The mystery buyer of the actual Lotus Esprit used in the 1977 James Bond film “The Spy Who Loved Me” — a.k.a. the super spy’s submarine car — has been revealed and it’s Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and Space X.
The noted futurist purchased the car for $866,000 last month at an auction in London, reports Jalopnik. According to the car enthusiast website, Musk and another anonymous collector waged a fierce bidding war for the vehicle.
In the movie, Bond drives the Lotus off a pier, and with the press of a button, the car transforms into a submersible vehicle.
Unfortunately, the effect was nothing more than movie magic, and the car doesn’t actually transform into a drivable submarine.
So what does Musk intend to do to the car? Turn it into the real deal, of course.
“I was disappointed to learn that it can’t actually transform,” Musk told the site through a Tesla publicist when asked what he intended to do with his latest car. “What I’m going to do is upgrade it with a Tesla electric powertrain and try to make it transform for real.”
Sounds like a good plan.