The Spy Who Loved Me featured perhaps the the second most famous James Bond car of all time, after the iconic Goldfinger DB5: the Lotus Esprit S1 that went from sports car to submarine with the flick of a switch. Now, thanks to an eBay auction, you can buy one—for a million bucks.
Okay, so the movie prop offered in this auction can hardly be called a car. This static piece, fresh from a complete overhaul on the reality show American Restoration, shows the folding wheels on the left side, and the underwater fins on the right. It sits on a display platform in the same diving angle as when movie viewers first witnessed the car-to-sub transformation in theaters in 1977.
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As the lads at Top Gear proved, turning a road-going car into a seaworthy submarine isn't easy. Just a little over a year ago, Elon Musk purchased another Bond Lotus submarine prop, and he says he's going to make it functional. With Musk running at a year's head start, whoever buys this Lotus better have Q Branch working double shifts to make this movie dream into a reality.
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Originally published at Road & Track.
Bob Sorokanich previously served as deputy editor of Road & Track Magazine. He is based in New York City.
