Elon Musk’s wild $100 million purchase of a James Bond luxury ‘submarine’ car revealed – it was gathering dust in a shed

BILLIONAIRE Elon Musk bought a car that appeared in a James Bond film after a couple who had never seen the films sold it.

Before purchasing the Lotus Esprit vehicle presented as a submarine car in the 1977 James Bond film “The Spy Who Loved Me,” most of the owners kept it hidden until auctioning it off in 2013.

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Musk Bought White 1976 Lotus Esprit for $997,000, Automotive News Network Cutting equipment reported.

“It was incredible as a kid in South Africa to watch James Bond in ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ drive his Lotus Esprit off a pier,” explained the Tesla founder and CEO in an affirmation after buying the car.

“Push a button and it turns into an underwater submarine.”

The Long Island, New York, couple who auctioned off the car for him acquired the unique vehicle in 1989 when they purchased an abandoned storage unit for $100 at a blind auction.

They opened the unit and, to their surprise, found a crazy contraption inside – it was something they had never seen before.

The “crazy contraption” turned out to be the 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, 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 until it was removed.

The film’s producers spent more than $100,000 to modify the vehicle so it could operate underwater.

This was achieved by enclosing the wheel wells and undercarriage and adding fins on the sides for stability.

Additionally, four propellers were mounted at the rear of the car powered by batteries inside a watertight compartment.

The Lotus Esprit partially inspired the design of Tesla’s Cybertruck.

“I was disappointed to learn that it can’t actually transform,” he said of the 1976 Lotus Esprit in 2013.

“What I’m going to do is upgrade it with a Tesla electric powertrain and try to really transform it.”

Musk admitted to giving up on the idea of ​​converting the car into a transformer in 2017, while hinting at a new concept that would do so.

“We will keep the original Bond Lotus replacement as is,” he said in a post shared in Xformerly known as Twitter.

“This design can’t really be converted from a car to a submarine. 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 1967 Jaguar Series 1 E-type Roadster in his car collection.

He previously owned a 1978 BMW 320i and a $1 million McLaren F1.

Tesla’s CEO reportedly destroyed the McLaren F1 in 2000, shortly after purchasing it.

Outside of his numerous Tesla vehicles, he also has an Audi Q7, Hamann Motorsport BMW M5, Jaguar E-Type Roadster, Porsche 911 Turbo, BMW 320i, and a vintage Ford Model T.

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