fast things of life. But the DB III had the advantage of an up-to-date triptyque: these included switches to alter the type and colour of Bond’s front and rear lights if he was following or being followed at night, reinforced steel bumpers, fore and aft, in case he needed to ram, a long-barreled Colt 45 in a trick compartment under the driver’s seat, a radio pick-up tuned to receive a radio station called the Homer, and plenty of concealed space that would fox most Customs men.” However Ken Adam, the production designer and John Stears, the special effects supervisor, were still not satisfied. In the autumn of 1963, they visited the Aston Martin works in Newport Pagnell, in order to discuss several modifications with a group of engineers. They chose what was then the fastest horse in the stall: a silver metallic Aston Martin DB 5 (silver birch would have been the factory standard). According to the script, Bond was to escape with the car and then defend himself with it. To make this possible, the following extras were installed in the vehicle with the license plate BMT 216 A:

Initially, the effects car, DP216/1 was the only car with the extras fitted by the film production company, DB5/1486/R was in effect just a standard road car. But such was the demand for the DB5 to appear around the world to publicise the films, the road car, DB5/1486/R and a further two cars that never appeared in the films, DB5/2008R and DB5/2017/R, had the 007 extras fitted by the Works. Below are the best pictures that I have found to illustrate the special features built into the cars. These have been taken from a 1965 brochure that Aston Martin produced to be given out when the cars were displayed to the public.

Both DB5’s also appeared in the 1965 James Bond film, Thunderball, with the addition of a Jet pack in the boot and rear firing water cannons. By 1968, DP216/1 still owned by AML was returned to the Works and all the film company fitted special effects were removed prior to sale as a normal road car. Shortly after DP216/1 was refitted with replica effects by a Kent coachbuilder before being sold to an American collector. DP216/1 went on to feature in the 1981 film ‘The Cannonball Run but was stolen in June 1997 from a hanger in Florida and I believe it’s whereabouts are unknown. It may never be seen again.

The other three Works modified DB5’s still exist but two are rarely seen in public. The Road car, DB5/1486/R is privately owned in the USA. DB5/2008/R was for many years on display in the Smoky Mountain Car Museum but was offered form sale by RM auctions in January 2006 where it achieved $2,090,000. And the last works replica, DB5/2017/R is part of the Dutch National Motor Museum, the Louwman Collection, in Raamadonksveer which I have photographed both in its home and at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in August 2007.

After it became clear that Goldfinger would become a huge financial success, and a flood of requests came to put the DB 5 on display, the company built two replicas of the car for promotional purposes. These cars had some additional equipment details. One of them had a telephone that was installed in the door on the driver’s side. It also had a special reserve tank and a very luxurious interior trim with antelope leather. All three vehicles (and two others which had been used during the filming) were exhibited at numerous motor shows and charity events; they turned out to be the best publicity-makers that the luxury carmaker ever had.

Sources:
['The Most Famous Car in the World' by Dave Worrall]
[www.astonmartins.com]
[www.carenthusiast.com]

Unique Buildings of Tomorrow I : Aqua Tower
Unique Buildings of Tomorrow II : Chicago Spire
Unique Buildings of Tomorrow III : CCTV Headquarters, Beijing
Unique Buildings of Tomorrow IV : Regatta Hotel, Jakarta
Unique Buildings of Tomorrow V : Residence Antilia, India

Unique Buildings of Tomorrow VI : The Russia Tower, Moscow

The Russia Tower (Russian: Башня Россия; Bashnya Rossiya) is a supertall skyscraper currently under construction in the Moscow International Business Centre ofMoscow, Russia. Construction began in September, 2007, and is planned to be completed in 2012. Upon reaching its final height of 612.2 m (2,009 ft.), it will be the third tallest building in the world, assuming completion of the Lanco Hills Signature Tower. Additionally, it will be the tallest building in the world with a natural ventilationsystem.

The total area of the structure will cover 520,000 m² (5,597,233.4 sq ft), of which 38% (200,000 m² (2,152,782.1 sq ft)) will be located underground. The tower will contain 118 floors, 101 elevators, and underground parking to accommodate 3,680 cars. Commercial retail shops will be located at the base of the building. The maximum capacity of the building is projected to be around 30,000.

Based on a geometry derived from a triangular plan with an open ‘green’ spine[vague] , the building’s primary structure comprises three ‘arms’ that taper as they rise. They create a slender pyramidal form that achieves the maximum stability with the minimum structure and allows the most effective distribution of space. The higher floors containing residential and hotel accommodation are designed as a series of modular units that can be configured individually. At the summit, a public viewing deck with cafes and bars creates an attraction for visitors and residents, while an ice-rink and shops add to life at street level.

The environmental strategy harnesses a range of passive techniques and controls. Strategically, mixed-use offers a strong starting point, allowing energy balance throughout the day as people move between office and home. Structurally, the tower’s slender profile creates shallow floorplates that maximise daylight penetration and increase the potential for natural ventilation. The triple-glazed, high-performance facade reduces heat loss; photovoltaics supply the building’s energy needs and feed electricity back into the city grid; energy recycling reduces heating demand by 20 per cent; and snow and rain water harvesting is expected to cut fresh water consumption for toilets by a third. Thus, socially and environmentally, Russia Tower offers a sustainable new solution to contemporary living.

