The submarine Lotus in the James Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me" will go up for sale this September, 36 years after the white sports car was filmed in one of the most impossible stunts ever captured on film.This particular 1977 Lotus Esprit S1, one of six cars that producers used for the film, was used in the underwater scenes where Roger Moore escapes a firing helicopter by driving into the ocean – and unlike other parts of Bond movies that substitute scale models, this Esprit is a genuine sub.
We're not sure how watertight this car is after spending more than a decade in a storage locker and occasionally being moved around to different museums, but RM Auctions of London said it was working, propellers and all, during the original shoot in the Bahamas.
The submarine conversion cost the modern equivalent of about half a million dollars, so expect the final auction price to be well north of $1 million when the car is shown Sept. 8-9. The last Bond car to be auctioned, an Aston Martin DB5, went for about $4.4 million in 2010. The missile launchers aren't included, nor are the actual wheels.
To be honest, we'd love to see this Lotus tied to a mooring and used as intended, but the new owner had better check all the seals and electronics. British cars from the 1970s aren't particularly reliable with those parts on land, let alone a couple dozen feet underwater. The actual working submarine from the 1977 film 'The Spy Who Loved Me' could be yours, so long as you have a mooring.
autos.msn.com
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