Have you ever seen a car turn into a submarine? In the 1977 James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me, a sleek white Lotus Esprit did exactly that. For years, that car was lost, but its real-life story is just as exciting as the movie.
​Found in a Storage Unit
​After the movie was filmed, the “submarine car” (nicknamed Wet Nellie) was put into a storage container in New York. The rent was prepaid for ten years, but in 1989, the payments stopped.
​The container was sold in a “blind auction” for less than $100. The couple who bought it had no idea what was inside. When they opened it, they found a famous piece of movie history!
​Elon Musk’s Big Purchase
​In 2013, the car went up for auction in London. Elon Musk bought it for nearly $1,000,000.
​Musk grew up watching James Bond and loved the idea of a car that could travel underwater. However, he was a little disappointed to learn that the movie prop couldn’t actually transform from a car to a submarine in real life.
​From Movie Prop to Modern Inspiration
​Elon Musk didn’t just keep the car in a garage. He used it as inspiration for his own company, Tesla.
​The Design: If you look at the sharp, flat angles of the Tesla Cybertruck, you can see the influence of the Lotus Esprit.
​The “007” Secret: Tesla cars actually have a hidden “Easter Egg” where you can change the car icon on your screen to look like the submarine Lotus.