James Bond's Saab was a Saab 900 Turbo. And it got the name the Silver Beast. And this was Bond's personal car. It was not a Q-branch car. Here's what Chris Dearden from The Independent writes about Bond and the Saab:
Bond's garage housed half a dozen Aston Martins, various Rolls-Royces, a brace of Lotus Esprits and a Saab 900. Now, the Saab was a nice car, but that is pretty exotic company it's keeping. Why would Bond choose a marque more commonly favoured by headmasters and country GPs?
The clue is in the 1981 publication date of License Renewed, in which Bond first drives this car. Saab had recently released a radical extension to its range, the Saab 900 Turbo, and it was that five-letter addition to the name that excited the motoring world.
Bond called his car the Silver Beast, which was appropriate given that the power delivery of the early models was so brutal a lot of them ended up in ditches.
The Silver Beast was never featured in a Bond movie, but was a star of the first three novels written by John Gardner:
James Bond shifted down into third gear, drifted the Saab 900 Turbo into a tight left-hand turn, clinging to the grass shoulder, then put a fraction more power to bring the car out of the bend.
License Renewed, Chapter 2
Do you want to know more about the Silver Beast? Then visit Commander Bond.