Official Russia Tower Site

[Source: www.lambocars.com]

Very few people know that the Super car giant Lamborghini from Italy had its humble origins in tractors. I searched through their sites and in many forums and this is all i could muster.

After World War II, a mechanic in the Italian Army named Ferruccio Lamborghini started buying up surplus military vehicles and converting them into agricultural machines. He sold enough to build his own tractor factory in 1949, but even then, he and a handful of employees were building a single tractor a day. By 1958, the tractor company was building 1,500 per year and had the first fully diesel four-wheel drive and a crawler tractor in its lineup. Legend has it that Ferruccio was talking with his neighbor Enzo Ferrari and complained about the noisy gearbox in his Ferrari car. As the story goes, Ferrari told Lamborghini to stick to building tractors and leave the sports cars to Ferrari. Lamborghini didn’t like that idea and designed his own sports car. The legendary sports cars debuted 1963 and continue to be some of the most expensive and sought after models on the road. In 1973, Lamborghini sold his tractor business to a company known as the Same Company, they continued to build tractors while Ferruccio retired to make wine in Umbria. He died in 1993 at the age of 77.

Sig. Ferruccio Lamborghini didn’t start by building high-performance cars, he was actually born into a farmer family, so when World War II was over and Ferruccio returned to Italy, he began converting the military left-over engines into powerfull tractors, which were much needed at that time.

With his studies at a technical school, and his assigned during the war in the car park of the army, he was well cabable of building just about anything from scratch, and keep it running afterwards. The tractor business, which he started in an old barn, went extremely well, and soon Ferruccio was able to move into bigger premises in 1949, he built had a completely new factory built in Cento and founded Lamborghini Trattori SpA. At that time they built just one tractor each day with a rather small group of employees. But things only got better, and by 1958 Lamborghini Trattori SpA built 1500 tractors a year.

Lamborghini tractors were considered to be among the very best, in the beginning Ferruccio even organised tractor-pulling contests between his machines and those belonging to nearby farmers, just to show that his tractor was the most powerfull one. The Lamborghini tractors were very reliable and they were built in a very high quality, mainly because over 80 percent of the parts were made inside the factory at Cento, so Ferruccio could asure himself of the best possible quality.

In 1969 production went up to 5000 units a year, which caused Ferruccio to start thinking about moving into even larger premisses again. He moved the factory in 1971, at that time the Lamborghini Trattori SpA was the third best selling tractor manufacturer on the Italian market. But in 1972, after a fatal cancellation of an important order, Ferruccio lost confidence in his tractor business and sold his company to Same Co of Treviglio, but production still continued and by 1979, the former Lamborghini factory produced some 10,000 tractors a year, from which 26 percent was exported all over the world while 8 percent remained in Italy.

It should therefore be much easier to find a Lamborghini tractor than a Lamborghini car, because the total production of Automobili Lamborghini is nowhere near 10,000 units.

Featured in Dr. No. Bond drives to Miss Taro’s home in the Blue Mountains; he is pursued by Dr. No’s thugs driving a LaSalle hearse. It is a Lake Blue example that was owned by a local resident in Jamaica where the scenes were filmed. In the novel Dr. No, Bond drives the car that formerly belonged to Commander Strangways, the murdered agent in Kingston. It is also driven by Quarrel.

While in Jamaica to investigate the murder of several British intelligence officers, Sean Connery’s 007 drives this Sunbeam Alpine roadster. This era Alpine featured a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine that produced 90 horsepower and 97 pound-feet of torque, while its body was 155 inches long (the same as the first and second generation Miatas).

Bond was picked up from the airport in Kingston, Jamaica, by a taxi driver with a Chevrolet Bel-Air. Both cars were unspectacular production models, and therefore hardly worth mentioning. In From Russia with Love (1963) a 4 1/2 Liter Bentley Sports Tourer appeared right at the beginning – a car that was also a favorite of Ian Fleming, the author of the Bond novels. Later in the film, Bond is chauffeured in a black Rolls Royce in Istanbul. It was not until the third film, Goldfinger that a movie appeared that made an English sports car world famous.

In the movie, a leisurely drive through Marley-land turns into a high-speed chase from Dr. No’s goons known as the Three Blind Mice. The Alpine is certainly the forgotten car from the Connery era thanks to a certain other British car, although one could certainly argue that the Z3’s color combination in “Goldeneye” was inspired by this original Bond car.

Unique Buildings of Tomorrow I : Aqua Tower
Unique Buildings of Tomorrow II : Chicago Spire
Unique Buildings of Tomorrow III : CCTV Headquarters, Beijing
Unique Buildings of Tomorrow IV : Regatta Hotel, Jakarta

Unique Buildings of Tomorrow V : Residence Antilia, India

Antilia, is the proposed name for a twenty-seven floor (490 ft or 149 mt) building presently under construction in Mumbai for Indian businessman, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries, whose family will occupy about 35,000 square feet (3,300 m²).

