Automotive Faqs

Yet, another great peice of Hollywood history is about to go up for auction. Only this time it is a Lotus Espirit S1. This particular vehicle was driven by the infamous James Bond(played by Roger Moore) in “The Spy Who Loved Me”. This movie helped to launch the Lotus as a powerful supercar and gave it fame that has lasted for about 30 years. 

After all, the Esprit was one of the most exotic and different-looking cars those young eyes had ever set on at the time ( and the S1still looks fantastic today). What made the Bond car special, however, was its incredibly cool alternate mode, which we were introduced to when Bond, being pursued by a helicopter, drives it off a pier into the water in a bid to escape.

We know what happens, of course. The Lotus transforms into what is quite possibly the slickest make-believe submarine ever, dispatches the pursuing chopper with a missile from its vertical launch tubes, performs reconnaissance on the evil Stromberg’s underwater hideout, and then, in a great scene, returns to the mainland via a crowded beachfront.

And now you can buy it. Next week at Coys Monaco auction, a completely refurbished “submarine mode” prop car from The Spy Who Loved Me will cross the block. During the filming, two complete cars and two bodyshells were used, and the car for sale was purchased as a shell in the Bahamas. Lotus confirmed its authenticity to the buyer, and then provided him with complete technical specifications so that it could be restored to full Bond-car glory.

There’s no running-gear in it at all (the sub-mode cars apparently didn’t have any), and we think this would make one seriously impressive home decoration, easily surpassing the Countach wall-hanging. Coys expects the sale to net somewhere between €30,000 - €40,000.

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