Bonding over Bond vehicles

They travel from all over North America at their own expense twice each year — some driving 18 hours — to spend a weekend in the Midwest volunteering to do restoration and maintenance work on a wide variety of vehicles actually used and seen on screen in James Bond movies.
The ages of the couple dozen member volunteers and board directors of the Ian Fleming Foundation who typically show up for the Foundation’s Work Weekend in Illinois over the 27 years since it began in 1992 – at one time coming from as far away as Japan and Sweden — has ranged from teenagers starting at age 13 to senior citizens up to 69 years-old. That was shortly after Mike VanBlaricum, one of the foremost collectors of Bond books, was contacted by the producers of the 007 film series, EON Productions, about accepting a donation of the Neptune mini-submarine used in the 1981 film “For Your Eyes Only.” It had been on display in New York and the exhibit was ending. VanBlaricum called Bond documentarian and author John Cork, and Doug Redenius, then the owner of the world’s largest private collection of James Bond memorabilia, and all three decided to start the non-profit Foundation in order to accept the offer and start collecting more Bond movie vehicles to restore and preserve. VanBlaricum, a 69 year-old former electro-engineer specializing in electro-magnetics, remains President of the IFF. Redenius, 63, a retired former homebuilder and U.S. Postal Service worker and the Foundation’s archivist, ended up restoring the submersible by himself in the backyard of his home in rural Illinois. That project attracted the attention of People magazine and the resulting article and photos in a popular October 1991 issue triggered a succession of vehicles becoming available to the IFF.

(Story continues below the following 15-minute video highlights of the IFF’s most recent Work Weekend and vehicles…)

That meant Redenius needed help with the increasing influx of vehicles which are sometimes found rusting in junk yards, weather-beaten and nest-infested in farm fields, or buried in a shed or storage facility. They include everything from the primary working vehicle in the movie to secondary stunt or special-effects versions that might be hollow shells created just for specific shots. In every case, the vehicles must be cleaned, usually extensively repaired to original working order, and almost always repainted. If a vehicle was only a shell and/or is missing specific visible parts, logos, insignias, working doors, etc., the IFF likes to find and install those parts that make the vehicle look as authentic as possible for show, even if it never had all those elements. So, Redenius first asked his friend David Reinhardt (now IFF Secretary) for help, and soon others wanted to contribute. Thus, the Work Weekends were established more than 25 years ago.

(Story continues below the following 16-minute video showcasing each of the vehicles and IFF members explaining how they were acquired, and demonstrating the work done on them by volunteers…)

Reinhardt, a 66 year-old former Toronto police officer for 33 years before he retired, has been making the six-and-a-half-hour trek across the border since 1994. During the most recent weekend gathering Sept. 27-29, Reinhardt, from Sarnia, Canada, took pride in pointing out a Bahamas license plate he acquired and mounted on the IFF’s Ford Mondeo, notable as the first car driven by Daniel Craig as James Bond in “Casino Royale.”
In the more than quarter-century since it was formed, IFF has taken possession of a cumulative 42 vehicles overall, some offered to IFF from EON and other owners but most tracked down after exhaustive searches and then acquired – the latest two arriving this month (October 2019): a dune buggy seen in “For Your Eyes Only,” and the “Moonraker” hang glider wings that opened up on the boat as it was about to go over the falls. They belong on the boat already owned by IFF, which has vehicles from all but three of the EON-produced Bond movies so far – “Dr. No.,” “Quantum of Solace,” and “Spectre.” About half of the IFF vehicles, including the iconic underwater Lotus car, Tracy’s red Mercury Cougar, the Mustang that Bond drove in Las Vegas, and many others, have been on loan to the enormously popular Bond in Motion exhibition since 2012 to supplement the many vehicles and memorabilia from EON’s own archives that IFF helped encourage EON to formally establish.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
(Story continues below the following sidebar…)

