successful change of name in 2007, now
Gunnar Bond James Schäfer. To colleagues
and locals, it’s plain Mr Bond, including
at the neighbourhood pizzeria, where he
convinced the owners to create a special
007
pizza.
The 56-year-old Swede actually makes
a very passable, Timothy Daltonesque
Bond – he’s slim and strong looking, with
a chiselled jaw and sweptback hair – but
this is obviously a dress-down day. Instead
of the tuxedo, he’s wearing a black zip-up
cardigan and plain black trousers, like
something Bond might wear after an alpine
ski session. Or a day spent doing odd jobs
in a shop that sells car parts.
It’s not just a car-parts shop though –
the space also doubles as Gunnar’s very
own James Bond museum and gift shop. “I
thought we could start with a little video,”
he says and leads me through to a 20-seat
cinema. From the self-produced film that
follows, it becomes clear that this Bond
thing is more than just a hobby.
He drives a car with the number plate
007
JB. He named his house GoldenEye,
after Bond author Ian Fleming’s Jamaican
residence, and has the number 007 above
the door. Confusingly, he actually lives at
number ten.
Gunnar dates the start of his obsession
to 1965, when his older brother took him
to see his first Bond film. Its fruition didn’t
come until almost 40 years later, when in
2003
he opened his museum.
The impressive collection runs to some
40,000
pieces and includes a pistol used
in
The Man with the Golden Gun
,
a 007
toilet with Bond silhouette in mosaic on the
floor, and a bar area, where vodka martinis
are served to Bond fans and non-fans
alike, along with the opportunity to play
on tour to other parts of the world.
He’s even going to start making more
appearances as a lookalike. And, of course,
he wants to collect more stuff. For a Bond
obsessive like Gunnar, it seems the world is
not enough.
007
museum.com
Norwegian flies to Visby, three hours’ drive
fromNybro. Rent a car at norwegian.com
“
I don’t know what my dad
experienced, but I dream
Fleming’s stories match his”
blackjack in Gunnar’s mini Casino Royale.
Fittingly for a man with a front as a car-
parts salesman, the best exhibits are the
vehicles. As well as a racing-green Jaguar
E-type made in 1962 – the same year
Dr
No
was released – Gunnar owns the actual
metallic blue BMW Z3 Pierce Brosnan drove
for the filming of
GoldenEye
.
This car,
Gunnar says, is the single most expensive
item in a collection he estimates to be
worth between SEK5 and SEK10 million
(
€590,000–€1.18m).
As we chat, he opens up more about the
reasons for wanting to be like Bond and his
creator Ian Fleming, who he affectionately
calls “Papa Fleming”.
“
When I was two years old, my dad
went to Germany to find his relatives,” he
explains. “We never heard anything from
him again. Interpol searched for him for 10
years before they declared him dead. I still
don’t know what happened to him.
“
I became fascinated with Fleming’s
stories and started comparing Fleming
with my dad. I don’t know what my dad
experienced, but I could dream that
Fleming’s stories matched with his.”
Although he’s never stopped searching
for clues about the past, Gunnar has
his sights set on the future. His website
attracts millions of Bond fans every year
and he’s hoping to take some of his exhibits
n
/ 0 2 9
Above and
left
⁄
Nybro’s Bond
Museum, home
to some 40,000
pieces of Bond
paraphernalia,
including a mini
casino and the BMW
R 1200 motorbike
used in
Tomorrow
Never Dies
