Elon Musk's wild $100m purchase of luxury 'submarine' car from James Bond revealed – it was collecting dust in a shed | 39D0J3C | 2024-05-11 12:08:01
BILLIONAIRE Elon Musk purchased a car that was featured in a James Bond movie after a couple that had never seen the films sold it.
Before he got the Lotus Esprit vehicle featured as a submarine car in the 1977 James Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me," the owners mostly kept it hidden away until they auctioned it off in 2013.
Musk purchased the white 1976 Lotus Esprit for $997,000, car news network Slash Gear reported.
"It was amazing as a little kid in South Africa to watch James Bond in 'The Spy Who Loved Me' drive his Lotus Esprit off a pier," the Tesla founder and CEO explained in a statement after buying the car.
"Press a button and have it transform into a submarine underwater."
The Long Island, New York couple that auctioned the car for him to get it acquired the unique vehicle in 1989 when they purchased an abandoned storage unit for $100 in a blind auction.
They opened the unit and, to their surprise, found a crazy contraption inside – it was something anything they'd ever seen.
The "crazy contraption" turned out to be that Lotus Espirit from the James Bond film known as "Wet Nellie."
The Esprit was one of eight used in the film but the only one used for the underwater scenes, Doug Redenius, the co-founder of the Ian Fleming Foundation found after authenticating the car.
The owners repaired the damage the roof had, restored its exterior and attached it to a custom trailer so they could show it off from time to time but mostly kept it hidden away until actioning it off.
The film producers spent more than $100,000 to modify the vehicle for it to operate underwater.
This was achieved by enclosing the wheel wells and undercarriage and adding fins to the sides for stability.
Additionally, four propellers were mounted on the back of the car powered by batteries inside of a water-tight compartment.
<!-- End of Brightcove Player --> The Lotus Esprit partly inspired Tesla's Cybertruck design.
"I was disappointed to learn that it can't actually transform," he said about the 1976 Lotus Esprit in 2013.
"What I'm going to do is upgrade it with a Tesla electric powertrain and try to make it transform for real."
Musk admitted to giving up the idea of converting the car into a transformer in 2017 while hinting toward a new concept that would.
</div> </div> "Will keep the original Bond Lotus sub as-is," he said in a post shared on X, formerly known as Twitter.
"That design can't actually convert from car to sub. Have a new design in mind that does."
ELON MUSKS' CAR COLLECTION
In addition to the Espirit, Musk also has a 1920 Ford Model T and a Jaguar Series 1 1967 E-type Roadster in his car collection.
He previously owned a 1978 BMW 320i and a $1million McLaren F1.
The Tesla CEO was claimed to have wrecked the McLaren F1 in 2000 shortly after he purchased it.
Outside of his numerous Tesla vehicles, he also has a Audi Q7, BMW M5 by Hamann Motorsport, Jaguar E-Type Roadster, Porsche 911 Turbo, BMW 320i and a vintage Ford Model T.
The film producers spent more than $100,000 to modify the vehicle for it to operate underwater[/caption]
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