First awareness of James Bond by IFF board members

• IFF President Mike VanBlaricum: Seeing “Goldfinger” in theater on initial release when I was 14 – I can remember the name of the 14 year-old girl that sat in front of me. It was pretty memorable.
• IFF Archivist Doug Redenius: The babysitter taking my friend and I to see “Goldfinger” in the cinema in 1964, which showed on a double-bill after the movie “Goodbye Charlie” (which was a pretty bizarre movie about a guy who falls over a boat and comes back as a woman). When it got to the point in “Goldfinger” where you see the cabaret dancer in the bathtub, the babysitter grabbed both of us young boys by the hair and yanked us out of the cinema. But my dad took me back to see it the next day and that became a ritual with my dad to see every new Bond movie together.
• Board director Colin Clark: Bond movies on ABC Sunday Night Movies when I was 10 years old. My mother really got me started into Bond because she had all the Ian Fleming books and gave them to me to read.
• Board director George Martin: Hearing “Goldfinger” theme song on AM radio.
• Chris MacGregor: My father took me to go see “Moonraker” in theater when I was eight years old. (Technically, he actually saw “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” prior to “Moonraker” as an even younger lad but didn’t realize it was a James Bond film – just remembered the tragic ending.)
• Chuck Collins: The paperback Bond novels that my dad had – when I was a really young guy the great artwork of the lovely ladies attracted me, so I started sneaking a read of the books because they were adult content.
• James McMahon: I was born and raised in Mexico and when my family moved to the United States, my new neighborhood friends were all going to the movie theater to see “Goldfinger.” I went in there not knowing who James Bond was, and came out having had an experience that changed the rest of my life. A couple months later they released the double-feature of “Dr. No” and “From Russia with Love,” and then “Thunderball” came out the next year. So within a period of about 18-months I saw four James Bond movies – it was incredible.
• Whitney Gates: My mom introduced me to Bond when she took me to a double-feature when I was 11 or 12; I wasn’t old enough to stay out late enough to see both the same night but I saw “Goldfinger” one night and then “Live and Let Die” the next night, and I was hooked.
• Fraser Engerman: My mother took my brother and I to see “Live and Let Die” in the summer of 1973.

(see IFF members answer question above in 3 1/2-min video below…)

 

 

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Nearly 20 other IFF vehicles were all sitting in a packed warehouse-like facility during the latest Work Weekend — at a location the IFF prefers not to disclose — including the FYEO submarine; the giant CAT excavator (“Digger”) from “Skyfall”; the airplane that Bond lassoed in “Licence to Kill”; the villain’s Jaguar and the Switchblade personal skydiving device from “Die Another Day” (the “Die Another Day” Jaguar XKR is owned by Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust and is on extended loan to The Ian Fleming Foundation); three of the Parahawk flying snowmobiles; one of the jet boats (“Q-boat”) seen in “The World is Not Enough”; the helicopter that chased Sean Connery over the countryside in “From Russia with Love”; models of helicopters and jets used in filming “You Only Live Twice,” “Thunderball,” and “Goldfinger”; a villain boat from the chase in “Live and Let Die”; and an Aston Martin body shell used to show the outrigger skis being extended in “The Living Daylights.” (detailed video of each in video below)
Among several other vehicles at the IFF work facility is the badly-rusting shell of the Kenworth tractor-trailer truck that was used to tip up on its left-side wheels in “Licence to Kill.” MacGregor said the truck was rescued from a field where it had been used for training and set on fire multiple times. Redenius said the Foundation is hoping to find a TV show production company or network that would be interested in partnering with the IFF to provide funding for the restoration of the truck that could be chronicled for a TV program.
One day the IFF would like to see a permanent museum created for their collection in the United States, preferably in the Midwest in or around the Chicago area. Secretary David Reinhardt even suggested creating a location on the Navy Pier near downtown Chicago. The IFF would only pursue such an endeavor with the blessing and support of the Bond movie franchise owner EON Productions, such as is the case with the Bond in Motion exhibit in London. This relationship allows for partnering on all the appropriate James Bond branding and resources to create the most authentic and satisfying 007 exhibition experience.
As for a preference for the Midwest, VanBlaricum, a retired research engineer based in Santa Barbara, Ca., also has a home in Urbana, Ill. near the University of Illinois, where he serves as President and Past President of several boards. He noted that not only is it a central geographic location, but Fleming’s personal collection of rare books are housed in the Lilly Library at Indiana University in Bloomington. And VanBlaricum is in the process of giving his personal collection of first edition Fleming and Bond books, among others, to U of I’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the largest public RBML in the U.S.
Among its charitable contributions, the IFF established an annual undergrad research scholarship in perpetuity a few years ago through U of I School of Media for students to do research in the general area of things Fleming was interested in (19th/20th-century “books that had started something,” from landmarks in science and technology to instructional volumes on sports and games).

