Tag Archives: The Spy Who Loved Me

Elon Musk buys James Bond Lotus Submarine

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Our regular readers know we have a serious “bromance” for Tesla Founder Elon Musk so it should be no surprise we had to give this story some attention.  Recently, the Lotus Esprit submarine car used in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me was sold at auction in London for $966,560.

Lotus Espirit Submarine car

Lotus Espirit Submarine car

At the time of the sale the buyer’s identity remained a mystery, but Jalopnik has now reported that billionaire genius Elon Musk, CEO of both Tesla Motors and SpaceX was the man who purchased it. But it gets better, according to a statement provided to CNN Money Musk was disappointed to learn that it can’t actually transform from car to submarine so he doesn’t plan to leave it as just a prop. “What I’m going to do is upgrade it with a Tesla electric powertrain and try to make it transform for real”.  And seriously, if there is one man in the world that can make this happen it’s Elon Musk.

The history of the infamous Lotus submersible from movie star to collector piece of Elon Musk is equally interesting. As told by the folks at Autoblog, after filming ended in the 70s, the car was shipped to Long Island, NY and placed in a storage container that was paid in advance by the studio for 10 years. However, after the money ran out, the contents of the container were sold off Storage Wars-style in 1989 and won by an local couple. It was shown in public on occasion throughout the years, but its value remained a mystery until being sold last month. While the selling price tag is far from the most valuable James Bond car ever to be sold the Lotus Espirit submarine remains one of the most unique cars ever built.

Sources: CNN Money, Jalopnik, Autoblog.

James Bond Cars – Part 1

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The following is a great little montage showing some of the cool vehicles that James Bond has driven over the 24 films in the series.

This got the RedlineNorth Team thinking about some of their favourite vehicles from the series and we’ve decided to profile a few.

Lotus Esprit S1 – The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

Lotus Esprit – The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

First up the Lotus Esprit. Who can forget the underwater scene from the Spy Who Loved Me where James Bond’s white Lotus Esprit converts into submarine mode after driving off a dock into the water. There is also the classic scene with the car ‘driving’ in from the ocean onto a crowded beach – much to the amazement of beach goers.

The Esprit in the film was fully equipped with anti-aircraft missiles, depth chargers and could deploy black ink under water to foil enemy pursuers.

Two Lotus Esprits were loaned to the production company for filming. One was actually turned into a functional submarine. Once the movie was released they became so popular that there was supposedly a three year waiting list to purchase one.

The Esprit S1 (1976) had a 4 cylinder, 2.0L engine that produce 160 hp. Lotus claimed the Esprit could do 0-60 mph in 6.8 seconds and had a top speed of 138 mph (222 km/h).

Aston Martin DB5

Aston Martin DB5 – Goldfinger (1964)

First debuting in Gold Finger (1964) but also appearing in Thunderball, GoldenEye, and a small appearance in Tomorrow Never Dies, and Casino Royale, the Aston Martin DB5 is the quintessential Bond vehicle.

The car was equipped with machine guns behind the front indicators, a bullet shield behind the rear window and a revolving licence plate that switched between a number of different plates. It was also capable of deploying a smoke screen and an oil slick to foil unwitting enemies, and of course a little red button that deployed the passenger ejector seat!

The original Goldfinger DB5 with gadgets was sold on October 27, 2010 for $4.1m (£2.6m). For a more reasonable price a scaled down electric model of the Goldfinger DB5 can be had for £48.

AMC Hornet

AMC Hornet – The Man with the Gold Gun (1974)

The American Motors Corporation (AMC) Hornet had its Bond debut in the 1974 film The Man With The Golden Gun. The V8, 175 hp Hornet is best remembered for the corkscrew jump over a river during during a car chase scene. A specially modified version of the car which had a lower stance and larger wheel wells was used by an uncredited British stuntman Loren “Bumps” Willert for the stunt. The jump distance was approximately 16 meters (52 ft) and the jump off speed was 65 kph (40 mph).

The original Hornet is still on display at the National Motor Museum Beaulieu, England.

Up Next….Aston Martin V8 in Part 2.