Named after the mythical island in the Atlantic, Antillia, the building will have only 27 liveable floors. It is designed by Chicago architects, Perkins & Will, is estimated to cost US$2 billion, and is inspired by the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. It is expected to be completed by September 2008.

Situated on a 4,532 sq. mt. plot at Altamount Road on the famed Malabar Hill, where land prices are upward of US$ 10,000 per square meter, the buillding will house parking for 168 cars, a movie theatre for audience of fifty, living quarters on four floors and three helipads.

You may have read details about Mukesh Ambani’s new house-in-the-making at Altamount Road, but even as work on its construction goes on in full swing, here on your right is the first picture of what it will look like when it’s complete. 

Mumbai Mirror is in possession of the entire architectural plan for Residence Antilia (as the house is going to be called, after a mythical island), the subject of enormous curiosity in the city ever since the Reliance Industries Ltd chairman purchased the 4,532 sq mt plot in 2002. 

The plan, drawn up by the firm Perkins+Will, reveals that the house will resemble a virtual glass palace, with entertainment centres, a health club, a swimming pool and various green spots thrown in for good measure. 

COVER STORY 

Construction of Mukesh Ambani’s new house at Altamount Road, where real estate prices are now in the region of Rs 75,000 per sq ft, began in late 2006, and the first six floors are already in place now. The building is expected to be complete in September 2008. 

27 FLOORS 

According to the plan, the house will rise to a height of 173.12 meters, equivalent to that of a regular 60-storeyed residential building. However, Antilia will have only 27 storeys in all, which means each floor will have a ceiling considerably higher than the current average of nearly three meters. 

SIX FLOORS FOR PARKING 

The first six floors — which have come up — will be reserved for parking alone, and that too for cars belonging only to Mukesh’s family. Space for a total of 168 ‘imported’ cars has been earmarked here. 

FLOOR FOR CAR MAINTENANCE 

Sources said the Ambanis would prefer to have all their cars serviced and maintained at an in-house service centre. This centre will be set up on the seventh floor. 

ENTERTAINMENT FLOOR 

The eighth floor will have an entertainment centre comprising a mini-theatre with a seating capacity of 50. 

BALCONIES WITH GARDENS 

The rooftop of the mini-theatre will serve as a garden, and immediately above that, three more balconies with terrace gardens will be independent floors. 

THE ‘HEALTH’ FLOORS 

While the ninth floor will a ‘refuge’ floor — meant to be used for rescue in emergencies — two floors above that will be set aside for ‘health.’ One of these will have facilities for athletics and a swimming pool, while the other will have a health club complete with the latest gym equipment. 

FOR GUESTS 

There will be a two-storeyed glass-fronted apartment for the Ambani family’s guests above the health floors. One more refuge floor and one floor for mechanical works will be built on top of these apartments. 

FAMILY 

The four floors at the top, that will provide a view of the Arabian Sea and a superb view of the city’s skyline, will be for Mukesh, his wife Neeta, their three children and Mukesh’s mother Kokilaben. 

AIR SPACE FLOOR 

According to the plan, two floors above the family’s residence will be set aside as maintenance areas, and on top of that will be an “air space floor,” which will act as a control room for helicopters landing on the helipad above. 

HELIPAD 

The plan states that three helipads are to be built on the terrace. 

However, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation officials told this paper that permission for the helipads has not been granted yet. “The residential plans were approved threefour years ago. Two levels of basement have also been shown in the proposed project,” Sudhir Shinde, deputy engineer at the BMC’s building proposals department said. 

STAFF 

Nearly 600 staffers are expected to work fulltime in the building, sources said. 

TOTAL STATS 

According to BMC records, the total area of Mukesh’s Altamount Road plot is 4,532.39 square meters. The proposed built-up area is 4,778.09 square meters (only for residential purposes), and the permissible built-up area 4,939.81 square meters.

I personally want to apologize for the misunderstanding created over this post. It was my personal fault that i didnt name www.rustylime.com in the source. Im extremely sorry for that and have personally apologized to Michale Ott (Senior Editor of www.rustylime.com) for the same. He was humble enough to allow me to reactivate the post and i respect that. He was very friendly and understanding in the whole issue and hope that he found me helpful as well. I hope that everyone from rustylimes’ faithful readership also understands that its not my intention to copy/steal work. I admit to my fault and apologize to everyone for causing the trouble.

-Bobby Sandhu
Webmaster
www.jungplunga.com
www.theangrypixel.com

Recent rains in Northern india have resulted in increase of water level in the man made Sukhna Lake Chandigarh. Where on one hand its a good news for the aquatic life savers, its causing lots of issues for the Sukhna Lake based water sports center. The central island where all the events take place is about to get submerged into water completely. Its less then a meter away from getting submerged completely.

It rained for 36 hours straight one week back in Chandigarh, which resulted in this situation. Nevertheless, its one helluva sight to see. Everyone who has seen Sukhna lake before gives an amazing WOW expression looking at the lake now. I went to Sukhna Lake one day after the rains and captured these photographs.