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
(Story continues below the following sidebar…)

IFF board members’ coolest personal James Bond moment

• IFF Secretary David Reinhardt: Met and had photos taken with Honor Blackman at Ian Fleming Centenary in 2008.
• IFF board director Brad Frank: Being at Pinewood Studios during final day of filming Bond movie and seeing Pierce Brosnan and producer Michael G. Wilson walk by.
• James McMahon: Dinner cooked for us by Mie Hama (Kissy in “You Only Live Twice”) in her Hakone Lake mountain home near Tokyo after meeting her and Akiko Wakabayashi (Aki) during two-week research trip with Raymond Benson, the first American author of the Bond continuation novels. Benson was a director on the IFF board for 16 years.
• George Martin: taking photos in press line at “GoldenEye” premiere in New York City, followed by getting premium red carpet press access to all Brosnan Bond premieres.
• Colin Clark: Meeting Pierce Brosnan when he was honored at 38th Annual Chicago Film Festival where he was promoting his (2002) movie “Evelyn.” My wife Kelly and I were first ones to greet Pierce and (wife) Keely Shaye Smith when they came in to champagne reception with just a couple hundred people.
• Fraser Engerman: Being at the “GoldenEye” premiere in 1995 at Radio City Music Hall, and meeting and getting autograph from Desmond Llewelyn.
• Chuck Collins: In addition to meeting James Bond women like Maud Adams and Lana Wood, I got to interview Jane Seymour for 15-minutes about 10 years ago.
• Chris MacGregor: My coolest moment was the first time I came to an IFF Work Weekend. I was completely giddy, climbed inside every single one of the vehicles. I couldn’t believe that I was touching these vehicles.
• Colin MacGregor: Climbing into the submarine when I came to my first Work Weekend.
• Whitney Gates: Hanging out with these guys and getting a chance to drive Tracy’s Mercury Cougar from “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” a few years ago, which was really cool.
  

(see IFF members answer question above in 3 1/2-min video below…)

