Top Gear: Season 1, Episode 5

1 - 5: The Team Turns a Rover 800 Into a Bond Car

On a DIY-themed Top Gear, Richard built a Bond car for £300, and the Stig man-handled a palace around our test track. But first, Maybach. It was around £280,000-worth of the best that Mercedes-Benz engineers could offer. Richard tried it on the show and, what a surprise, he liked it very much. On the next branch down the Mercedes tree was the dictator's car of choice, the S-Class. Brimming with new technology, this car demonstrated gadgets that would probably trickle down into the family hatchback in the coming years. The star in a reasonably priced car was Jonathan Ross, who strapped himself into our Liana, complete with his own specially made purple driving gloves. He did well, but he also cheated. In our previous episode we'd asked for gadget ideas to bolt to our £300 budget Bond car. The best ideas were passed over to our cut-price Q and the finished Rover 820 was armed with paintball machine guns and firework rocket launchers, which we tested in the studio. It was also fitted with an ejector seat using scrap springs, an oil slick (dispensing children's play balls) and a tea tray bullet deflector - ready to tackle the mighty Spectra!