One of the Hollywood characters who drove the most extraordinary cars was the famous secret agent 007 James Bond. It should be noted that, in general, these were always models of British origin, with the exception of some German convertibles such as the Z3 and Z8.
Of all the British models that have not carried the Aston Martin stamp, one is particularly interesting and quite famous for a scene where it is submerged in the sea. This is a Lotus Esprit that appeared in the 1977 version of The Spy Who Loved Me.
As is often the case, the car went missing and was only heard of when it went up for auction in 2013 and an anonymous buyer paid $ 997,000.
The Lotus Esprit S1
The first generation of this two-seater with a rear-wheel drive and rear-wheel drive centered engine shocked the world with its sleek and elegant design. The clean lines of this two-door coupe captivated locals and foreigners, and the lightness and dynamic agility of the set did the rest to soon increase the prestige of the Esprit S1.
The engine was, of course, disappointing because it lacked the performance of many of its rivals on the market, because the block type 907 with inline four cylinders and two liters of displacement offered a modest output of 158 hp of valves per cylinder thanks to the carburettor. double and four cylinders. The fact is that Chapman's premise was clear: it had to be a light sports car (less than 1,000 kg), agile and maneuverable, for a four-cylinder engine to perfectly meet these requirements.
For the chassis, Chapman opted for its famous system called "Backbone", which consisted of a steel structure in the shape of a spine with branches on the sides, supported by a fiberglass body. All of this was powered by the aforementioned four-cylinder block connected to a five-speed manual transmission previously used in the Citroën SM and Maserati Merak, along with the differential. Also, disc brakes, based on racing cars, were mounted on the chassis and not on the wheels.
The driving performance of the Esprit S1 did not show the official figures too attractive: Acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in 8.9 seconds and a top speed of 200 km/h.
Curiosities
A total of eight Lotus Esprit units were used for the "The Spy Who Loved Me" recordings, of which only one was used for the underwater scenes. A device that appeared in a US warehouse in 1989 after a Long Island couple bought it at auction for $100.
The most striking thing about this auction is that it was held blind. In the United States, abandoned warehouses or warehouses that are not up to date with their rent are auctioned off without anyone being able to see the inside. Not even the seller. When they opened the door to this auctioned warehouse, they found Bond's Lotus Esprit.
It may seem like they won the lottery, as they say, but apparently the couple hadn't seen a single James Bond movie and had no idea what they were taking home. They found out when, on the way home, several truckers radioed in a trailer to talk about the car that was transported and how special it was.
Useful information for the bride and groom, aesthetically restored and shown in various exhibitions. It was auctioned in 2013 and an anonymous buyer paid almost a million dollars to keep it. The buyer, it seems, was Mr. Elon Musk, the current owner of this very special specimen.
Elon Musk himself commented in an interview with Jalopnik that he was a bit disappointed when he saw that the car couldn't really convert, but that he would put a Tesla engine on it and actually try to convert it.