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

The number of member volunteers for the IFF Work Weekend is limited to its core group of about 25 due to limited space and resources, as well as security. The regular participants, including a TV weatherman – all of whom pay for their own lodging and most meals during Work Weekends — come from widely diverse backgrounds and bring very different skill-sets, some admittedly not having mechanical skills but anxious to help with simple tasks such as sanding, painting, taping, cleaning, applying decals, lifting or running errands. One member volunteer, Chris MacGregor, 48 years old of the Chicago area (formerly longtime resident of Houston), who works in advertising, builds computer software, and has been attending these weekends for seven years, is the self-appointed and unanimously-approved chef, bringing and grilling brats, huge pieces of chicken, and onion-stuffed burgers.
“If I cook it myself, at least I know it’s edible,” he said. (first video above)
MacGregor’s 19 year-old son Colin has been coming since he was 13 and feels lucky to apply his weekends with Bond vehicles towards hours required by his school for charity volunteering. He took wood-shop in high school so he could help out at Work Weekends. As a youngster his favorite spot to sit during breaks was in the LALD boat. That boat’s Evinrude motor is just one of the sources of highly entertaining back-stories shared by Redenius, also a longtime collector of antique and sports cars, who recalls several phone calls that led him to a man at a remote shop who pointed him to a room full of outboard engines that fit the general description of what Redenius was looking for. Upon closer inspection, he saw markings — obscure and meaningless to anyone else, including the shop owner — that revealed this was the exact same motor used with this boat during filming.
IFF board director Brad Frank, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, ran a science-fiction book store for many years and retired in his late 50s. After being primarily a Trekkie in his teens, it was the Bond books that became of more interest to him later on, and he has acquired an impressive collection featuring innumerable cover designs of multiple editions of each book in many languages. Like many of the others, he finds ways to be useful at the Work Weekends, even climbing in a long horizontal glass showcase on this day to touch up some taping along the wood frame in the corners, and finding an innovative way to make a custom-made movie banner on the backside of the case that was cut too short look like it was designed that way.
Other IFF volunteers do have mechanical, electrical, or computer skills – all three were required on this particular weekend to illuminate the dash panel lights in the Q-boat and mount a Kindle tablet that MacGregor went to great lengths to set up to play a video on a loop that replicates the digital navigation tracking seen by Bond on the display during the pre-title sequence chase on the Thames River. MacGregor managed to get all the digital files from the person responsible for creating those graphics for use in “The World is Not Enough.”
Another of the four men working on that project in addition to MacGregor, board director George Martin, and member Paul Wynn, was Colin Clark, an IFF board member since 2015 who has been attending Work Weekends for 18 years, and who planned and organized the most recent gathering.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

(Story continues below the following sidebar…)

IFF board members’ personal James Bond claim to fame

• Mike VanBlaricum: Being asked to give a short speech when they dedicated Blue Plaque on Ian Fleming’s house in London and to introduce Desmond Llewelyn. I’m an engineer so Q was really the person I always identified with. That was a huge honor to get to do that.
• David Reinhardt: Largest James Bond memorabilia collection in Canada – 10,000 items.
• George Martin: In the Brosnan movies section of the “Premiere Bond: Opening Nights” special featurette on DVD and Blu-ray, it was a surprise to see that the only photos shown are mine.
• James McMahon: Bond continuation author Raymond Benson used my name in the novelization of “Tomorrow Never Dies” as the name of a character in the movie who was not given a name, the captain of the flagship of the British Navy. He also used my last name for a character called Peter McMahon who gets killed in the first chapter of his final original Bond novel “The Man with the Red Tattoo.” (McMahon is also thanked in the novel’s Acknowledgements for his help to Benson during two weeks of research in Japan.)
• Brad Frank: Being interviewed several times about Bond on local Tulsa TV news
• Chris MacGregor: George Lazenby wishes me happy birthday on Facebook, and I’ve known (Bond author) Raymond Benson since I was a teenager

(see IFF members answer question above in 95-sec video below)

