The Radnor Hunt Concours d’Elegance Brings Bond, James Bond, to Pennsylvania

The 2026 Radnor Hunt Concours d’Elegance is bringing two authentic James Bond vehicles to Malvern, Pennsylvania this September, and the more remarkable of the two spent six decades missing before anyone got to see it again. Held September 11-13, the 29th annual Concours pairs genuine film provenance with the kind of collector-grade rarity that doesn’t come around often.

The Lost Bond Bike’s Six-Decade Disappearance

One of only two BSA A65 Lightning Rockets built specifically for Thunderball will make a rare public appearance at this year’s Radnor Hunt Concours d’Elegance. The motorcycle was shipped to the United States in 1965 to promote the film — and rather than returning to England afterward, it simply vanished, staying out of public view for decades.

Collectors now know it as “The Lost Bond Bike.” Eventually rediscovered in pieces, it was reassembled with a deliberate emphasis on originality rather than restoration, and has been seen by only a handful of people since. A disappearance-and-recovery story this specific is rare even in a hobby built on provenance, which makes this appearance genuinely significant rather than just another display piece.

The Aston Martin That Wasn’t Quite a DB5

The second featured vehicle at this year’s d’Elegance is an Aston Martin DB4 Series II owned by Tom and Kristin Zarrella, tied to one of film history’s best-known automotive tricks. The car identified on screen in Goldfinger as the legendary DB5 was actually a late-production DB4, modified to resemble the DB5 before that model’s official 1964 introduction.

Four Bond cars were built for that production, launching a lineage that reappeared across Thunderball, GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, Casino Royale, Skyfall, Spectre, and No Time to Die. Automotive historians now routinely describe the resulting DB5 as the most famous car in the world, which makes the Zarrellas’ preserved DB4 a genuinely rare chance to see the actual vehicle behind that legend rather than a replica built after the fact.

Radnor Hunt Concours d’Elegance 2026: A Weekend Built Around Provenance

Both vehicles anchor a Saturday, September 12 black-tie gala, displayed in the valet arrival area alongside 007 theme music and professional Bond and Bond Girl models for photos — a level of theming that treats film history as seriously as the cars themselves. This year’s Concours also marks America’s 250th anniversary with featured classes on automotive innovation, Bentley, ARCA racing history, and American automotive pioneers.

Following last year’s edition, Radnor Hunt Concours d’Elegance keeps building a reputation less around volume than around exactly this kind of specificity — vehicles with real, documented history rather than just impressive spec sheets. As more concours events chase headline-grabbing hypercars, Radnor Hunt’s bet on provenance and story feels increasingly like the more durable approach, and one worth watching as the collector world keeps deciding what actually makes a vehicle worth preserving.

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