FLEMING IAN: (1908-1964) British Author, creator of the secret agent James Bond. T.L.S., Ian F., with holograph salutation and subscription, one page, 4to, Kemsley House, London, 18th August 1959, to Ant[h]ony Terry ('My dear Tony') in Bonn. Fleming announces 'The time has come when, after four years, I think I must consider giving up my Thunderbird, and I am toying with the idea of investing in a Mercedes 220 SE - the fuel-injection model which sounds very good' although adds 'But at the present moment I gather these are only being made with saloon bodies and I would greatly prefer a convertible or sports type'. He continues to ask 'Would you be very kind and find out from Mercedes if they propose to make a convertible in the near future because, if so, I would hold on until it appears. Could you also obtain a prospectus for the 220 SE and send it along?' In concluding Fleming remarks that he hopes everything is well with his correspondent and comments 'I don't see any conceivable likelihood of a change in your life as a result of the arrival of Mr. Thompson and I personally guess that very few changes will be made, even in the lowest ranks at home, at any rate for some time to come'. With a couple of ink annotations, presumably in Terry's hand, to the lower edge. Two file holes to the left edge, a couple of small staple holes to the upper left corner, not affecting the text or signature, and some extremely minor, very light creasing, about VG Anthony Terry (1913-1992) British Journalist, a former European Editor of The Sunday Times who was first hired in 1949 by Fleming (at the time the Foreign manager for the newspaper). Terry's obituary in The Independent stated that he was 'one of the paper's most valuable assets, a one-man listening post, a fastidious checker of facts, a burrower into dark corners and a traveller who never complained of fatigue'. As the present letter demonstrates, Fleming was passionate about motor cars and in an article he wrote for The Spectator in 1958 he declared that the Ford Thunderbird was 'by far the best car I have ever possessed'. The article also provides a history of the vehicles Fleming owned prior to his Thunderbird and, interestingly, he reveals that before purchasing the car he 'dickered and wavered. Why not a Mercedes? But they are still more expensive and selfish and the highly desirable SL has only room beside the driver for a diminutive blonde….Moreover, when you open those bat-like doors in the rain, the rain pours straight into the car'. Fleming's letter is written just a few months after the publication of his seventh James Bond novel, Goldfinger. Cars were, of course, an important part of 007's life too and in Goldfinger the MI6 operative is issued with an Aston Martin DB Mark III in which he famously trails the gold smuggler Auric Goldfinger, in his vintage Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, driven by Oddjob.