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

A good deal of time during the most recent Work Weekend was also spent trying to shore up the wobbly in-and-out slide motion of the outrigger on the left side of the Aston Martin in “The Living Daylights.” (see second video above about all the vehicles)
Board director Colin Clark’s favorite among the vehicles in the IFF work facility at the moment is the “Licence to Kill” Cessna 172 airplane, which is understandable since Clark has worked at the American Airlines maintenance inspection department at Chicago’s O’Hare airport for 32 years and helped his father operate three small airports in central Wisconsin. Clark draws on the extensive personal and professional experience to assist, lead and respond to member questions on the majority of the restoration and maintenance projects large and small. Additionally, Clark also carries a large load in preparation for the Work Weekends, being one of the primary point people assisting other board members with plans, compiling the work lists for the members to accomplish during the weekends, getting the word out to all members, and helping the many volunteers coming from out-of-town with hotel accommodations, including journalist observers.
The LTK plane is a “special effects” vehicle with no engine or interior so it was lighter for the helicopter to carry facing down in the lasso stunt. Clark and Redenius went to the Florida Keys to collect the plane in the middle of winter, drove it back to Illinois on a truck with the airplane tail sticking out (photos in video below). Once back, the IFF had the plane repainted and volunteers re-mounted the wings, replaced the windscreen, created a custom-designed mount for the front wheel that is typically attached to the engine, replaced the tires and air tubes, created air grills with a backing that hides the missing engine, and put together an interior that never existed – a wood floor and authentic-looking carpeting, two Cessna seats (it’s a four-seater) and a stick-on paper dashboard instrument panel — so it would be more visually appealing in public exhibition.
Like the LTK airplane, each vehicle comes with an interesting story about its history and/or the work done by the IFF to bring it back to the look fans will recognize from the movie. In another example, 64 year-old Peoria, Ill. TV meteorologist Chuck Collins, who has been attending Work Weekends for more than two decades, pointed out that the cab for driving the CAT excavator is on the opposite side of the behemoth vehicle as designed by Caterpillar. The “Skyfall” rig is one of two built for the movie at CAT’s regular excavator manufacturing plant in China, and retro-fitted to accommodate the needs of the stunt and camera positions during the shooting of the film in Turkey. IFF recently learned that it was driven remotely during the filming that took about three months for the sequence that lasted only about two-minutes on screen. Also, the catwalk grates atop the giant shovel arm are not standard (and not necessary for normal use), but were added so Daniel Craig could make the dramatic walk over the arm as the train car moved along the tracks at speed. Caterpillar, which until recently had been based in Collins’ hometown of Peoria since 1925, had the custom-built excavator on worldwide tour of construction vehicle trade shows for several years. When those shows ended, Redenius successfully encouraged the company to donate it to IFF, and he and Collins went to pick it up at Caterpillar’s antique tractor warehouse in Peoria. The IFF team has since cleverly added fake bullet shatter in several locations on the cab to create a visual representation of what was generated digitally for the movie.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
(Story continues below the following sidebar…)

IFF board members’ most prized James Bond possession

• James McMahon: Autographed photos of “You Only Live Twice” Bond women Akiko Wakabayashi (Aki) and Mie Hama (Kissy), two of the most highly-sought autographs because they stopped doing them years ago. Wakabayashi sent a framed photo with her autograph personalized to me with inscription on the back.
• Brad Frank: First editions of Bond novels personally inscribed by Ian Fleming to friends, co-workers, and especially one to firearms expert Geoffrey Boothroyd, who inspired Fleming’s armorer of the same name in his novels who was nicknamed Q in the EON movies; as well as a couple Fleming original Bond novel manuscripts.
• David Reinhardt: A Golden Pan award given to Ian Fleming by Pan Macmillan (before he died in 1964) for selling more than 1 million copies of paperback edition of Diamonds are Forever – one of seven he received.
• Colin Clark: Four-sided diorama Gilbert cardboard display (scenes on each side with toy figures, cars from “Dr. No,” “Goldfinger,” “Thunderball,” and M’s office) acquired from James Bond author Raymond Benson who couldn’t display it because it takes up so much space.
• George Martin: Boxed set of Signet Bond books (sentimental value).
• Chris MacGregor: Dear 007 book by Bill Adler (1966 collection of fictitious letters to 007 from children) – it’s one of the rarest Bond books and I found it in a used book store for 50-cents.
• Chuck Collins: Johnny Lightning James Bond toy cars with mini movie poster because my six year-old son bought me one of those each week when he was in first grade.
• Whitney Gates: One of the very first editions of the novel The Man with the Golden Gun, which has the golden gun on it – there’s only about 100 of them. I also used to own a 1977 Lotus Espirit S1, which Bond drove in “The Spy Who Loved Me.”
• Fraser Engerman: Original “From Russia with Love” quad poster given to me by a friend of my Mom’s who ran a memorabilia store in Chicago in the late 1970s.

(see IFF members answer question above with photos of most of these possessions in 3 1/2-min video below…)

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Of course all of the volunteer members at Work Weekend share a passion for Bond movies, as well as vehicles, which is what attracted them to the Foundation in the first place. Bond movie music permeates the expansive IFF work facility all day long. While consuming Chef MacGregor’s BBQ lunches they are usually gathered around a TV either watching a Bond movie or listening to Redenius regale the others with updates on his latest clues and discoveries about the potential whereabouts and negotiations in his global quests to track down more Bond movie vehicles.
IFF board director George Martin, 67, retired from the IT department of Chevron oil company, has been attending Work Weekends since 2001, driving nearly 18 hours over two days each way from Houston via Tulsa where he picks up fellow board director Brad Frank along the way. Martin says the rewarding feeling of rescuing cool James Bond vehicles that are in disrepair and bringing them back to life for posterity is what keeps him coming back, and the knowledge that much of the money raised goes to supporting scholarships for students to do research related to the world of Ian Fleming.
For meteorologist Chuck Collins, the IFF “brings me into the world of Bond in a way I would never have been able to on my own. I’m sitting in a vehicle that a Bond actor sat in. I drove that vehicle. Now there’s a personal connection with me and the movies, which is a great experience and a great thrill.”
Fraser Engerman, a former Peoria TV station weekend news anchorman and current media relations director at Ireland-based building services company Johnson Controls in Milwaukee, has been coming to Work Weekends for 25 years. “It’s an opportunity to be around all these fantastic, amazing, one-of-a-kind vehicles that nobody knows about. This is a hidden gem.”
“I love hanging out with these guys and helping restore and perpetuate movie history,” added Whitney Gates, 54, a commercial real estate developer (shopping centers, etc.) who lives in Bloomington, Indiana. He’s been driving 3 1/2 –hours each way twice a year for 20 years. “A lot of these vehicles have been left to rot, and we’re bringing a lot of them back to life and preserving Bond movie history.”
IFF President Mike VanBlaricum started collecting books, especially first-editions, four decades ago when he was about 30 years-old. When he was in his early 40s he, Redenius and Cork started IFF. None of them have ever taken a salary for what they do.
“The payment is getting to meet the people and learning the history,” VanBlaricum said. “To me, that’s the fun part.”
That fun part has been in the experiencing of unimagined moments with people they have met, history they have stumbled across, and places and things they discovered and uncovered. While those have been shared in verbal storytelling with others, there is a lifetime of experiences that have not been chronicled, and many things that have not been shared or preserved for posterity.
VanBlaricum said IFF is working now to try to create a place to house and protect things that are donated to IFF beyond the high-profile vehicles. And they also want to start documenting all their stories of the last decades and those yet to come.
In the meantime, IFF is revamping and updating its web site (http://www.ianflemingfoundation.org), adding donation pages and a PayPal account.
The Work Weekends may prove to be their legacy, at least among their core supporters. What keeps most of the members coming back twice annually year-after-year, long after they exhausted most of the conversation one can have about Bond movies during the years between new installments, is the camaraderie.
“It’s for a love of all the people who come here,” said Brad Frank, who has been attending the Work Weekends for about 15 years. “These are best friends that I get to see only a couple times a year when we gather to do these work sessions. I like sharing my passion for Bond with others who have a similar passion.”
“For me, it’s about coming up here and working with these guys,” added Chris MacGregor. “These are great friends and it’s all because of these Work Weekends. I come up here and hang out with people I love hanging out with. It’s less about James Bond now and more about these friendships that I’ve made coming here.”
That sentiment was echoed by James McMahon, 62, of Chicago, a former U.S. Army Special Forces Paratrooper who now works at Northwestern University. “Initially it was our shared interest in James Bond, but when you start coming here and you get to know the guys, you come back for the friendships.”

— By Scott Hettrick